Topic: Australian Blue Heeler

[Nichi]

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Australian Blue Heeler Cattle Dog
d. 2007

[Nichi]

Wiki

Herding Dogs

Due to their intelligence and beauty, herding dogs are often chosen as family pets. The Collie breeds including the Bearded Collie and Border Collie are well known. Although they make good family dogs and show dogs they are at their best when they have a job to do. These dogs have been bred as working dogs and need to be active. They retain their herding instincts and may sometimes nip at people's heels or bump them in an effort to 'herd' their family, and may need to be trained not to do so. Their activity level and intelligence makes them excellent canine athletes. The Shetland Sheepdog or Sheltie was originally used in the Shetland Islands for herding sheep, but today, like the Rough Collie, Smooth Collie and Old English Sheepdog it is more popular as a family companion dog.



Australian Cattle Dog

Australian Cattle Dog
A red Australian Cattle Dog, or "Red Heeler"
Other names Queensland Heeler
Country of origin Australia
 
 
The Australian Cattle Dog, also known as the Queensland Heeler, Blue Heeler and Red Heeler is a breed of herding dog developed in Australia for droving cattle. It is a medium-sized short-coated dog with a lot of energy, intelligence and an independent streak.

Temperament
 
Like many working dogs, Cattle Dogs have high energy levels and active minds. They need plenty of exercise and a job to do, so non-working dogs need to participate in dog sports, learning tricks, or other activities that engage their body and mind. Some individuals find repetitive training frustrating and dull, so owners should aim to make training sessions varied and more exciting in order to keep their dog interested. Cattle Dogs who do not receive the appropriate exercise and entertainment will invent their own, often destructive, activities. These dogs are, by nature, wary. They are naturally cautious, and grow more so as they age. Their cautious nature towards strangers makes them perfect guard dogs, when trained for this task.

The Australian Cattle Dog ranks 10th in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs, being one of the brightest dogs ranked by obedience command trainability.

Cattle Dogs drive cattle by nipping at their heels or tails, but they have also been known to round up other animals.

To relieve the urge to nip, the Australian Cattle Dog can be encouraged to pick up and chew a toy or stick that is thrown for them. Any toy left with the Australian Cattle Dog needs to be extremely robust if it is to last.

The Australian Cattle Dog enjoys living with other dogs with whom it is familiar, working well in combination with other Cattle Dogs, Australian Kelpies, and Border Collies. Because of their plucky nature, the establishing of a pecking order can result in a few scuffles and bites.

It is important for an owner to quickly establish a hierarchy in which they are the dog's pack leader, otherwise the young Australian Cattle Dog may bond to a senior dog, rather than to its owner. Once this hierarchy is established however, the dog will bond very closely to its owner[1], or leader. The bond that this breed can create with its owner is very strong and will leave the dog feeling very protective towards the owner; typically resulting in the dog never being too far from the owner's side. If put in any situation where the dog feels threatened, and/or uncomfortable, it will usually resort to aggressiveness towards other, unknown dogs.

Health and lifespan

Lifespan

Based on a small sample of 11 deceased dogs, Australian Cattle Dogs have a median longevity of 11.7 years (maximum 15.9 yrs)[2]. The median longevities of breeds of similar size are usually between 11 and 13 years[3], so, assuming the 11 dogs were representative of the population, Australian Cattle Dogs appear to have a typical life span for a breed their size. Leading causes of death were cancer (27%) and cerebral vascular "stroke" (27%)[2].

There is an anecdotal report of an Australian Cattle Dog (or a similar dog) named Bluey who lived 29.5 years, but the record is unverified[4]. Bluey is reported to have been born in 1910. The first Australian Cattle Dog standard was written in 1902[5], only eight years before Bluey was born. It is not clear how closely Bluey resembled, or is related to, the breed as it now exists.

Common health problems

Australian Cattle Dogs, like other animals with young that are born white, have a higher incidence of deafness.

Common in Australian Cattle Dogs is an autosomal recessive eye blindness known as Progressive Retinal Atrophy. Cattle Dogs have the PRcd strain, or progressive rod-cone. This causes the rods and cones in the retina of the eye to deteriorate later in life, and the dog becomes blind. The disease can be spotted on a CERF eye exam later in life, but the best diagnosis is a blood test, developed by Optigen.

