Sure - but beware: it’s addictive! https://www.akc.org/compare-breeds/
For what you want, I think a sheltie or a corgi would be nice choices. I have a rough collie myself and I am partial to the herding breeds. I find aussies to be a little MUCH for me on the drive/energy scale although I do think they’re lovely dogs. Another one to consider which you might be less familiar with is the miniature american shepard.
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Go to a busy dogpark and just sit and watch.
Sounds like you want an Old English Sheepdog.
Here’s a Word for corgis…Perfect size, great personalities, very smart and trainable, Of course need to be socialized and are totally herding dogs with always an eye on you. They’re great for agility, too.
mine have done agility, obedience and are excellent with livestock. Like all the herding dogs, if you’re not strong and train them, they can take over because they are so smart. Big personalities but very happy attentive companions
Corgis are a bit smaller than I want. I like bigger dogs, DH woukd like a smaller one (which is why I wanted to look at both standard and mini aussies and shelties and collies). The dog park suggestion isn’t a bad one! I’m going to go to a local agility trial Labor Day weekend and hope to meet some dogs and maybe breeders there. Keep the suggestions coming 
Shelties sound like they could be a great fit (caveat, my family has had shelties most of the last 40 years, so maybe a bit biased 
) You will want to be sure to look for a performance breeder, usually confirmation breeders are okay but performance are going to really know abilities. Herding shelties are a little hard to find but when you can, they usually have great attitudes and are well built. Even with a poorly-bred. neurotic former-stray, mine still is incredibly biddable and can turn off her herding and working 'tude (she is currently snoring underneath the coffee table.) All of your breeds are barkers, so I assume you’re okay with that.
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Seems like a fad mix to meet the demands of passing popularity. They seem pretty opposite enough that it’d most likely be for the looks.
That being said, I own a Borador (Labrador x Border Collie). I had no idea it had a “breed” name until I found a facebook group full of fellow owners. Yes, it’s a strange combination. Heck, I’ve had complete strangers say it’s a stupid pairing to my face when I tell them what breed mix she is. They’re only content when I clarify she is a rescue from a few states over so she was probably mistakenly bred. But for what it’s worth, I feel like I got the best of both breeds in her. She’s a silly little thing, smart as a whip, more relaxed than a BC, medium build and color and floof more like a BC than a lab. Just lovely all around.
Maybe a Pyr x Aus mix might turn out a gem of a dog and might be the perfect dog for you. But I’d try to look for other owners with this mix to see what info you can find from them regarding temperament, size, etc.
I have a rough Collie and 2 Aussies. Both breeds are very attainable and I competed successfully with them for years in obedience and rally. Mine were each a rescue and have wonderful temperaments.
That said, I personally haven’t met a “mini Aussie” that didn’t have a major health issue.
The “doodle dogs” drive me crazy. I have met many with terrible temperaments, they can have horrendous costs that mat at the skin and require shaving. I can’t understand the people who will pay $2K for one when they could have gotten a purebred papered virtually any other breed for a lot less.
Oh, and yes, my house is full of dog hair!
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If you’re near W. Springfield there are conformation, agility and obedience events at the Big E all the time (including today and tomorrow). You can often find people entered in all 3 in one week so you find people with well-bred, conformationally correct dogs doing performance events. Plus good shopping during big clusters like this one. Parking is $5, spectating is free.
I’m on the Cape this weekend, and one of my old friends who lives down here is actually there at the agility show with her 2 shelties. Go figure on the timing! I was hoping to visit her and meet her pups while we were down here. Oh well, will keep an eye on the schedule. But there is one more local to me in a couple of months so I’m definitely going to check that one out.
I wouldn’t go out and buy a deliberately mixed breed part aussie, but some of the accidental 1/2 breeds are smart! I got my first aussie in 1967, bought my first las Rocosa aussie in 1971, and continued buying from Elaine Hartnagle through her lifetime. Her father helped develop the breed.
But once in Atlanta when I was having some work done on my house, one of the guys had a 1/2 aussie that he brought over to meet my aussies. That dog was so smart. Check out some websites like the one for herding dogs in wyoming, I forget the website. Lots of mixed breed aussies and other herding dogs on there up for rehoming.
Collie…either rough coat or smooth.They’ll tick all your boxes. You can go the rescue route or the breeder route.
In my years in collie rescue, I’ve I only seen one aggressive collie. He likely had a brain injury/tumor.
Along with collies, another favorite breed. I know a great breeder in Maryland. You rarely see an OES show up in rescue…so buying from a breeder is the way to go.
it’s exactly what she wants…size, coat, herding, good with kids.
Another vote here for the AKC breeds info.
Read up on alll in the Herding group and then check the sporting group, who live to take directions.
Spaniels…Springer sized, or an English setter, too. Adored my ES and my Weimariner.
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Collie and OES likely to be a bit less competitive in agility, though do-able for either. My collie had difficulty making time. Shelters and corgis tend to be a bit more competitive
Oh, since herding is on the plus column, add Bearded Collies to the list - I’ve only known 2, so sample size is pathetic, but loved them, and if herding weren’t on the minus column for me, I’d look at them. Hella coats, but you’re on board for that.
If you want to branch out a bit from the herding dogs, Nova Scotia Duck Tollers are adorable and I’m so in love with my Portuguese Water Dog pup that I may never get another breed. She’d be amazing at agility, I think.
:lol: When I was a kid I SO wanted an OES!!! DH says no way, haha, too big. My ideal dog is ~75lbs, his is more like 25lbs, so we’re trying to find a happy medium. Which unfortunately would NOT be an OES 
Also, regarding competitiveness for agility, it’s not super high on the list. I’m more interested in it just for fun and as an activity to do because I’m looking at high energy dogs (but I suspect it can get addicting haha)
Field trials with Springer spaniels
As the owner of 6 Aussies, there is no such thing as a “standard” Aussie. Minis and toys are American Shepherds, not Australian Shepherds (despite the marketing ASCA (Australian Shepherd Club of America) has very specific ranges of height for both males and females: 20"-23" for males, and 18"-21" for females.
I have known several mini American Shepherds: they were pretty high drive and they had significant health issues.
Like any breed Aussies aren’t for everyone. Unfortunately their popularity has resulted in producing some poor quality Aussies by people in it for the money, not the health and wellbeing of the breed. Aussies love to work, whether it’s catching frisbees, herding my chickens, competing in Rally and Obedience, or hiking in the woods and mountains. Five of mine are from the same breeder, none are high drive (my preference is a moderate drive dog), and one is the epitome of a laid-back couch potato, who thinks riding in the Gator with my SO is preferable to running ahead of it like the rest of the pack.
I have had corgis, blue heelers, and grew up with border collies. The breed for me is the Aussie: highly intelligent, easy to train, loads of personality. Their attitude is: “what do you want to do now?” All of them are super affectionate, but true to the breed they can be stand-offish with people they don’t know. Aussies are velcro dogs: Can’t go to the bathroom without having six Aussies follow me…They are sensitive dogs: if I say Uh Oh, their collective response is: what did we do wrong? All mine are trained to a whistle, because when we are out on the farm, calling them when they are out of ear-shot is like calling into the wind, but the whistle brings them running.
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