The Australian cattle dog is a tough, hardy animal bred for the extreme conditions of the Australian outback.  Loyal and intelligent, it is a common sight on the huge cattle stations of its native country, bred specifically to handle large herds of grazing cattle.  One might ask why these dogs are now being introduced to Irish farms, the traditional province of the border collie?  For Joe Bradley, a Co Galway builder who has become active in the European breeding and showing scene for cattle dogs, the answer is obvious.  "The cattle dog has the courage which the border collie lacks.  On in ten collies will have courage, whereas one in ten cattle dogs will not," he said.  Due to the length of quarantine, Joe had been forced to leave his mature cattle dog in Australia when he returned home to Ireland last year.  Upon his return, he was surprised and delighted to discover that a breeder in Co Derry had some year-old pups for sale. 

The idea of using the dogs on Irish cattle farms was first mentioned to Joe when he took his now three year old cattle dog, Lucy, to Galway's Mountbellew Agricultural College for a sheep trial.  "Lucy had not been trained for herding sheep, but after a minute or two her instincts took over," Joe said.  As she instinctively began to herd the sheep, Joe McMunagle, a border collie breeder himself and department head of the college's beef and dairy section, admitted the dog was one of the best he had seen.  He recommended its use with suckler cattle, herds of which are on the increase in Ireland as farms diversify and become larger.  Jose Bradley accepts that the cattle dog is a little too rough for sheep.  "They were bred specifically for cattle, " he said.  "Their secret trait is to bite, and to be able to duck from kicks.  They are the perfect size for this purpose, extremely agile, and devoted to a fault."  Joe has a word of warning, however.  "they must be trained at an early age.  They are happiest at work, able to use their great intelligence and energy.  They are not really suitable as a pet unless they are given enough stimulation."

History

Australian cattle dogs have been a registered breed with the Kennel Club since 1948, but the first imports to Europe didn't arrive until 1879.  There are now roughly 350 in the UK, with 6000 in the US.  The Australian Cattle Dog Society of Great Britain has since placed dogs on cattle farms all over Europe, including Denmark.  They have also been used in the police force and for mountain rescue.  Sue Huntingdon of the ACD Society believes that not only are they under-used as sniffer dogs, but their use as a guard dog is not fully understood.  "They have been used for every purpose in Australia," she said.  "They instinctively guard the horse and saddle, home and station.  However, they must be socialised well.  Their extreme intelligence must be used."

It is believe that the Australian cattle dog was cross-bred in the 1800's from the blue merle collie and the native Australian dog, the dingo.  It is also possible that the kelpie and Dalmatian were introduced into the breeding history.  It is obvious to any native Australian that the best features of the dingo have been captured in the breed, including an ability not only to survive an extreme climate which would kill most other dogs, but to work and thrive under those conditions.  (It is believed that the dingo came to Australia with the Aborigines tens of thousands of years ago, but it is now a wild animal and tamed only with permission from local authorities.)  The cattle dog, known colloquially in Australia as the red or blue heeler or 'bluey', has retained some of the other characteristics of the dingo, meaning they are rarely nervous but very suspicious of strangers or strange objects.  The blue type is more popular than the red, particularly on cattle stations where the red has often been mistaken for a dingo and shot by mistake.  Virtually every cattle dog will 'heel' or round up cattle, which, unlike sheep, do not have an instinctive fear of dogs.  Heeling is entirely instinctive in the cattle dog and has little to do with training or intelligence.

Characteristics

Cattle dog pups are all born white, but eventually grow to develop two distinct colours.  The blue, which will show blue skin colour as a pup and look grey by six weeks, usually has black markings on its body.  The red speckle has pink skin at birth and looks sandy by six weeks, and has brown markings.  The mature colour is formed by 12 or 15 months.  They are a hardy and easy to keep animal, but do have a few physical problems, including congenital deafness.  Puppies which are bilaterally deaf are often hard to train and need specialised handling, so most breeders tend to euthanase.    The inheritance of deafness is not fully understood but is believed to be associated with coat colour.  Cattle dogs are also known to suffer from progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), a condition inherited in a simple recessive gene.  There is also a known problem in Australia with hip dysplasia, but sample testing of dogs in the UK has so far shown clear results.

"They are extremely intelligent, and not as 'hyper' as border collies," Sue Huntingdon said as recommendation.  "The problem is to find them the right home.  They must be socialised and trained well."  She recommends that they are either used as working animals, or are given constant stimulation if they are to be companions.  Joe Bradley agrees.  He and Sue recently delivered a pup to a livestock farm in Limerick, run solo by a woman who had shown an interest in the dog for some time.  "Of all the pups, this one will have the best home," said Joe, despite having snapped up one of the litter himself.  "The dog will be stimulated and worked for the reason it was bred.  That dog may very well help save the farm."