Please give me your opinion of Blue Heelers

Every Blue Heeler I have ever been around is GREAT with kids! My brother has had 3. They are great watch dogs. The ones I have been around rarely barked - when they DID bark, you knew it was for a reason.

(Keep in mind, I live in cattle country, so most of the dogs I've known over the years have been working dogs)
Add me into the list that doesn't trust heelers.
I've known a few that were great-- good family dogs too. But I've known far more that were good dogs until they were about 4-6 years old and started getting grumpy.

Heeler crosses, on the other hand, rarely seem to have that heeler aggressiveness. I've known a lot of heeler mixed dogs and they all seem to be much more gentle than a full blood...


So far as the original question, mamabooh, if you do get a border collie, you've got to give them a job. Otherwise, he'll get himself a job and you might not like the one he picks.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Call me an old-fashioned, super-cautious fuddy-duddy if you want, but when it comes to the safety and welfare of my family, and my friends, ONE WARNING is usually enough to stop me taking any particular action. While certain individuals in breeds of dog might be perfection itself, it's the traits of the breed in general that you need to be aware of, and very careful about. If it's IN THEM, chances are it'll come out sooner or later. Is that a chance you want to take?

Why not stop listening to personal stories, which are all biased one way or the other, and get some professional advice from a vet about what breeds s/he might recommend to you and your particular situation?

Check out this site - there are many other similar sites:

http://www.petnet.com.au/selectapet.asp?at=43

http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/rev...attledogs.html

Actually, a Heeler is what our very good friend/vet recommended to us. He's known us for 15 years and knows how active we are and how we live. Anyway, we brought home a Heeler puppy last night. She's sleeping at my feet right now. I'll post some pics later today after our son wakes up (he was so excited last night, I can't believe he actually fell asleep!).

Thanks, rose. I just now put my hand in her mouth and she looked at me like I was goofy...no biting at all.

I'll have to look for that book. Thanks again!

Bully breeds (pit bull types, there is no "pit bull" as such) do not attack more than any other breed. They just get more press.

Please stop perpetuating the myth.

Thank you,
Pony!

Here are a couple of pics...I love that floppy ear! Her name is "Zali", which I found on a website with popular Australian girl names. It means "special".

Awwww! She looks great. Zali and your son seem like old pals already.

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"Mama always says stupid is as stupid does" Forrest Gump

"It is discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit." Noel Coward's Blithe Spirits

That's a PERFECT name for her! Congrats, love her eyespots

SO where would we be if we never listened to personal stories of people with experience on a particular subject? Even the bad "stories" help if people can figure out what went wrong and learn from the mistakes.

The biggest mistake with heelers people make is not acknowledging and dealing with that they are working herding dogs with a lot of energy. You can certainly work with that and bring out the best in a dog. Every breed has it's quirks and traits...I would NEVER EVER get a Pomeranian for example(sorry Pom lovers) it would drive me NUTS. Heeler "energy" suits me, Pom "energy" just shoot me now Know thyself.

PS, we broke ours of biting at motorcycle tires (dirt bikes) by running her over. She's very sturdy The kids don't ride bikes now but when they did they'd run her over too--but doing it with the motorcycle really made an impression, ha.

Hi! I did not read all of the posts. But as I have three AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOGS(Not Blue Heelers or RED Heelers or Queensland Heelers, but Australian Cattle Dogs!) and am a Foster Home for those who need it. My first ACD was purchased from an excellent kennel and was the smartest and best dog I've ever had. I have lost him now at an advanced age and now I have the three adopted rescues that I've had for a number of years. As for the "Weird Eyes" remark on another post...ROFL!!!This person does not know what they are talking about. Some breeds have "marble or blue eyes". This breed is NOT one of them! Australian SHEPHERDS sometimes have marbled eyes and so do many Siberian Huskies. But not ACD's. Also Australian Cattle Dogs should always have FULL TAILS... This breed is not DOCKED! People who do this to this breed are ignorant and have them mixed up with Australian Shepherds who's breed standand calls for a short tail.

