Cattle dog antics Working Dogs

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bellbrook/dogs-puppies/male-smithfield-cattle-dog/1266693828

If you wanted to look for/at cattle dogs for sale in Australia to see what’s around the country , gumtree is a good start .

Go to - gumtree.com.au , and type in “cattle dog”.

There’s a young male Smithfield ‘type ‘ on there today . Don’t see too many for sale.
Won’t take long and he will be sold and this ad taken down.

Couple of beautiful stumpies we saw today , they were guarding their yard together .
Very striking color coats , wouldn’t be surprised if they were the papered kind .

Australian stumpy tail cattle dogs are called this because they are born with stumpy tails !.
contrary to what some people online have been saying that I have seen ,
Cattle dogs do not have cut tails in Australia .

Some cattle are bigger than others

Cute and intelligent female almost 3 month old red cattle dog pup on the ute we saw today , with her 12 month old harlequin Dane cross female pig dog muscle backup .

Well the pup has actually started bringing back toys sometimes .

here is his soft rope pull toy . I don’t mind this one as it’s soft for his teeth .

It is important for scent , sight , body coordination this kinda stuff and helps him be an accurate guy , instead of being a doofus , he is becoming a master .

much like children of the human variety learning hand eye coordination as a child through sports , balls etc .

I can point and he takes me and shows me where it is , when he is not bringing it back ,
Which actually naturally works out really well for indicating hunting now.

This fella needs the exercise,
Almost floating like kung fu master

8 year old male cattle dog we saw today , he guards the car and will bite without a growl or bark the guy said which is pretty typical. he is very protective of his wife he also said.
He has a natural 1/4 tail a bit longer probably about 6 inches or so . I really like his darker color .

Here is a trainer getting a red heeler to stop biting for a customer , he seems to think it’s called an Australia shepherd which is weird . However .......

he is using a clicker and treats for a reward to rewire him . That’s the interesting part of the idea ,
The part where he talks about an e-collar being added , I don’t know about that as it could fall into the hands of the wrong stupid people (the idea).

I have seen them used and set to vibrate only, to stop hunting dogs from chasing non target species .
Only took a couple times of being buzzed to teach a dog.
I don’t have these problems as my dogs are well socialized and not aggressive , the click reward I could see being helpful for someone .

(this guy doesn’t understand the breeds natural instincts by a few things he says , I imagine the owners don’t either by the predicament )

Yeah, I don't think he knows the breed at all.

I have a problem with a trainer who takes the dog away from the owner to train. If this dog has that much aggression in him that he can't go into a kennel, then the owner needs to be onsite learning how to properly communicate with the dog - even if it's just sitting there watching how to do it at first.

I don't think using an e-collar on that dog will get positive results either. The dog already distrusts people - adding electric shock is not going to rebuild the trust. And an e-collar is not communication, it's correction. In some situations it can be useful, but never with a dog who already distrusts people.

I suspect the dog has been forced into his crate time and again instead of being properly trained. This is my biggest gripe about crates - instead of teaching the dog how to be a polite well-behaved member of the household, people just crate the dog. A strong-willed dog can start to resent the crate and not want to be confined, or can see it as a way not to do what's it's being asked to do, leading to aggression issues. A more submissive dog can see it as a hideout to avoid life, making it fear aggressive.

I took in a foster dog who would run into its crate and attack you instead of going outside to potty. The prior foster would then let her "sit it out" in the crate. I took her home. No more crate, so she would find an open closet or empty box and attack - she'd go anywhere that forced you to approach her from the front and then she'd attack. Closed closet doors and removed the empty box and the dog learned to happily go outside to potty on command. She never tried to bite me again.

Cattle dogs have a protective instinct bred into them and many protect items or space .

for this reason they have long been a favorite on the back of tradesman utilities to guard their tool boxes and whatever else is onboard .

I see the crate as like being inside his fence , which he protects by instinct .

and ...... a cattle dog in a crate , I’m not a fan . They need open spaces .

you right about mistrusting the humans , as this is also their trait , however in this case the dog bites the owners , which I have heard of before too ,
However the reverse is for the owners to have the dog trust them in the first place .

which then if they have had the dog since a young pup , tells me the humans lack the behavioral skills themselves to work with this breed to begin .

perhaps their dog is neglected and doesn’t even like them lol ,

or perhaps left to its natural instincts and not properly incorporated into a family unit , it reverts to this nature as some people lack the right energy and know how of communicating and then dealing with issues as they arise ,
Perhaps the dog became their pack leader and disciplines them , who knows .

A nervous cattle dog made so by an electric collar could become a nervous biter , or worse a defeated dog who doesn’t want to play .

I also am not impressed by this video of the trainer , a lot of cattle dogs when advertised here are asking for a farm home .

in the right environment , all the right characteristics click with the right job for the dogs .

sigh

Yeah. I've known a few cattle dogs over here. They are great dogs. But as is true with so many breeds, they fall into the hands of people who don't take the time to learn about and understand them BEFORE getting them. The dog loses everytime.

When I fostered, I got comments from other fosters that I was too picky about adopters for my dogs. But none of my dogs were returned or dumped. I made sure the adopter fully understood the dog's personality and needs. If I had any doubts that they didn't grasp or weren't willing to work within the dog's requirements, I didn't adopt it to them. It resulted in very strong lifelong bonds between dog and owners. And I never got a phone call that the dog was "out of control" or "too much to handle".

When I got Kyrie at two months old; I put everything else on hold for the next 10 months to spend all day/every day with her as my main focus. It took a lot of dedication; but it really paid off.

That said; giving up bike riding, kayaking, spear fishing, and shooting IDPA matches and weekly practices, took some will power. Although, after I got into the “habit” of making the pup my main interest, it became easier.

Now, it seems a small price to pay for the great dog I have, and I really couldn’t ever let her go for anything, or any amount of $$.

very considerate of you Rick .

I took the dogs shooting targets on a farm yesterday Here , they like eating the avocados out there too ,I cut out the big seed .
they have gotten used to the sound of shooting since a young age . First the .22 then louder ones .
They come everywhere , and the ute was even a large bit bought for them to sit on the back .

I keep them a good distance away from the shots to protect their hearing , and keep them calm .

Re: the kayak , I used to go with the dog sitting on the front paddling , we would go and catch red claw and for exercise .

when I got the second dog I went and bought a Canadian canoe . So we can all fit in !
We also have a small tinny with motor for further journeys .

yes one big happy adventurous family with cattle dogs .

hey toedtoes , just to prove our point

“Some dogs who are mischievous, naughty or anxious , really need a job to fulfill their lives “.

Cheese the kelpie kept ending up in the pound and could escape when he found a home and ended up back at the pound each time .
He can jump the pounds fences in one leap.

then they realized his unique talents could be used by the Australian defense force , they gave them a call and he is now an explosives detection dog !

all that energy to good use .
News today .