Australian Kelpie  The Australian Kelpie, or simply Kelpie, is an Australian sheep dog successful at mustering and droving with little or no guidance. It is a medium-sized dog and comes in a variety of colours. The Kelpie has been exported throughout the world and is used to muster livestock, primarily sheep, cattle and goats. The breed has been separated into two distinct varieties: the Show (or Bench) Kelpie and the Working Kelpie. The Show Kelpie is seen at conformation dog shows in some countries and is selected for appearance rather than working instinct, while the Working Kelpie is bred for working ability rather than appearance. The Kelpie population is 2 million - 3 million  The ancestors of most Kelpies were British dogs known loosely as collies (sometimes spelled colleys). These were mostly black, i.e. dark brown, dogs – hence the name collie, which has the same root as coal. (The official collie breeds were not formed until about 10 or 15 years after the Kelpie was established as a breed, and the first recognised Border Collie was not brought to Australia until after the Federation in 1901.) Some collies were imported to Australia for stock work in the early 19th century, and were bred with other types of dogs – usually with an eye to working sheep without direct supervision. For much of the 20th century and early 21st century it was claimed that kelpies were partly descended from dingoes. In 2019, a genomic study indicated that the kelpie had no dingo ancestry. The first dog known as a Kelpie was a black and tan female pup with floppy ears bought by Jack Gleeson about 1872 from a litter born on Warrock Station near Casterton, owned by George Robertson, a Scot. This dog was named "Kelpie" after the kelpie, a mythological shapeshifting water spirit of Celtic folklore. In later years she was referred to as "(Gleeson's) Kelpie", to differentiate her from "(King's) Kelpie", her daughter. The second "Kelpie" was "(King's) Kelpie", another black and tan bitch out of "Kelpie" by "Caesar", a pup from two sheepdogs imported from Scotland. "(King's) Kelpie" tied the prestigious Forbes Trial in 1879, and the strain was soon popularly referred to as "Kelpie's pups", or just Kelpies. The King brothers joined another breeder, McLeod, to form a dog breeding partnership whose dogs dominated trials during 1900 to 1920.