What do you know about Australian Cattle Dog`s? Questions

Did you mean to quote rottalmarotts post not Aussiegeeks ? ;-) It was rottalmarotts who put "I disagree with comments that they are not a family pet "

Generally speaking, personally I would`nt advise one for Sarah either, I think most people with worky Pastoral breeds like BCs, Kelpie`s and ACDs would probably agree that these dogs really do need a particular owner mindset too.
When used to those sort of dogs it`s second nature to work with them on the mental stimulation side in the way they need it but for a novice ending up with a high work drive dog of any of these breeds, [ not all Pastorals are worky but it`s always best to assume that they will be so, in order to be prepared for that ], they can be too much and often end up in rescue as a result - I wish I had a pound for the people who really did say when handing in their Collie to a BC rescue I was a volunteer for oop North that they could`nt understand it, they thought the dogs were `born knowing how to do things`, or the times people say such dogs `must be really easy because of their intelligence` when the truth is their intelligence is what causes many people to have problems because they just can`t keep up with their dogs mental abilities/needs, literally, or the one`s who had one dog of a breed for 17 years and think they know everything there is to know about that breed because of the one dog they have/had which is/was often not typical of the breed at all, especially when their one dog was a `laid back` version of a worky breed :?

There are two ACDs who come to agility at my club, their owner knows them inside out and is extremely breed savvy, she would never advise them as a breed for a family situation where doing lots of stimulating activity may not be possible as the dogs needs would not be fulfilled - can they `do ok` as a family pet ? Some can, yes, but is it fair on them not to have lots of worky type opportunities whether working stock or doing Agility or suchlike mentally stimulating activities ?
I don`t think so really, not unless the dog turned out to luckily be very laid back with diluted breed traits, and because of how they often are around other dogs - yes some might get on perfectly ok with others but that`s the exception not the norm, these are dogs bred and hard wired to be able to cope with bulls and stroppy rams, taking on another dog is small fry in comparison, they are hard as nails in terms of looking after themselves including pre-emptive action so even when doing an activity where there are other dogs involved it`s a case of the handler having to keep close watch rather than just being able to relax knowing their dog would likely rather play than fight - definitely any ACDs with typical breed traits are not for the faint hearted.
Sarah, think of how people can often be so wrong about BCs and magnify it several times over for an ACD, that`s probably the best way I can put it.

**To make it clear, no not all dogs of all breeds will carry their breeds mental traits but I believe whichever breeds anyone chooses it`s foolhardy not to be prepared to know what they might be dealing with should their cute pup turn out to have high drives known to their breed and be able to cater to/manage/work with those traits. It`s also not realistic to go by one person having a good experience of a laid back dog in terms of potential traits and to assume they will all be like that one - assume the strongest traits will be in there then at least an owner can breath a sigh of relief should their pup grow up not as typical of their breed after all.

No I meant the post as I quoted it. If you read AG post she said almost the same thing in the first line.

You are more than a bit late, sarah went out and bought one anyway only to re-home it fairly quickly to a friend because it was too rough with her children and kept nipping them....... She has since had a third dog (another staffy) although her profile says that she has no dogs?

This is in fact a really old thread (almost 2 years!) and I find it a bit odd that a new member has only posted in a two year old thread...........

re-read, I was confused there, sorry

I did`nt look at the thread age, no wonder there was something familiar about it, it`s all come flooding back now, doh !

I really should`nt get near a PC without having a sufficient caffeine intake first

Yeah see the thing is that I did read what was wrote and someone did make a comment about them being family pets and I wanted to elaborate on that. Sry if you see a problem with that. YAWN!

Then I suggest you read it again, properly. Nobody said they were no good as family pets.

This is an old thread!

I thought I had said at the time (but obviously didn't!) that I wouldn't suggest an ACD, Kelpie, Huntaway or any similar breed as a first time dog, and I would even go so far as to say that I wouldn't think they make very good pet dogs. As with anything, there are exceptions but in general these dogs NEED to work and would need an exceptional pet home to be happy.

I never said anybody did. I said someone made a comment about them as family dogs. I never said someone said they were no good. I think you need to reread.

:? Actually you did in this one line:

The point several of us tried to make at the time this thread was started was that ACD's were not a suitable breed for the OP in her circumstances not that they were unsuitable as a family dog and unfortunately we were shown to be right in that respect.:-(

yes Moobli this is a very old thread resurrected by a new member that has had to search through to find it and who has only posted on here. Am I really the only one that finds that a bit odd?:?

It may be a bit odd colliemad - unless they did a search looking for threads on ACDs?

I dont see where I said that anyone said they werent good family dogs. I see a statement I made but no accusation that anyone said otherwise. I guess people take things differently.....