The Koolie
Appearance: The appearance of the Koolie Stand and don't look first. Therefore, the Koolie is still very versatile.
Coat length: The Koolie can have short coat, semi-long coat and, in very rare cases, long coat.
Coat color : Since there are still a lot of Merle / Merle matings in Australia, there are mainly Merle-colored Koolies. But they come in many other colors.
Red color, Red Tri Merle Color, Red Bi, Red Merle, Black, Black Tri, Black bi, Blue Merle, Dark Merle. With and without white markings.
Ears: The ears are mostly standing but lying or half standing ears are also possible
Eye color: The eye color can be brown, yellow, blue and gray
Size: between 40 cm and 60 cm
Physique: Depending on the region, there are long-legged and slim Koolie or short-legged and stocky Koolie
Health: The Koolie is one of the healthiest breeds, but because of the Merle / Merle matings in Australia, diseases associated with the Merle are still quite common. These are deafness, statehood, and deformities.
Life expectancy: The life expectancy of a Koolie is not to be sniffed at and averages 14-18 years.
Essence: The Koolie is a working breed that needs to be encouraged accordingly. They are not suitable for lazy people, but only for active people who like to work a lot with their dog and like to be in nature.
Koolie are very good at agility, flyball and the like. They also have very good herding instincts.
A Koolie often attaches himself very strongly to his human being and would do anything for them. The "Will to Please" is typical for a Koolie, he often only stops working when he either falls over from exhaustion or his master tells him to.
Some Koolies tend to be suspicious of people, but it varies a lot, there are very much Koolies who like people very much and welcome everyone.
Like many herding dogs that were also used to protect the herd and the yard, the Koolie also has a guardian instinct and is therefore one of the hardly barking dogs.
History: The Koolie originated around 1800. Like so many other breeds, the Koolie originated in Australia. With the settlers and their sheep, the dogs also came to Australia.
The first documented evidence of the importation of these working dogs was dated 1820. It is conceivable that dogs came to Australia much earlier. But only when the targeted breeding of the kelpies began, these were documented.
The import consisted of old German Merle Farbenen hen dogs and the short-haired Brtischen Collies.
Since many German immigrants pronounced the word Collie like Coolie, the name German Coolie emerged. But there have been many different spellings over the centuries. Koolie, Kuli and German Coo were a few of them.
But since the Koolie originated in Australia and is only at home there, the Koolie Club of Australian has considered that German is no longer quite appropriate and the spelling Coolie is very reminiscent of the Collie and thus often leads to misunderstandings. Therefore, the spelling Koolie was adopted, but the club leaves it up to everyone how they spell their Koolie.
Because the Koolie has been bred for work skills across the country and its appearance and size is very variable, it has not yet been recognized.
In the year 2000, a few Koolie owners wanted to change, they noticed that it was becoming more and more difficult to find the right dogs for their breed and that buyers also had a hard time finding the right dog for their needs. That's why they created the Koolie Club of Australian.
All dogs are now registered there and a DNA profile is created, which can be used to precisely document the health and relationship of the animals.