Dogs should also be checked for hip and elbow dysplasia. Based on a sample of 69 still-living dogs, the most common health issues noted by owners were musculoskeletal (spondylosis, elbow dysplasia, and arthritis) and reproductive (pyometra, infertility, and false pregnancy), and blindness.

Australian Cattle Dog activities

Australian Cattle Dogs not only tolerate a high level of physical activity, they almost demand it. Like many other herding dog breeds, they have active and fertile minds that turn mischievous if not properly channeled. Australian Cattle Dogs are highly intelligent and can be very bossy.

When not active, an Australian Cattle Dog can be kept occupied with mental puzzles. Among the most popular activities for Australian Cattle Dogs is dog agility. While the Australian Cattle Dog is ideally suited for this work, since it is a herding breed and thus very reactive to the handler's body language, some Australian Cattle Dogs become highly frustrated at the repetition and routine necessary to hone agility skills. As for many breeds, frequent brief training sessions are more effective than infrequent long training sessions. For this reason, many handlers find training an Australian Cattle Dog to be challenging. It is important to always change the methods and exercises and not allow the dog or handler to get into a negative routine. Australian Cattle Dogs thrive on change and new experiences.

Only a few Australian Cattle Dogs, therefore, have excelled in obedience competition. For example, the American Kennel Club awards an "Obedience Competition Championship" to the dog-and-handler team that defeats a large number of other teams in open competition. A handful of Australian Cattle Dogs have reached this level. While Australian Cattle Dogs enjoy the challenge of obedience competition, such as retrieving a scented article, the majority of Australian Cattle Dogs are easily bored with precision drilling.

Australian Cattle Dogs are very organised animals. If the owner has established a "toy box," or some other type of holding area for the dog's possessions, it is not unlikely for an Australian Cattle Dogs to return whatever it has taken back to this area. Hence the numerous claims of the Australian Cattle Dogs "putting away its toys," or "picking up after itself." It is not unusual for an Australian Cattle Dogs to put away bones or items that have been taken out of the area by other dogs as well — hence the many claims that the Australian Cattle Dogs "picks up after others."[citation needed]

The dog is strong and muscular, yet compact and symmetrical, with the ability and willingness to carry out any task — no matter how enduring or hard.

Australian Cattle Dogs are expert Frisbee catchers and with just a little work they can master this activity and enjoy it for a lifetime.

History

The precise origins of the Australian Cattle Dog are not known, but they appear to have been a distinct breed as early as 1897. It began when Smithfields were originally used in Australia for mustering cattle. They were noisy and bit too hard, so they were bred with the Dingo, a wild dog prevalent in Australia. The resulting crosses were known as “Timmins Biters,” which were quieter, but still bit hard.

A primitive stage of Collie unlike that of today's Border Collies and Smooth Collies, used for mustering sheep, were then bred to the dingo. In 1840, Thomas Hall bred a couple of Blue Smooth Highland Collies with dingoes and produced “Hall’s Heelers”, the noted, hardy, tireless, controllable, strain of dog.[6] Then, in the 1870’s Fred Davis bred some Bull Terrier into them to make the dogs more aggressive. These were relatively common as sporting and guard dogs in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The resulting Cattle Dog was of a slightly heavier and more muscular build than the Border Collie and of less temperamental nature, with good herding ability, the stamina to withstand extremes of temperature and the resourcefulness to forage and to feed itself on an omnivorous diet like a wild dog. Physically, the Heeler has inherited a big broad head and strong jaws from the Bull Terrier. From the dingo comes the distinctive sandy colour of the legs and rather large, pricked ears.

Like the Koolie, the Australian Cattle Dog is fearless with cattle and has a tendency to nip their heels to keep them moving when mustering. This trait is undesirable when the dog applies it to humans and horses. It is rumoured that in order to create a breed that had a strong natural affiliation with horses, the Cattle Dog was crossed with the Dalmatian, which although not a working dog, was popular during the 19th and early 20th century as a carriage dog, running beside the horses. As a result of Dalmatian being introduced, Australian Cattle Dog pups are born all white and rarely, some adult dogs will have floppy ears, although undesirable, it is purely superficial and won't affect their abilities.

