Australian Kelpie

Eager and untiring; restless without regular work.
An Australian Kelpie
Photo: Canarian
Adult weight
16–23 kg
35–50 lb
Lifespan
12–14 yrs
Class · Working
also Sport

What it's like

The Kelpie is alert, eager and untiring at work. Stockmen value its ability to act on its own judgement when it is out of the handler's sight. It is devoted to its owner but tends to become restless without regular work. Casterton in Victoria holds a yearly Kelpie Muster that includes an auction of working dogs.

Day to day
Activity
Needs lots of exercise
Intelligence
Needs daily brain work
Handler demand
Needs an experienced owner
With people
Affection
Affectionate on its own terms
Loyalty
Bonded to its family
Independence
Cooperative, with its own ideas
Around the home
Sensitivity
Average
Voice
Barks to alert, then settles
Prey drive
Chases; needs managing
Breed explains only about 9% of how individual dogs differ in behaviour1. Meet the dog. A good breeder breeds for temperament as well as health, and matches each puppy's personality to the right home2,3.
Is an Australian Kelpie right for you?
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Living with one

It has a double coat, an outer coat over an undercoat. Most of the shedding comes when the seasons change. Plan on a brush once a week, plus daily brushing through the seasonal moult. It needs plenty of exercise compared with other breeds.

Size and growth

An Australian Kelpie is a medium dog, heavier than a Border Collie and lighter than a Golden Retriever.

It is a lithe, athletic dog with a fox-like head, pricked ears and almond-shaped eyes. The short coat has a dense undercoat beneath a harsh, straight outer coat. Show colours are black, black and tan, red, red and tan, fawn, chocolate and smoke blue.

Puppy growth

Reference curve · community data appears as owners log
By about 5 months, a male Australian Kelpie puppy is already as heavy as a grown Pug. They grow fastest between 3 and 4 months old.
Fully grown
11 mo
Both sexes, at 99% of adult weight7
Male
Female
Shaded: expected range
01020302m4m6m9m12m18m
01020302m3m4m6m9m12m18m
Age
Male
Female
2 months
3.5–4.9 kg 7.7–10.8 lb
3.8–5.5 kg 8.4–12.1 lb
3 months
5.1–7.3 kg 11.2–16.1 lb
5.4–7.7 kg 11.9–17.0 lb
4 months
7.4–10.6 kg 16.3–23.4 lb
7.7–11.1 kg 17.0–24.5 lb
5 months
9.5–13.6 kg 20.9–30.0 lb
9.8–14.0 kg 21.6–30.9 lb
6 months
11.4–16.2 kg 25.1–35.7 lb
11.5–16.4 kg 25.4–36.2 lb
7 months
12.7–18.2 kg 28.0–40.1 lb
12.7–18.2 kg 28.0–40.1 lb
8 months
13.7–19.6 kg 30.2–43.2 lb
13.6–19.4 kg 30.0–42.8 lb
9 months
14.4–20.6 kg 31.7–45.4 lb
14.2–20.3 kg 31.3–44.8 lb
10 months
14.9–21.2 kg 32.8–46.7 lb
14.7–21.0 kg 32.4–46.3 lb
11 months
15.2–21.7 kg 33.5–47.8 lb
15.0–21.4 kg 33.1–47.2 lb
12 months
15.4–22.0 kg 34.0–48.5 lb
15.2–21.7 kg 33.5–47.8 lb
15 months
15.8–22.6 kg 34.8–49.8 lb
15.7–22.4 kg 34.6–49.4 lb

Lifespan

No vet study has measured how long Australian Kelpies live yet. The 12–14 years shown is a reference range, not a measured one.

Where it comes from

The Australian Kelpie comes from Scottish working collies, bred for the fenced sheep runs of New South Wales and Victoria, where dogs faced heat, dust and vast distances. It is named after a bitch, Kelpie, and her namesake daughter, whose win at the Forbes sheepdog trial had stockmen asking for Kelpie pups. A 2019 genetic study found none of the coat-colour or ear-shape variants it examined supported a dingo cross4,9,10.

The Australian Kelpie spread rapidly through the pastoral districts in the late nineteenth century. Graziers and drovers valued it for handling large mobs with little direction. In time the breed divided into two lines. The working Kelpie is bred for performance and accepted in almost any colour, while the show Kelpie is bred to a written standard and recognised by kennel clubs. The Kelpie was developed to gather, drive and pen sheep, and it is also used with cattle and goats. In crowded yards it will run across the backs of tightly packed sheep to reach the front, a habit known as backing.

Breed standard

The Australian Kelpie is judged against standard no. 293, in group 1, Sheepdogs and Cattledogs4.

Questions people ask

General guidance for dogs rather than a measured Australian Kelpie figure: most females have a first season somewhere between six and fifteen months, and cycles then settle to roughly every 180 days. Smaller breeds tend to start earlier and larger ones later, so a medium-sized breed is most likely somewhere in the middle.

Compare with related

Australian Cattle Dog
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Schapendoes
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Polish Lowland Sheepdog
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Border Collie
Sheepdogs & cattledogs · Medium
Or compare the Australian Kelpie with any breed you choose
Track your own Australian Kelpie
Log a minute a day and watch them sit on these curves. Free.

Sources

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Parts of this page were written by AI ·