So, I think I have a pretty good handle on this breed as I've seen the very best and the very worst(the ones who were mistreated, misunderstood or just abused).

Any dog is what you make it! First you have to be smarter than the dog, and then you need to know the bred in characteristics of the breed you are getting. Then you need to know the parents and what they are like(you have done this part)and then know the "line" they are from.

Once you get all this, then you know what you are getting and can approach training and fun with them and expect to have an excellent dog! ALWAYS have a fenced yard for a dog! Never expect a dog to just "hang around". This is not the 18th century anymore! Stock dogs are not ever allowed to go out and mess with any stock unobserved and uncontrolled. They are dogs bred to WORK along with a person to control the stock. When you are not working the stock the dog is expected to leave them alone...period. Dogs are not born knowing this. They need the work and the training to learn it.

I've not had a problem at all with my cattle dogs and my ducks or the neighbors horses, cattle, sheep etc. But, I've put in the time and training with them so they know what they are expected or not expected to do and when.

These are not dogs for the casual dog owner. Their "prey drive" is high, that's why they are wonderful and tough workers. So, if you get one of these very intelligent dogs be prepared to prove you know what you are doing or the dog will blow you off as a twit and do things his or her way. LOL

LQ of Cattle Dog Cabin and a Posse of Cattle Dogs....

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" Live in the Sunshine,
Swim the Sea,
Drink the Wild Air"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing." D. Duck

Hate to tell you this but, yes, I've seen ACDs with blue or glass colored eyes. It's uncommon but, yes, I've seen this myself even with purebred or registered ACDs. The only thing that drives me nuts is that there are so many stupid people who dock the tails!!!!

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

Blue heelers and the assorted related names are still Australian Cattle Dogs. It's just a common name. Like soapweed and yucca. Same stuff.

A lot of people in my area dock their working dogs' tails not for some sort of "breed standard", but because it keeps them from getting tails that are matted, grody and full of burrs. The original reasoning behind the breed standard for Aussies, if I'm not mistaken.

We have a border collie with a docked tail. And while it bugs us to no end to see her bald back end, we also understand the breeder's rationale because he does get more requests for docks than tails.
Having spent more than a few hours picking burrs out of our tailed borders, there is part of me that doesn't mind that she has no tail! lol

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I shaved the hair off my two Aussies..which made my fiancee's family really ----ed at me, lol. The dogs were very grateful to have their hair shaven off. The merle one just had sensetive hair that matted very easily in the groin area and hip areas. The white one just has never learned to clean off his butt when doing #2 and I would end up having to wear gloves to *ahem* clean it off for him and shaving the hair off helped greatly.

It really didn't matter if they had tails or not. It was the hair type that really matters, IMHO.

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Ted H

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.
-Davy Crockett

Thanks Ted for your thoughtful comments. The Australian Cattle Dog is the beneficiary of the breeds that it came from. Thress of these breeds(along with a few others including the Dingo) were the Dalmatian, Smoothhaired Blue Merle Collie and the Bull Terrier. The latter two brought along their inheritable deafness problems and the Dal along with the Blue Merle Shorthaired Collie donated the tendency to the "marble" eyes. These eyes have been linked to deafness in the ACD and not allowed at all in the breed ring. Brown eyes only and the darker the better. When you see other eye colors that is the result again, of ignorant breeding practices and no research has been done to learn of what issues are to be guarded against. Some lines from the backyard breeder gang have had Australian Shepherd crossed in. Another source of blue eyes.

Any one thinking of an ACD(or any other breed!)needs to learn what the health issues are in that breed and make sure you have written proof that the breeders have done whatever testing is necessary to produce healthy puppies. For ACD's at a bare minimum you want to KNOW that both parents have been CERF certified(eyes) and BAER tested for hearing. There should be hard copies of these tests and once the puppies are of the correct age all of them should be tested for their hearing. We see a surprising number of deaf (unilateral or bilateral)deafness in ACD rescue as people buy pups from breeders who haven't a clue what they are doing and the parents or the pups are not tested. Then they can't figure out why their dog ignores them.

