Cattle dog antics Working Dogs

Thanks Rick !

One thing I can say , if a healer is for sale or give away up here ,

they won’t be there for long !

people really like them here too

Here is a red stumpy tail cattle dog we saw today. I asked if he guards the yard ,
And would he bite someone if they tried to come in?
The guys reply was a head nod and a serious “oh yeah !”

Here is my pups mother , she has a natural half tail

She is lovely! What gorgeous colouring.

cattle dog and kangaroo antics

Well I suppose not being from here in Australia , people may not understand that vid as I saw in the YouTube comments a lot of emotion and different opinions. usually I’m not the clarifying type , I’ll make an exception here .

the cattle dog herded the kangaroo , the dog was wagging it’s tail , herding not attacking , the kangaroo was pretty slow turning and chasing it .

cattle dog could easily avoid it , that’s their speciality , if it was trying to fight it it’s a different story.

good lesson for the kangaroo and I don’t think too traumatic all in all , for it to stay out of town , and away from dogs.

If you didn’t know i see how you could think that roo or that dog may get killed in that situation.

At least there was people around to diffuse it. Also restrain the dog which should have been anyway already.

this vid had 266,000 views some time after I posted it yesterday, now it’s at 421,000+ the next day .

it’s clocking up the k’s

First of all I do not know anything about herding dogs, only what I have seen on the television or in videos, but to me it did look like the dog was herding and not trying to attack. From having seen my small dog in attack mode when larger dogs come into our yard, that dog did not look as if it was in attack mode to me. It also looked like both the dog and the kangaroo could have quickly gotten away from each other had they wanted to.

The dog looked like it was excited in doing what it considered to be its job, ie herding, and neither it nor the kangaroo looked particularly distressed at the situation.

I may be reading this all wrong [I have not read the YouTube comments] so this is just my view of what I saw in the video. Whether the dog should have been restrained before it was is, is something I would not know, not knowing the situation, or how often kangaroos are in that particular area and whether they cause any problems.

People "read" videos as they see them. Correct or not, the above is how I read it.

in Australia , the local councils are
pedantic about dogs being kept in yards and the like in town.

broadford is a small town off the Hume freeway in country Victoria , the south of the country.

kangaroos are protected , and in enormous numbers in some places, well they can jump fences , even the small ones , it’s their specialty

evidently the kangaroo was herded into the front yard of the house , however I don’t think the kangaroo really spoke cattle dog very well , and herding kangaroos into pens in general is not going to be likely to happen .

when it comes to being in the bush , kangaroos are fast as they make their way over obstacles , leaving many a dog in the dust.

I thought the dog was going to be booted! The Roo didn't seem too stressed - just an over-excited dog, no harm done.

@Queensland blue - thank you for the explanation. Dogs are not allowed to run loose here but unfortunately far too many people ignore that fact, hence loose, and dumped dogs being able to come into my yard, which unfortunately cannot be fenced.

Tikva [and the dogs I had before her] is on a 12m light tether which is fixed just inside my door and clipped onto her harness. She can go out and come in at will but she is safe enough as she cannot reach the pavement - loose dogs are a different matter, but either she chases them off or, if I am able to, I do my fishwife act and screech at them!

She may be only small but she will not put up with other dogs in her territory! She is a good watchdog too, and will not let anyone near if she does not like the look of them - more than a few people have legged it leaving a shoe behind!

Tip - never under-estimate a Dachshund [or a Dachshund/Minpin cross]. They have very strong teeth and very strong jaws!

sounds like a real guardian of the threshold !

my pup has turned 10 months old a few days ago .
He became a guard dog 2 days ago .
Something ‘switched on ‘ , he was barking at something down the paddock , normally he would watch while the older dog barked.

I was liking hearing his voice come out , later he barked at something else ,
Then barked at passers by , growled at someone who showed up in a car while we were in the bush.

and now he is also barking guarding while in the house , so he had one go at it , found his voice and now he is in the job

Also his body is beginning to change , testosterone like a teenager would , so its a corresponding thing.

that’s one main reason I got him , to help protect the female dog , from dingoes and wild dogs .

and so speaking of roaming dogs , when we were leaving in the vehicle from our forest walk a couple days ago a great big wild dog crossed the road there , looked like a dingo except it was pretty huge , more like the size of an alsation than a dingo . Definitely crossed , glad we did not encounter it while we were walking .

