Cattle dog antics Working Dogs

A few things about Australian cattle dogs .........

When I was a kid , we rode push bikes around the neighborhood .

gates weren’t always closed and laws and rules not as strict as they are now.

one thing people knew then here in Australia , is that cattle dogs would chase and bite the bicycles tyres.

that is part of their reputation.

Another is many stories of people entering people’s property , say the electricity meter man , a door knocker of some sort , or in some cases a burglar.

only to have the owner come home to find the poor visitor having been bailed up by the Australian cattle dog , Who then would not let them leave.
So they would be begging to be saved from a fence or roof or the like when the owner got home.


The blue and red healers (acd’s) well known and bred for their heal bite , were renowned for just this.

sneaking around behind and giving a nip.

Another thing these dogs were popular for , using their natural protective and suspicious nature is guarding the back of trades peoples utes (* like a pickup truck in Australia).

I know a guy who used to surf and would leave the dog with his towel and whatever else while he was in the water while it would sit and guard it.

I have heard stories of Australian cattle dogs , who knowing their Herding job well could be left alone to complete the delivery of mobs of cattle to their destination , over miles without the owner being present.

one such story of a dog that worked a route to an abattoirs , when the owner had to leave the job of delivering the cattle one day mid work,

the dog proceeded to herd the entire mob first somewhere else looking for the boss in case the ‘boss’ had gone there .

realizing he had not , the dog then proceeded the following miles to the destination alone herding them ,
As they are brilliant dogs with problem solving skills, it knew what to do.

The reason the boss knew the dog had herded the cows to the other place looking for him first was because of the reports of people who had seen this dog taking a mob of cows along and told him that he’d gone that way looking for him.

A good working Australian cattle dog , will herd 8 to 12 hours a day I am told.

there are a lot of cattle farmers up here in North Queensland , and the dogs are proper working dogs still .

many dogs can’t do the job required.
So they are advertised or sold and go where they can have an easier life.

it is very hot here in the north much of the time.

I have heard a lot of claims about cattle dogs online , the are not fact.

I want to talk about some of them so the truth is out there , as much as I can humbly anyway , from an Australian perspective.

one idea i have heard is people cut their tails off in the USA .

the reason I head is they have weak tails ! Lol

well I think somewhere between natural stumpy tail cattle dogs and a few stories has come up with this ‘tale’.

in fact in Australia it is not legal to cut of dogs tails anymore , like Rottweilers for instance.

besides it’s the cattle dogs that sneak up on the cattle not the other way around ! Lol

One common story I have heard , which I cannot say either way if it is true or not ,
Is that red healers are a bit ‘madder’ than blue cattle dogs .
In that they are a more aggressive type dog.

I think many of the dogs have changed a lot over the years .

i still wouldn’t pat a farmers cattle dog on the back of his Ute though , when you see those eyes looking at you and wonder if it’s friendly , I would not stick my fingers there to find out!

even if the cattle dogs these days many are friendlier and bred so.

the old reputation still stands.

Many cattle dogs can be a great judge of character , and protective when need be without being overly ‘guardy’.

my female has met hundreds of people at least , and had no problem.

one day a man wanted a jump start for his flat battery and appeared to be off his face on drugs.
And I could not make her stop growling at him no matter what I tried , he was sneaking a look in my Ute and she knew he was up to no good.

another time a lady asked what’s her name?

I replied her name was blue , to which she slapped me gently saying oh ! (As if to say Obvious)

like lightening blue had the ladies arm in her mouth gently as if to say uh uh ! Careful with the boss now

Another piece of information online is about the weight of cattle dogs.

once a detail is given online , many times it becomes repeated over and over .

it’s something like 22kg for male dogs , and I want people to know it differs .

as a working dog , I’m not sure how much of this information is related to ‘show standard’ dogs.

here in Australia show dogs really aren’t that common actually, however up here in the north cattle dogs are very common.

there is a male dog near here who at 10 months old is already 30 kg .
albeit he is a fat boy after being desexed he did put on weight.
Some are bigger than him too he is not too tall or overly big only a bit fat as a house dog.

there are other dogs that are small.



they do need to be fast enough to drop down to avoid the cows kicks though , so there is that to keep in mind, they are a medium size dog.

I don’t want this to paint a picture of a vicious breed however , and Many cattle dogs are pat dogs that will roll over to people they don’t know for a belly scratch.

in some cases without socialization a natural distrustful instinct can be nurtured , and they can be very loyal to one owner .

in the case of my female , she is friendly with people , and really also enjoys watching the comings and goings of cars and people , one car moving too slow could be suspicious and will make her sound the alarm.

We talk to each other all day , so she lets me know when something is out of place , even if only I say I see it , it’s ok darling.
And good job ! So she understands and is instantly calm.

before I got her a friend male , she barked more , when he came along she became more relaxed and confident , also less bored .

she barked less in our case , as I think she had barked because she was longing for more.

About stumpy tail cattle dogs......

well my boy , was born a stumpy tail .
Many of his brothers and sisters had tails , and some more were also born stumpy tails.

so although ‘stumpy tail cattle dogs’ may have stumpy tails , some pups actually have tails !