All breeds have inherited genetic diseases. It's the price we pay for the developing of the purebred animal with a set group of appearance and behavioral characteristic that makes a "Breed".

As to the tail docking. Puh Lease gang! You don't find docked tailed ACD's in Australia where they know what breed they are dealing with. As to docking a tail to keep the dog clean...ever hear of proper grooming? ...do they shave the pants and ruff too? LOL Any dog deserves looking after , every day... and especially when they are out working in rough conditions.

This is a really neat breed, I love them, but they are not for everyone. LQ

__________________
" Live in the Sunshine,
Swim the Sea,
Drink the Wild Air"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing." D. Duck

"Proper grooming?"

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark that you've never been out gathering a few hundred head of cattle in scrub brush, mud and sandburrs and had your faithful companion bale in to the pickup cab with you. (Afterall, everyone knows Blue likes to ride shotgun. )

Like I said, we prefer tails, but I have been around enough working dogs over the years to understand why a lot of stockmen prefer them docked.

PS: We don't quite shave, but we do clip the "butt wings" of our border collies pretty short. lol (That and the belly of our rough coat border.)

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Well, ROFL!!!! I've been out herding cattle with my dogs, yes and also in the pen for Herding Trials where some of the stuff they pick up is quite odoriferous.. yes. LOL But,my dogs are all trained better than to bound into the pickupcab or Jeep before being invited! TI love them but they ride where they are told.

I don't consider a bit of BO grounds for cutting a dogs tail off. Although I sure do get your point! LOL What's more fun than having a long drive home after runing into a skunk! I bet a number of us have had that experience. EWWWW!

And you are correct, they sure love riding shotgun! ROFL!!!

LQ

__________________
" Live in the Sunshine,
Swim the Sea,
Drink the Wild Air"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing." D. Duck

Umm... yeah.
I wasn't laughing at you...

Just pointing out one of those experience/perspective things. I was simply saying I'll bet you don't regularly deal with scrub brush and burrs. And by your references to "BO" and skunks it would seem I was right.

Sand and buffalo burrs and scrub brush are not fun. And fuzzy tails can, and do, make it worse.

In fact, a neighbor of ours had a border collie die of an infection from needle and thread grass.
You have to carefully pick through their hair, bellies particularly, to make sure you get that stuff before it gets too far into their skin. But it's not hard to miss pieces here and there that fester. Or get infected... It's the reason we clipped our rough coat border's belly pretty short when he was working frequently.

Also, don't get me wrong, but a herding trial is not the same thing as moving cattle ten miles across scrubby pastures.

I repeat: we like tails on our dogs.
But I don't think you understand that it's generally not some sort of "breed standard" or aesthetic that makes some stockmen prefer dogs with docked tails.

Or maybe you just don't want to understand. In which case, my apologies for wasting both of our time.

__________________
~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

I think you will love your puppy. I have 2 heelers and they are great dogs. They stay puppys alot longer than other dogs.Mine are 5 now and have finally slowed some. They are prey driven as someone else said. I think though that is because I have 2 and the pack instinct is strong.They are constantly killing something and bringing it home. They love my grandaughter and shadow her everywhere she goes when she is here. Otherwise they are my shadows .If I stepped back to fast I would step on one. They are terrified of thunder though. Enjoy that pup.

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Chris
http://aberryvinefarm.blogspot.com/

my cattle dog pup learned real quick to be gentle with all the animals on the farm. we raise baby chicks in the house then the barn and she has watched them hatch. she is very gentle but when I ask her to help move a pig that wants to hang in the watering hole and not go back to the pen she is soooo super smart when she moves them. they are hyper at first but they settle down by 6 months. and all the agressive myths I heard never happened, she is great with kids, horses baby geese, chickens etc. yet she will bark at a stranger. she can stay in the house when we are gone or be tied with no problems. but when we are home she is always with us working unless we are baling hay or mowing.

my puppy just one 1st place in the puppy show this past weekend. she's on her way to championship!!!! her paper name is "Ima holy tara" tara for short...lol

I'd love to see pictures!