A headline like this makes us salivate: “Top 10 Aussie firsts we’ve never heard of.”  Eureka! We’re always looking for anything unique having to do with purebred dogs.

We read on.

The first to officially begin a running race using a crouch-start; the first to design a military tank in 1911; the first to invent the crankless engine……

Wait, what?

We know that Australian Shepherds are smart, but without opposable thumbs and human speech, accomplishing the aforementioned firsts are tough.  Kidding aside, of course we knew by the tenth word that the headline referred to “firsts” accomplished by Australian humans, but it doesn’t mean there weren’t milestone accomplished by Aussies that are the dog breed. The Australian Shepherd is the only livestock working breed developed in America, and the oldest dog to earn a title in AKC history was an Australian Shepherd named “Pockets” who earned a Rally Novice title at the age of 15 years 5 weeks. There are likely more that we don’t know about (and if you do, tell us!), but what we do know is that this is a wicked smart breed known for its herding ability, work ethic, versatility, devotion and wiggle butt. 

Wait, what?

We came across a breed forum in which a robust discussion was over dogs who endearingly moved their back ends like a hula dancer when excited. Aussie owners wrote to say they had thought their dog was unique in what was called, “wiggle worming,” or having a “wiggle butt,” but to borrow an NFL phrase, “upon further review,” these owner came to realize that it was, perhaps, a breed trait. An Aussie’s way of saying, “I’m so stoked about what’s happening, so here’s my butt.”

We needed validation, and sure enough, we found lots of You Tube videos sharing the “wiggle butt.” One of them is below:

Our sense is that this “rear action” is unrelated to the absence of a tail (one in five Aussies will have a naturally bobbed tail with lengths up to four inches) and has more to do with the unadulterated joy this breed can feel when happy.

Wiggle on!

Image: Australian Shepherd © Olga Ovcharenko | Dreamstime