I have always had a great love for animals. The first miniature Australian Shepherd (mini Aussie) that I owned came from a rather exciting experience. When I was 19 I met my first mini Aussie while riding home from a gymkhana (horse play day) one day. A couple of cowboys asked me if I would give them a hand getting a bull out of the mesquite trees. They asked me to go into the trees and run the bull out where they could rope him. I tied my horse up as the trees where to low to ride under. As I got into the trees I had to get down on my knees the trees were so low. All of a sudden there was this huge brindle colored bull in front of me. He was pawing the ground and swinging his head from side to side. I was sure he was going to charge me so I picked up a rock and threw it at him thinking he would go the other way. Go he did, but not where I thought he would. He came straight for me. I just knew that I was a goner when from the side this little blue streak flew by me and ran up to that bull grabbing him by the nose. The little dog took that huge bull to the ground. The bull jumped up and ran my way again, the little blue dog was all over that bull grabbing him by the nose and biting him all over and chasing him out from under the mesquite trees. The cowboys where waiting for the bull when he came out, and ran after him roping him. After all of the excitement was over I headed for home with the little blue dog following me. I told the cowboys they needed to call their dog and they said the dog did not belong to them. I took her home and put an add in the paper trying to find her owner. No one ever came looking for her so I kept her and named her Lucky. As it turns out she was about the size of the mini Aussies we are breeding today. I had Lucky for many years and she had some beautiful Aussie pups that matured in the 16" to 18" range. I have always loved Aussies for their intelligence and want to please attitude. Having lived on several ranches I found out just how much easier working stock is when you have an Aussie at your side reading your mind and being in the right place at the right time. The first time I saw a mini Aussie I was reminded of Lucky. I decided I wanted to start breeding these super smart Aussies in the smaller package. I have been raising these wonderful little dogs for over 40 years (not including Lucky's pups) although I have had many standard Aussies on the ranches before then. I wanted a name to signify the qualities in these little dogs so I came up with the name Boldheart and first registered it in 1999. All of my aussies go back 100% to AKC/ASCA lines. I have both full size aussies and aussies of the smaller size (14"s to 18"s). Their smaller size are the reason they are called "mini aussies".