It was thought that the breeding with the Dalmatian led to the spotted colouration in some Blue Heelers, though this is considered undesirable, and is most commonly seen in mixed breed dogs that have Australian Cattle Dog in their ancestry. For many years "Blue Heelers" commonly had large black patches on the body, as well as the Collie's mask. It was also common for them to have ears that lay back against the head like some Collies. The flat ears are now considered undesirable for conformation showing.

Complete article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Cattle_Dog

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Michael]

They are used for cattle, but not sheep - not sure why, but those who use and breed these dogs are very keen on all the right traits. Kelpies are used for sheep.

You should be aware that for some odd reason, the colour red is called blue in Australia. So men with red hair are often nicknamed 'Blue'. Thus the Blue Heeler is connected to a common reddish colour they often have.

Julie's last dog - Jethro - was a specially intelligent dog, and especially bread for cattle work. He was basically a Collie, for intelligence, with three other breeds mixed in all for various traits, including Blue Heeler. I can recall he had some Bull Terrier. Collies are not so good at Australian Sheep herding as they are bread to go in front as they do in Europe, but sheep dogs generally will scurry around the rear of the sheep. Bull Terriers have a trait of going in head to head, which is what they need for cattle work - the dog has to attack the cattle from the front, as cattle will turn and attack from the head-horns. So Jethro had the ability, which we discovered when we accidentally called out the right words one day.

But poor jethro was never very keen on that sort of thing - he did it, but you could see it was a worry for him. What he liked best was rooting - no dog could touch him for slipping his chain and going off in the night to service all the bitches on heat in the neighbourhood.

[Nichi]

You should be aware that for some odd reason, the colour red is called blue in Australia. So men with red hair are often nicknamed 'Blue'. Thus the Blue Heeler is connected to a common reddish colour they often have.

Interesting ... the articles differentiate between blue and red here, and even comment that there is something of concern for the "red heelers": they have a smile which resembles a pit bull (staffordshire terrier). I guess with the mottled coloring of what they call "blue" here, the smile is less obvious.

Not even that I could ever afford one of these breeds, but I would be concerned to have a dog folks are mistaking for a pit bull: I think he would be prey to foulplay when I wasn't looking. I live in a suburban area, and yes, people pass by all the time. So I would really want one with the "blue" coloring and ruddy, splotchy color-patches.

But I am always amazed whenever I see a documentary or other footage of them -- they are so in tune with their humans! Super intelligent!

Julie's last dog - Jethro - was a specially intelligent dog, and especially bread for cattle work. He was basically a Collie, for intelligence, with three other breeds mixed in all for various traits, including Blue Heeler. I can recall he had some Bull Terrier. Collies are not so good at Australian Sheep herding as they are bread to go in front as they do in Europe, but sheep dogs generally will scurry around the rear of the sheep. Bull Terriers have a trait of going in head to head, which is what they need for cattle work - the dog has to attack the cattle from the front, as cattle will turn and attack from the head-horns. So Jethro had the ability, which we discovered when we accidentally called out the right words one day.

Just out of curiosity, what words did you accidentally say? "Go get 'em?" Something like that?

But poor jethro was never very keen on that sort of thing - he did it, but you could see it was a worry for him. What he liked best was rooting - no dog could touch him for slipping his chain and going off in the night to service all the bitches on heat in the neighbourhood.

Hohoho! Geaux Jethro!
(The Dingo in him?)

[Michael]

"Go way back!"

He also responded to a whole range of whistles, but his first owner - a friend of ours - never did teach us those whistles, or we didn't ask him.

Blue Heelers are not known to be dangerous dogs - they make good family pets. I have never been that keen on them myself, as they are too stocky a breed for my aesthetics. But I always liked that they are real doggy-dogs. Proper doggy natures, which never feel sorry for themselves - always game. Excellent friends.

[Nichi]

Yes, they definitely seem like a doggy dog!