A lot of farm breeds turn up from the Southern rescues up here. A border collie is just a farm breed that the AKC got its controlling mitts on. Same with the Australian shepherd, which was not an AKC recognized breed until the 1990s.
There are other farm collie variations, including the English shepherd, which was a common sight on farms in the eastern US until about the middle of the 20th century, when small family farms began to dwindle in number.
At a glance Rhys has the Aussie look, with a little broader muzzle than the BC and stocky build. To me, the classic Aussie giveaway is a body from whithers to tail that's about as long as the dog is tall. Other collie breeds tend to be longer in the body than they are tall.
I personally don't have a lot of faith in genetic testing for dogs. So many breeds have emerged out of crossbreeding, right up to the current day. The farm dogs in particular came up through an informal breeding process that emphasized purpose over pedigree. The process, IMO, produced superior dogs, but ones with a lot of individual variations.
My experience with human genealogical genetic tracing suggests it's still a work in progress. One of the leading DNA labs reported that I was part Sardinian at one point. It later dropped that revelation from my profile. So I take it all with a grain of salt.
