The Kelpie was selected for heat tolerance, endurance, and the brains to take direction and still be able to work independently. Today there are over 80,000 Kelpies working on stations in Australia and thousands more on farms and ranches in North America and other countries such as New Zealand and Sweden. The Kelpie is a natural gathering dog using eye, bark, and bite to move stock as conditions warrant. It will gather stock from huge pastures and pen them, push stock through chutes and load trailers. In Australia, the breed is primarily a sheepdog, while in North America, work with cattle predominates.
Kelpies are keen, active, intelligent and biddable.
Always ready to work, they have notable stamina and endurance. The disposition of the breed should be friendly, alert, but stoical, with a good balance between keenness to work and ability to rest. In appearance the dog is lithe, showing hard muscular condition. Movement and action should be smooth and effortless, with a good length of stride. They can be black, red, blue, fawn or cream with or without tan markings.