I have to admit that I would prefer Tikva not to bark if someone parks across the road. There are no houses that side [and no parking on this side] but there are spaces in between the lampposts where people can park. And sometimes people will stop there to get something from the little shop which is diagonally across the road from me, in a little side road. And Tikva objects so she barks - I am convinced that when whoever has parked returns and drives off she thinks she has done her duty!

But she does have different barks that tell me if someone is coming down the path and I am either not in the room or if they come down the path in the front out of my sight, whether it is a friend, someone she is not sure of but thinks is OK, and someone who she definitely does not like [my door is usually partly open on a rope so someone could get in by ducking under it if they are not too large].

Rather reassuring if I have to go to the loo or into the kitchen, not having to keep shutting and then opening the door again. Only a couple of people know how to reach in and unhook the rope [it is fiddly unless you really do know] and they are people she knows. If she does not know someone and they try to reach in, they could easily end up minus a finger or two.

Both sound like excellent dogs!

The day before yesterday I managed to set my bad back off pretty bad.
I’m so thankful that I’d trained Kyrie to walk off the leash with me a little while back. That’s been a real blessing, not having to hold onto a leash going up/down the stairs, and while walking her.

ahhh !
The old barking dog when your going to the toilet fiasco ,
I Know it well .
a most in-opportune moment of disturbance , to have to call the dog and keep an eye on things.

Dogs clipped on chains can be fine at times , some dogs actually enjoy it , I have a piece of wire stretched between a tree and a shed a dog can use , to clip a chain to for a long run of maybe 30 meters .
They can lay in the shade , watch the world and chew on a big bone,
Without worry of them running out, although admittedly I haven’t had to use it for a long while.

I went and bought some new clips for when the dogs are on the ute today.

as the spring shackles I have been using , the dogs have unclipped themselves numerous times when they are about getting excited.

the new ones are called bull clips , or bull shackles .

so I’m giving them a go ,fingers crossed.

got down the water before and the dog jumped off the back before I even got out the cab !

I had another situation where I had both mine on leads with a short rope tied to those leads for a bit of extra length , so they could pull (me up hills)
A couple days ago.

we were on a bush walk with very steep hills , and I also really appreciated their bit of help ,
As my knee was getting sore .

Here is the new clip type I am trying,
The moveable inner part has to push all the way outside the clip , before a gap opens up to release the collar, and should not theoretically be able to catch on anything accidentally to do that.

Here is the old clip type I had used , with the arm piece that swings inwards , which the dogs would somehow twist in a way on things to escape

Tikva's tether is fixed just inside the front door so I do not have to call her, as except when it is raining or too cold to keep the door open, she is on her tether all the time. It is just a very lightweight but strong cord - it is actually washing line - and the 12m gives her a total of 24m as she can reach 12m outside - 24m when rushing backwards and forwards, and also 12m inside. Long enough for her to follow me into the loo - into the kitchen - into the back room but not into my bedroom. Except at night, of course, when the door has to be closed and also at night, when she is not on her tether.

Obviously if I could fence all round my yards she would not have to be tethered, but that is not possible, and for a little dog she has a lot more freedom to run around than many dogs that are confined to small areas.

There is no shade in my yard so she does not stay outside for long, but she is ready to shoot outside if she hears/sees something. As I say, she is a good little watchdog!

I use one of those bull clips/bull shackles on a short piece of heavy chain that is fixed inside to metal plates [one outside and one inside] bolted through the wall, and the end of her tether is well tied to that.

The carabiner you you show is what I use on the strong rope that holds the door partly open. The rope is fitted through a strong ring screw thing that is bolded through the door, [which opens outwards] goes through a sort of curled strong screw fixed into the inside of the door frame, and the other end on another curled strong screw fitted into the door jamb the hinge side.

But - they have a screw lock so cannot easily be opened by anyone trying to get the door open from the outside. Tikva's teeth would stop anyone from attempting to do so! They are more secure than the bull clips as they are much more difficult to open in a hurry.

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I actually have a collection of various sizes/shapes of that type of locking carabiner as they come in handy for all sorts of things, the small ones being ideal as keyrings.