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Welcome to 4Paws Miniature American Shepherds
4 Paws represents strong commitment to the Miniature American Shepherds. I am no stranger to Aussies and the dog world. I have been training dogs for over those 50 years, mainly in the obedience field. I trained Dobermans, German shepherds and Rotties imported from Europe in several aspects of Schutzhund training. I trained and handled dogs for movies and TV commercials for 10 years and I trained my first Aussie; Jessie, for a Walt Disney movie; Flight of the Navigator (pictured), an episode of Miami Vice, a Florida power and light commercial plus other commercials. I have trained and trialed border collies in the herding field to better learn the drive and instincts of the herding breed. I rescued, trained and rehomed ~200 Aussie's over ~ a year's time. I also have 11+ years' experience as a senior animal technician. In the past 20 years I have shown mostly confirmation events to title the girls in my breeding program.
As a small hobby breeder of miniature American Shepherds, I strive to produce Mini's that improve the breed. Health testing, behavior management, temperament & structural evaluation and selection of strong genetics is all part of our breeding program.
With my extensive knowledge, I continue to mold 4 Paws breeding program into a program that demonstrates our commitment to improve breed quality. I am very selective on the dogs that stay within our program so my program stays small and manageable to reflect consistent quality and above all, sound temperament.
We continue to do health genetic testing. In addition to the genetic testing for health defects, I have done pedigree analysis on some of our initial breeding adults through ASHGI which can determine risk levels for over twenty-five inherited diseases and faults.
Although our breed's name was changed from Miniature Aussies, when we entered AKC, nothing has changed about the breeding, genetics or our dogs, it is strictly a name change. All of the minis in our program are still the same.
2023
I am now retired from my full-time job of 30 years. I am looking to cut back on breeding and get back into performance events, so I am currently only breeding 1 female and 1 litter a year.
Thank you for looking at 4Paws!
Bruce and Debi Shambaugh
Welcome To Our Website!
Maverick
Maverick is seen on some of the pages laying with a pup. We called him the babysitter. He is a standard aussie that I rescued and could not part with. He was dropped off at a cattle auction and when I was called to rescue him, he had stopped eating and was giving up on life. When I rescued him, he was close to death because he had refused to eat for the shelter people and this 65+ lb boy was a rack of bones. I hand feed him my specialty chicken balls to get him to eat. It took 2 weeks of hand feeding before he would eat on his own and even then, I had to stand with him while he ate. He got over his fear of being left alone. He had a wonderful personality and was very kind to the pups. He was what we call a velcro dog, your shadow who would not leave your side, and always followed us wherever we went. We estimate he lived around 20 years!
~1991 - 2011
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Jessie on the set of Flight of the Navigator
Jessie started it all for me. She was my first Aussie. She was a registered Australian Shepherd but mini size, but back then, mini's were not established.
Debi with a group of her rescues that were our house pets. All 4 have passed on.
Bruce and Piper collecting bugs
in the Big Horn Mountains
Bruce and Debi
Our 40 Acre ranch in Wyoming. The original part of our house was homesteaded in 1910.
What's new at 4Paws:
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Debi and Ben practicing off lead obedience.
Ben used to demo his obedience for training classes.
Ben is one of my rescues that my son and I rushed to a shelter over an hour away to get there before he was scheduled to be put down. He had come to the shelters' short time limit for life. We arrived only minutes before his time was up. It was such a relief to have made it and saved this wonderful dogs life. He was a pleasure to have around. ~1994 - 2012
some of the cartoon animation by www.artie.com
Wyoming wind socks!
As we continue to improve our breeding program,the quality of our breeding adults also improves.
Learn more about 4Paws
Wyoming umbrella
This page was last updated: September 22, 2024
(Website)
We will be breeding around December 2024. We are accepting deposits on this upcoming litter.
Look closely at the picture to see how many chic's are laying with this 4Paws puppy.
A testimony of the temperaments we produce.
Bruce with Jack watching me show Sliver
CONGRATS to 4Paws puppy owners:
Heather and Quigley
Nannette and Cuff
AKC Novice Rally title
Best Of Breed and Group 1
Our new building next to our house. The downstairs is for my dog stuff and the upstairs is Bruces show room for his antler works.
Some of our winning ribbons on display in our new building.
At a fun match Jamie and Shine won;
Grand Championship in Obedience and Agility
2nd place in Rally
3rd Showmanship
Cliff, was a border collie that I couldn't resist in the shelter. He became my son's dog. He was a funny funny dog. He loved to push around a large ball with his front legs. It took a lot of training to get Cliff compatible to live with but he was the best house dog. He lived for ~17 years! He was a real treat to have around.
~1993-2010
New Champion! Way to go Nanette!
Wendy and Laramie
CGC
My dog mobile and golf cart for running around shows
Sidnee and Mylee have received several Agility Titles. Congrats girls!!!
Jack's good life ended in 2015. He died at the age of 11. He was the start of my Mini Aussie program and set the bar high for me to produce as good personalities as his. His comical and kind personality will be missed. 2004-2015
GChB CH 4Paws Blue Crush
Mona started showing at 7 months. She earned her Championship at 8 months old and numerous Best Puppy and group wins starting at 7 months old.
She has now finished her AKC Grand Championship Bronze!!
She is a multi group winner in owner handler. Mona has won a group placing (group 3) in Regular group.
Mona finished #1 female and #3 over all for Owner Handler Series in 2018! She received an invitation to the National Finals!
GCHS CH 4Paws Salt N' Pepper Crush
Aka; Pepper
Pepper is now a bronze Grand Champion!! She earned her bronze at alittle over 2 years old!
Pepper started showing at 8 months in January 2019. She earned her Championship at 8 months old in 4 shows!! She earned her Grand championship June 1st, one day after she turned a year old after 5 months of showing.
She is a multi group winner in owner handler and has won her first group (group 2) placing in Regular group. She is a multi Best of Breed Winner! Pepper finished her Farm dog title in 2019.
She is a very lovely female and is great to live with. Pepper and Mona are sisters.
4 Paws Miniature American Shepherds
Chloe
Best In Show Specialty
2019 & 2020
CH 4Paws Second Edition
Aka; Elle
Elle finished her AKC Championship at 2 years with very limited showing!
Elle is a Sliver puppy and follows in her footsteps with lovely movement.
Pepper wins the 2020 Owner Handler top 10 at the 2021 Nationals!!
GCHS CH 4Paws Salt N' Pepper Crush FDC, FITB, FITS, CGCA, CGCU
Aka; Pepper
Pepper is now a Silver Grand Champion!! She earned her Silver at alittle over 3 years old!
2021
We have a new member joining the 4Paws family. Stay tuned for her arrival!!
Pepper continues to Add titles to her name. After conformation retirement, she has earned her Farm dog title, all 3 CGC (Canine Good Citizen) Titles and 2 of the Fit Dog titles.
CH 4Paws Making Waves
AKa; Murphy
Murphy finishes her championship and is well on her way to Grand Championship.
