The Australian Cattle Dog

The Australian Cattle dog is known by many names such as the Queensland Heeler, the Blue Heeler and the Red Heeler…these are all names that are given to the same breed of dog, a dog that was bred and developed in Australia for driving and taking care of cattle (hence the name Cattle dog). These were dogs that were developed to be able to think for themselves, something they had to do considering their line of work, and they were also bred to have lots of stamina and energy…this has given rise to them being called stubborn, willful and energetic.

These are first-class watch dogs, they know what belongs to them and they know to keep strange people and strange animals away.
Not many people seem to know exactly how the Australian Cattle dog came to be, although it is certain that they were a real breed in the 1890’s; the beginning was with the Smithfield, a breed of dog that was used to herd cattle, but the problem was that this breed bit the cattle too hard. In an attempt to change the situation, they took the Smithfield and bred it up to the Dingo; the result they came up with was the Timmins Biters, these dogs were a little bit better, but they still bit the cattle too hard.

In another attempt to get a good responsible dog that could be depended upon, a type of collie was brought in and bred up to the dingo mix the resulting dog was the Hall’s Heeler, that was in 1840; in the 1870’s these dogs were bred up to the bull terrier in an attempt to make them more aggressive.

Do you see a circle here? First they try to get the aggressiveness out of the dog then they breed it right back in!

The end result was a dog that had resourcefulness and stamina, he had a muscular build and a body built to withstand just about anything, this was a dog that could feed itself on an omnivorous diet like the dingo’s, the Heeler had the big head and jaws of the Bull Terrier and the Sandy legs and instincts of the wild Dingo.

The Heeler is a dog that has excellent herding instincts, one thing about him is that he will nip the heels of the cattle; problems come up when he tries this method of herding on horses and people. Some people might say that the Dalmatian was used to try and alleviate this situation to make him more workable with horses, but that is not true, there is absolutely no Dalmatian blood in the Heeler.

Some people think that the spotted coloring that is found in some Blue Heelers is from the breed being mixed with Dalmatian blood. The Australian Cattle Dog are herding dogs at heart and because of this, they have very active bodies and very active minds, they need a job to do or lots and lots of exercise; owners have used them in agility, taught them a wide range of tricks and found other ways to keep their friend happy and busy because like any other dog that gets bored, the Australian Cattle dog can turn mischievous when not busy.

When training, it is a good idea to make things as interesting as possible for the dog because he can get bored of the training session and then you will just get frustrated. These are good guard dogs, they are wary of strangers and make good dogs to have around. When it comes to chewing, the Australian Cattle Dog is much like the Beagle…to quote the Wikipedia: "The Australian Cattle Dog, given a toy that would last another dog for an extended time, will happily sit down with the object between its paws and skillfully shred it into small pieces. An Australian Cattle Dog will remove the fuzz from a tennis ball as neatly as it would skin a rabbit. Any toy left with the Australian Cattle Dog needs to be extremely robust if it is to last."

One thing that must be done is that the owner must establish himself or herself as top dog or else the Australian Cattle dog will happily take the position.

The Australian Cattle dog is a great dog with a lot of heart, he is a breed loved by many and hated by none…he is a worthy friend!