blue heeler, aka Australian Cattle Dog

[azmark]

This is an important point often overlooked. They were not bred to be pets. A little jog around the neighborhood is not going to begin to be adequate exercise.

It borders on cruelty to put a working-bred heeler, border collie, or Aussie in an environment that essentially guarantees neurosis.

I have Aussie Shepherds and Heeler's and I completely agree. They become horrible pets if not given jobs to do. I'm not talking about just running around the block but those dogs are problem solvers and need to exercise the mind. Playing fetch is not sufficient either.

Fortunately we have a ranch a few minutes away that you can go and rent a pen with ducks, sheep, goats and cattle where dogs go and let their instincts take over. Kind of like swimming lessons; you progress when the dogs ability increases. There isn't much running around but it is amazing to see the natural instincts take over.

Also playing hide and seek is great too! Regardless those breads are extremely loyal more to one owner. Our dogs are great with kids but they need an alpha owner to respond to and they are very submissive to that person...VERY.

 

[TulsaLhorn]

ok, i've fallen in love with this dog. my in-laws used to have an Australian Cattle Dog on the farm, unfortunately, she was accidentally run over by one of the farmhands .

Anyway, i'm thinking that in the near future when it comes time to get a new pup I might go with a blue heeler. the problem is breeders are hard to come by in-state and I don't want to buy one from one of those puppy mills you hear about in the news.

can anyone shed any light on these dogs? what is their temperment? how much do they generally cost when compared to other dogs? And most importantly, where I can buy one?

My younger brother is a real cowboy.. as in he works cows for a living. He also always uses at least a pair of blue heelers. I know the other cowboys he works with usually have a blue or red heeler or an Australian shepherd. They usually buy the puppies from each other and try to organize their own breeding as to get the most desirable results. As for them getting run over, that is very common and probably the way the majority of them go besides getting kicked in the head by a horse or cow. Their job is to chase and herd things. The way I've seen them do this is by nipping the animal being herded at the heel. That doesn't work so well with cars and they usually have an uncontrollable urge to chase cars. The hard-headed part mentioned earlier is spot on. One of the healers my brother had for the longest was named "muscle-head". Honestly I don't think I've ever seen anyone have one as just a pet.

 

[gaseousclay]

My younger brother is a real cowboy.. as in he works cows for a living. He also always uses at least a pair of blue heelers. I know the other cowboys he works with usually have a blue or red heeler or an Australian shepherd. They usually buy the puppies from each other and try to organize their own breeding as to get the most desirable results. As for them getting run over, that is very common and probably the way the majority of them go besides getting kicked in the head by a horse or cow. Their job is to chase and herd things. The way I've seen them do this is by nipping the animal being herded at the heel. That doesn't work so well with cars and they usually have an uncontrollable urge to chase cars. The hard-headed part mentioned earlier is spot on. One of the healers my brother had for the longest was named "muscle-head". Honestly I don't think I've ever seen anyone have one as just a pet.

my in-laws have an Australian Sheperd pup and he's not very useful around the farm. is their herding instinct natural or do you have to train them to do it? seems like he mainly gets covered in cow crap because he likes hanging out in the barn so much. I haven't seen him do much of anything really

 

[echelon3]

my in-laws have an Australian Sheperd pup and he's not very useful around the farm. is their herding instinct natural or do you have to train them to do it?

Yes, and no.
A quality dog from any breed will perform its genetic proclivity to some degree without input from a handler. Retrievers will chase a ball, herders will try to manipulate stock, beagles will chase stuff.
As with anything possessing a brain the size of a tangerine, training is still required to enhance those natural tendencies to the point where the behavior is beneficial to the handler.