Anyone have an Australian Cattle Dog?

[truckemup97]

Read Wickahoney's posts at least ten times tonight, and ten more times tomorrow.

He knows what he's talking about.

Unless you are willing to train one properly, and you have a large (one acre or more) yard, and you have a "job" for them to do, I wouldn't recommend one as a pet.

 

[RLA]

Here is one of my blue heeler(aussie cattle dog) cross, he thinks he is a lion hound!

 

[mroyal98]

How are the Australian Cattle different from other continents?

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

We had 5, 2 passed. Now we have 3, 1 male and 2 females. One female is 16 months old, Terrible Twos, AKA Destructo dog. All are smart, all have attitude.

They keep the "bad people" in the area honest. They alert at all times of day and night. We think that's why one bad guy (Convicted felon with a record)complained about their barking. Friends said the dogs were chasing away his drug customers and girls working for him in the area.

How smart: www.skidboot.com

How pesty?: http://aucado.us/

Read the part called "rituals of annoyance" and other things they can do.

Also called "velcro dog" they will stick with you where ever you go and will get in your way. They will kill you with their love(lick you to death).

Smarter than a lot of people, Always Alert, never cheat one, he'll remember it.

Never a dull moment with one. Always fun to watch when they go to "Battle Stations", like watching a cavalry movie when the 2 alphas come charging around the corner at full gallop side by side.

If you have kids, they do NOT like it when other kids get rough with "their" kids. They have been know to bite the "other" kids. Watch out when other kids are around. These dogs take their protection job very seriously.

We have fenced in yard, we do NOT lock our doors at night, this is why:

 

[Wickahoney]

You haven't seem anything till you drive up as a stranger the first time, in a pickup they don't recognize and 23 of them come BOILING out of the barn and loafing sheds and simply line up around the truck.

I have to say ours aren't big barkers. My personal "favorite" trick is to tell them to "Get lost" and they disapear. Then every once in a while you see a little head poke out.

They are also fearless. We have a Red that got hooked by a bull some years ago. Took some stitches and a couple of weeks before he felt better. Skip ahead 2 years. Any time he sees a bull he thinks is the same bull, the fight is on.

I have a bit of a temper. Every once in a while I'll go off and kick a few rocks and swear a bit. The dogs all HIDE. Now what you have to understand is I have never actually struck or hit one of them in their lives. Scolded. yes. Explained that they have been bad and disapointed me, yes. But I have never hit any of them at any age with anything. If I start yelling it's nothing but ACD bums headed running for the hills, jumping in the back of pickups, under the porch.................. It's hard to stay mad if eveybody around you is laughing.

FWIW we dock tials in this country.

Ross

 

[Marshwheeling]

I'm glad to see someone mentioned the Australian shepherds, even though they are unrelated to the Australian cattle dog or blue heeler. (The breed was developed in Idaho and Nevada by Australian and Basque sheepherders, or so the story goes.) For the last year or so I have become well-acquainted with the miniature Aussies, which are about 18" and 25-35 lb. Until the last year or so, I would not have considered dogs that small to be much more than overgrown rodents, but I have become quite fond of the breed and currently have four of them in the household, along with my "real" dog, Chauncey, a white boxer/lab mix. As noted by others, the Aussies are energetic, smart, funny and affectionate, a real pleasure to have around. The two most recent are from this litter, the black tri second from the left and the red merle second from the right:

They are a lot bigger now; I really ought to get some up-to-date pics.

Sorry if this is a thread hijack, but whenever anybody says "Aussies" I just have to pipe up. With my early warning system in place, I don't have to lock my house at night either. Ordinarily, they sleep in a kennel, but a few of them will sure warm up the bed on a sub-zero winter night.

 

[armybass]

Thanks for all the input folks. Most appreciated. I have school aged boys(14 and 6)who will be very happy to have a playmate in the home and yard. I also walk 3 miles 3-5 times a week and I am looking for a runnin partner. I appreciate all of your input.

 

[Wickahoney]

Army: That ought to do it. Take a ball or frisbee with you and make him/her run, a lot.

I really need to learn to post pictures. We also have two that fish. We have a warm watewr artesian spring that is hot enough it has to go through two cooling ponds before you can irrigate with it. Sometime in the past somebody put Koi in the bottom pond. You have never laughed as hard as seeing a 40 pound ACD surface like a U-Boat with a Koi in her mouth.

It's taken 2 litters but she finally managed to teach one pup from her last litter to fish too.

We have several that will spend hours on the thether ball pole, around and around and around, growling and worrying the rope every minute

Marsh: Great looking Aussies.

Good luck and enjoy whatever you decide on.

the best

Ross