Add to this ,
many people don’t mind here to breed stumpy tail cattle dogs with a cattle dog with a tail , and you will see the dilemma.

(I’m not talking about dog breeders who distinguish) . Many people do not really distinguish them separately too much , same as with standard size.

so although as it is said , separate breeds exist as with the ‘stumpy tail cattle dog’ , and the Australian cattle dog,

I can tell you from speaking to a stumpy tail breeder here , some of her pups come out with tails and are then sold on cheaper !
purely aesthetic!

I can also report her male dogs she tells me no more than 20 kg in weight.

add to this , the “stumpy tail cattle dog “ program , of rescuing said breed from extinction by grading dogs a,b,c etc due to type is a relatively recent affair ,

which requires picking appealing specimens and attempting to re bring the offspring into a standard of ‘olde’.

My girl comes with me everywhere , even to work .

we are on acreage , so she has room to run if she wants , really though she is happy to hang out with the ‘boss’.

I talk to my dogs , and we can communicate with as little as a glance a lot of the time and sometimes she can read my mind as I’m having the thought..

you know , I think I might go and do ......., now ,

to which she jumps to her feet before I’ve moved or even said anything

so they are extremely smart dogs , go and watch the dog named skid boots on YouTube if you haven’t seen it. I think they can understand as much information as you let them or give them credit for.

try teaching them, I would tell my girl something and she would just know how to do it after one or two times . Yes they’re up there in the smart stakes!


I once showed her a dog on YouTube doing something like 40 tricks , she watched for about 8 minutes the video , then I said right have you got all that ?

So what do people need to know ......

they are very very smart .

they will love you and if you treat them right they will love to please you.

treat them wrong and they may not love to do what you ask either . They may snub your demand.


They may become guardy or herdy , of someone in your family , or strange new things that appear on the paddock of life.

These attributes have been deliberately bred into the dog !

It is brilliant , Make use of them , however know why this is so.

and as a working dog with extremely high intelligence ,

please make sure you can provide these dogs with much stimulation physically and mentally .

if not please reconsider.

if you need a constant companion dog , this could also work.

they will give you a reason to get out of bed every day , protect you and get into life together . so many adventures waiting to begin .


remember what you have signed up for

I have found the cattle dogs I’ve had like to crouch down into a stalk position sometimes.

I’m sure other dogs do this too, however it seems to be an inherited trait they have.

when playing with both of mine as pups they will get down low and almost crawl as they are preparing to launch like a spring into their ‘ attack ‘, or mock attack at least.

this goes along with their weary of strangers approach and cattle herding also.

some cattle dogs can be very loyal , and disinterested in really meeting new people ,(not all) as they are bonded with a person or family already.

sometimes they’re not even interested in meeting other dogs their family is so tight knit.

I have been walking my pup off a lead since he was young , where it is reasonably safe to do so.

He needs to gain the common sense of interacting with the world, that can only come through experience.

One of those things is recall when he gets ahead of me.

I have a hikers rescue whistle that has about the pitch of a smoke alarm. the sound carries quite far.

In getting the dogs used to this if they do run off in the forest , they may be able to hear it and return to the sound.

today my 7 month old pup saw a rabbit and although he has a strong chase or ‘prey’ drive I was able to call him back by speaking to him.

yesterday he saw his first kangaroo and began to chase it.
I was able to call him off that too.
He is slowly learning , and I believe in the old saying kind of .

if you don’t give them an inch to begin,
When it’s time and serious , they may Take a mile!

We have a lot of snakes in australia ,
This is one thing dogs may need to be called off of.

another is crocodiles in the north waterways.

however cars and other dangers are just as potentially troublesome.

there are many times a human needs to be able to see danger ahead and work it out in advance.

Yes, our dogs may be able to give us a warning, but we need to do the thinking. An instant Stop! is a valuable exercise to train, even for a city dog. It has saved many a dog's life.

Thank you for your interesting and informative posts Sir! I’ve enjoyed reading them, and look forward to your future ones.

Yes , now only to train the owners too

T to

Thanks mate ! I’ve been enjoying sharing them too .

Here’s a couple female working dogs we saw today.

they are not pure breds, they are a bit crossed.
I was told the blue dog can grab the cattle by the nose.
There are some stubborn ‘scrub bulls’ That need extra convincing.

Notice they are not too fat and have a bit of leg.

The other obviously has border collie in it.

The owner said “they can go and get the cows and bring them back to us wherever we are “

Here is another working dog.

she came from cook town and the guy said she cost 2000$ that’s what the cattle farmer paid for her as a working dog.

she would bite too hard the cattle’s legs , and make them bleed.

so she was too rough for the farmer who bought her. So she went to be a pet instead.

she has a half tail , born that way , and cannot bark!

she is - Cattle dog cross Kelpie by the way, so again a cross. She is only a small girl with big bite.

Here is 3 different type tails , and then there is the fluffy fox like tail not pictured.

Here is my girl also. Her mother was red cattle dog cross ‘Smithfield’ cattle dog.

Smithfield cattle dog was the name of dogs that came from England in the early days.

the name has persisted though , and in North Queensland at least , is known as a recognizable ‘type’.

other people have tried to say they don’t exist, however you won’t convince those who know about them up here.

it’s a mythical creature that happens to exist