Does your Miniature Australian Shepherd bark a lot?

Thank goodness the answer is: NO! Not to say that all mini aussies are quiet, but mine sure is and I am ever so thankful!  Now, Aussies can become barkers if you're not careful! (See exert below). My understanding is that Aussies, being ranch dogs, are meant to alert their owners with one bark if they sense something and defer to you for further guidance and action.  I find this to be the case with my dog.  We've had one or two instances where a friend came up to our back door and started knocking and Indie barked a few times until I said "It's okay" and let them in.

Here's an exert from the Miniature Australian Shepherd Club that sums up my mini perfectly:

"Are mini Aussies noisy?

No. Most mini Aussies are relatively quiet, unless something extraordinary occurs about which they feel their family should be warned. Usually, a bark or two will suffice so long as their people acknowledge the disturbance. They are not prone to excessive barking, however, are extremely people oriented and tend to suffer when shut out of family life, thereby possibly developing some unusual habits. Appropriate training and exercise will direct behavior."

**I can't emphasize enough that how your raise your dog and what you expose them to at a young age will really determine how they wind up.  A properly and exhaustively socialized Mini Aussie from a good breeder should embody the characteristic traits of the breed: protective and slightly reserved with strangers, but quick to love and accept with the go-ahead from it's owner.  And that pretty much describes Indie! I mean, when he was a baby puppy he went up to EVERYONE no problem.  But I saw this reserve come out as he aged and, to me, it's always been the right amount and never excessive.**

My loyal walking companion!

Indie will not bark his head off, ever.  He's so quiet we can't believe it. At most he gives one, low warning barky-growl thingy and that's it. People can walk by on the street and the mail can be delivered with no reaction from my dog (other than getting up to see who it might be).  The only times he barks are when people knock on the door, but as soon as I tell him to stop he does and when I open the door he's all wiggles -even with delivery men in uniform!

 Now, this can be attributed partly to the innate nature of the Australian Shepherd, but it's also about how I raised Indie as well. I am not one of those people who is scared of everything and also I don't want a dog that is overly protective.  Dogs pick up on when you are scared or hesitant about a person and will react accordingly.  I am very conscious about the energy I project and I have made sure to let Indie know that in general, pretty much everyone -man or woman, uniform, beard, or hat - is okay. 

Never leaves our sides for long

He's always calm in the house

Indie will bark for the following reasons/circumstances:

• If he's really excited and worked up and we're taunting him with a toy, but not giving it to him, hill bark one sharp little yip, like "Hey! C'mon now!"
• If someone knocks at the door.
• If someone he doesn't know approaches me too firmly and suddenly
• When he's chasing another really fast dog and getting frustrated he can't catch them (mostly just happened when he was a puppy, now he's faster than everyone!)
• When he's working sheep (and really only when one was giving him a run for his money)
• When sometime large ad unknown is coming at him: e.g. guy riding a bike with a cooler on it, backpackers on the PCT with large backpacks.  Once I introduce him to it, he gets over it quick.
• When he senses a dangerous person. This has only happened twice:

Never walk alone again!

Once, I was walking at the lake at the college here in Arkansas and there was a meth head guy stumbling around in the woods adjacent to the walking path.  Now, there is also a disc golf course here so Indie has seen people in the bushes before and never barked.  But this time, I was on the phone and Indie detected this man's presence before I did and started barking his head off.  That's when I knew this was a serious situation because Indie never barks at anyone -period. It's very rare.  Turns out the guy was wacked out of his mind and we had to call the police to have him removed...love my dog!

Nothing escapes the Ghost Eye!

The only other person my dog has never warmed up to was the guy who did maintenance work on occasion in my old neighborhood (cutting trees and doing yard work type things mostly).




I tried and tried to get Indie to warm up to him because I felt awful that Indie barked at him and he was so nice, but Indie never let up. He was the ONLY person my dog has met and not liked.  Usually, if I say the person is okay, Indie lets up.  Now that I've seen him bark at the meth head guy, I think back and wonder if maybe the maintenance dude was an alcoholic or something? I think dogs can detect the different smells people have so perhaps this guy had something weird about him.  Either way, I trust my dog's instinct now 100% so if Indie senses something wrong, I will know he isn't messing around.
 

In any of the houses he's been in, he's never barked when people were walking by.  However, when I stayed at my dad's apartment (which is especially noisy at 2am), Indie barked when people walked by talking super loud.  Now, this is probably because we lived in a really quiet neighborhood so I imagine that if you raise your mini in an apartment and they are used to the noise level, it probably wouldn't be a problem.  Maybe someone who has experience raising their mini in an apartment can chime in here? Leave a comment!