Hi Fenris-wolf. It' looks like you're very serious about this, so here are a few thoughts.
If you plan to be a serious breeder and to show in agility and possibly conformation, your foundation female (or male to be a stud) should be of the best stock you can afford. Be prepared to travel out of state for this. The rock bottom basic is a puppy whom both parents were DNA tested and clear of common genetic disorders in the breed. Find out what these are here:
Australian Shepherd Essential Panel
Miniature Australian Shepherd Essential Panel
Toy Australian Shepherd Essential Panel
The
OFA also recommends non-DNA screenings for Hip and Elbow dysplasia, and Autoimmune thyroiditis for the parents. When you know the names of the parents of a litter, you can use their
Search feature which will list the outcome of any testing, provided the owners registered their dogs with OFA. Pay attention to which tests, if any, have been omitted. If you see both parents listed, information on the grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles of parents may also be listed. Since agility is one of your goals, parents with excellent/good hip & elbow ratings is paramount.
Learn exactly what the
Standard of the Breed looks like. The AKC pdf is
here, and the
ASCA Australian Shepherd Club of America is
here.
View attachment 465076
The ASCA is an excellent site filled with good information, including
competitive programs and an
event calendar.
Just in case you haven't found this site, the
Australian Shepard Forum has a lot of information including a list of breeders. It looks like the serious Aussie owners/breeder register their dogs with both the AKC and the ASCA. On their
Rules & Forms page, they also have an agreement with Paw Print Genetics for DNA testing. Note: I'm very familiar with PPG, and if you create an account with them, they will email you when they have a discount on their testing, and if you wait a while, you can get 50% off from their full test panels.
A few more things. While it's nice that you found a helpful breeder, I suggest to keep looking before committing to a deposit (unless the sire and dam checks out with the above and you really like their appearance), go to the April show you mentioned and any other nearby events listed on ASCA or elsewhere. You might find an even superior set of parents with a pleasing litter you can afford.
Also consider getting a male puppy. Why? For two reasons. If you want to focus mainly on agility, pregnancy can get in the way of this. Pregnancy holds many risks as you hopefully read
here and
here, and puppies are
a lot of work. With a great male pup that goes on to win agility shows and/or earned championship, you can stud him out and continue taking him to agility events year round.
Also learn about
contracts; many poodle breeders demand co-ownership in an unlimited registration if you want to show and breed, although I don't know if Aussie breeders are that rigid. Lots of pitfalls there, see these articles by an attorney
here and
here.
Lastly, I hope you're in really, really great physical shape. Aussies are extraordinarily intelligent and very high energy. Inactivity in this combination lead them to becoming frustrated and highly destructive when they don't get enough daily exercise no matter what your schedule is or the weather.
I wish you well! You have the youth, and with the time, space, patience, thoroughness and motivation, what you want is doable and will give you many, many years of joy should you pursue it.