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About Us

Our Family

We had our first 'in the flesh' experience with the breed in 1998 at the Melbourne Royal after finding them online earlier that year, and were lucky enough to get our first Aussie from a litter born in December 1998. Between the two events Ben & I got married.

Not long after we bought our own property up in the Hunter Valley from Newcastle, a few hours north of Sydney, NSW, Australia. Over the years, we added some carefully selected imports and locally bred Aussies to our gang.

More recently a couple of two-legged kids have joined us and our puppies are now raised around our young children from birth.

We waited until 2002 to breed our first litter, wanting to get a real feel for how to do things right, before taking on such a huge responsibility. Due to fantastic mentoring and our keen and dedicated effort for self-education we have had much success in the dog world at 'All Breed' and 'Specialty' level including the ultimate award of Best In Show in both venues. We have also been blessed with successful exports, imported in dam litters, an Agility Champion, 2 NZ Champions, 2 Norwegian Champions, 1 Supreme Champion, 1 Grand Champion, over a dozen Australian Champions and more on the way.

Our Aussies

At Cuebiyar, we take our responsibility to the puppies we bring into the world seriously. While no one can predict the nasties that sometimes pop up in what was thought to be clear lines, we do try to do everything to prevent it, and to fix a problem when it occurs.

We believe all aspects of the breed are important, see the breed standard for more information. It is extremely difficult to order our priorities as they are all so intertwined. Type, I believe is the most important aspect. Without type you don't have an Australian Shepherd.

Understand that when I say type, I mean more than just looks, type to me means conforming to the breed standard, and that includes "well balanced, slightly longer than tall of medium size and bone", "animated, lithe and agile, solid and muscular without cloddiness", "docked or natural bobbed tail", "intelligent working dog of strong herding and guarding instincts", "good natured, seldom quarrelsome", "smooth, free and easy gait". So you see, type is composed of temperament, health, and movement.

I conduct all breedings on the basis of improving the breed, hoping to keep something for myself, and I choose stud dogs with the aim to do the best I can to improve my bitch, not based on producing the current colour of choice.

Our History

Unexpected problems can pop-up in what was thought to be 'clear' lines. Over the term of our involvement with the breed we have had to educate ourselves on many of the common diseases found in Aussies today.

Instead of adopting a defeatist or 'head in the sand' attitude we have dealt with each problem as it occurred and decided on the best course of action. Sometimes we have removed those lines from our breeding program and other times we have moved forward carefully with an eye to reducing the risks while retaining the good points of the dogs involved.

To move forward we have turned our focus overseas, and we have imported many dogs over the years to bolster the country's gene pool with genetically healthy, structurally sound Aussies of good type.

Personal experience in no way makes one breeder less careful or health conscious than someone lucky enough to have not had any bad experiences. The mark of a responsible breeder is not how many problems they have or have not produced, but what they do to avoid problems and correct a problem when it occurs.

What we do

All our dogs used for breeding will have been hip scored and eye tested by qualified specialised veterinarians in their respective fields prior to any mating taking place. When future tests become available these tests will be carried out as well. Physical and genetic tests are tools used by breeders to match weaknesses and strengths in the dogs and bitches that they use. Our bitches whelp inside our house and puppies receive daily human socialisation.

No decision on the future owner of any pup will be made until they reach 8 weeks of age. This is because puppies change so much from birth and it is not until 8 weeks that you truly know what the adult might be like. Temperament, structure, movement, mouths, testicles (for boys) etc all go into deciding if a puppy might have what it takes to be a show dog or future breeding animal, colour and sex have very little to do with it.

Only after everything has been taken into account can we match a puppy to a prospective owner. The most important thing is that the puppy fits into your family and the activities you are interested in. All puppies will leave with a comprehensive information pack (see more details on the litter page). Remember we are always available for any questions you have, for the life of your pet.