Australian Cattle Dog

Australian Cattle Dogs are hard workers today on farms throughout the world. They need to run, to chase, to herd, and to play with their owners. They are sometimes suspicious of people and dogs they don't know. They are obedient, but training takes patience because they're also independent.

Australian Cattle Dog breed facts

In the show ring, they are called the "wash and wear" dog as the only grooming required is a bath and a good brushing to keep the coat clean and healthy.

The Australian Cattle Dog is sometimes known as the Blue Heeler, Queensland Heeler, Queensland Blue Heeler, and was originally known as the Australian Heeler.

Information you should know before owning an Australian Cattle Dog

Australian Cattle Dogs are sturdy, alert, and watchful. The Australian Cattle Dog was originally bred to work cattle in the rough inland terrain of Australia.

The coat is easy to care for, a good bathing and brushing will keep the coat clean and healthy.

Bred to herd all day, Australian Cattle Dogs have a lot of energy.

Australian Cattle Dog's love their owners and especially love to play with children.

Australians owe a great debt to all the persons involved in the development of the Australian Cattle Dog, for without it the beef industry of Australia would undoubtedly have had great difficulty in developing into the important industry that it has become.

In the year 1840, George Elliott, in Queensland, was experimenting with Dingo-blue merle Collie crosses. Elliott's dogs produced some excellent workers. Cattle men were impressed with the working ability of these dogs, and purchased pups from them as they became available. Two brothers, Jack and Harry Bagust, of Canterbury in Sydney, purchased some of these dogs and set about improving on them. Their first step was to cross a bitch with a fine imported Dalmatian dog. This cross changed the merle to red or blue speckle. The Bagusts' purpose in this cross was to instill the love of horses and faithfulness to master into their dogs. These characteristics were obtained and made these Bagust dogs useful for minding the drover's horse and gear, but some of the working ability was lost. Admiring the working ability of the Black and Tan Kelpie, which is a sheepdog, the Bagusts experimented in crossing them with their speckle dogs. The result was a compact active dog, identical in type and build to the Dingo, only thicker set and with peculiar markings found on no other dog in the world. The blue dogs had black patches around the eyes, with black ears and brown eyes, with a small white patch in the middle of the forehead. The body was dark blue, evenly speckled with a lighter blue, having the same tan markings on legs, chest, and head as the Black and Tan Kelpie. The red dogs had dark red markings instead of black, with an all-over even red speckle.

Only the pups closest to the ideal were kept, and these became the forebears of the present-day Australian Cattle Dog. The working ability of the Bagusts' dogs was outstanding, retaining the quiet heeling ability and stamina of the Dingo with the faithful protectiveness of the Dalmatian. As the word spread of the ability of these dogs to work cattle, they became keenly sought after by property owners and drovers. The blue-colored dogs proved to be more popular, and became known as Blue Heelers. These cattle dogs became indispensable to the owners of the huge cattle runs in Queensland, where they were given the name tag of Queensland Heelers or Queensland Blue Heelers.

After the Black and Tan Kelpie cross, no other infusion of breeds was practiced with any success. The breeders of the day concentrated on breeding for working ability, type, and color. In 1893 Robert Kaleski took up breeding the Blue Heelers, and started showing them in 1897.

Mr. Kaleski drew up his standard for the Cattle Dog and also for the Kelpie and Barb in 1902. He based the Cattle Dog standard around the Dingo type, believing that this was the type naturally evolved to suit the conditions of this country. Even today the resemblance to the Dingo is evident, except for the color of the blues and the speckle in the reds. After much opposition from careless breeders, Kaleski finally had his standard endorsed by them and all the leading breeders of the time. He then submitted his standard to the Cattle and Sheep Dog Club of Australia, and the original Kennel Club of New South Wales for their approval. The standard was approved in 1903.

The breed became known as the Australian Heeler, then later the Australian Cattle Dog, which is now accepted throughout Australia as the official name for this breed. However, even today, some people can be heard calling them Blue Heelers or Queensland Heelers.

After a period as a Miscellaneous breed, the Australian Cattle Dog was accepted for registration by the American Kennel Club as of May 1, 1980, and became eligible to be shown in the Working Group as of September 1, 1980. It was transferred to the Herding Group when that was formed, effective January 1, 1983.

Is this a vulnerable breed? Yes, No	No
What size is this dog? Small, Medium, Large	Medium
How much excercise is required? 30 mins a day, 1 hour a day, Over 2 hours a day	1 hour a day
How long is this dog's coat? Short, Medium, Long	Short
How much grooming is required? Once a week, More than once a week, Every day	Once a week
Does this dog shed? Does shed, Does not shed	Does shed
What area is this dog best suited to? Town, Country, Either	Country
What size house is required for this breed? Flat/Apartment, Small House, Large House	Small House
What size of garden is required? Small Garden, Large Garden, No Garden	Small garden

	General Appearance Strong, compact, symmetrical, with substance, power and balance. Hard muscular condition conveys agility, strength and endurance. Grossness or weediness undesirable.
	Characteristics Ability to control and move cattle in all environments. Loyal, protective. Guardian of stockman, herd and property. Naturally suspicious of strangers, but amenable to handling. Biddable.
	Temperament Alert, intelligent, watchful, courageous, trustworthy, devoted to its work.
	Eyes Medium, oval, alert and intelligent, dark brown. Neither prominent nor sunken. Warning suspicious glint is characteristic.
	Mouth Lips tight and clean. Jaws strong with a perfect, regular and complete scissor bite, i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws.
	Neck Exceptionally strong, muscular, of medium length blending into body. Free from throatiness.
	Forequarters Strong, sloping shoulders well laid back, not too closely set at withers. Strong, round bone, legs straight when viewed from front, pasterns flexible and slightly sloping when viewed from side. Loaded shoulder and heavy front undesirable.
	Body Slightly longer from point of shoulder to buttocks than height at withers, as 10 is to 9. Level topline, strong back and couplings. Well sprung ribs, carried well back, but not barrel ribbed. Chest deep, muscular and moderately broad.
	Hindquarters Broad, strong and muscular. Croup rather long and sloping. Well turned stifle, hocks strong and well let down. When viewed from behind, hocks to feet straight and set parallel, neither too close nor too wide apart.
	Feet Round, short toes, strong, well arched and held tight, pads hard and deep. Nails short and strong.
	Tail Set on low, following slope of croup/rump. Reaching to hock, hanging in slight curve at rear. When working or excited, may be raised but never carried over back. Good brush.
	Gait / Movement Strong, compact, symmetrical, with substance, power and balance. Hard muscular condition conveys agility, strength and endurance. Grossness or weediness undesirable.
	Coat Smooth, double with short dense undercoat. Close top coat, hard, straight and weather resistant. Under body and behind legs, coat is longer to form mild breeching near thighs. Short on head (including inside of ear) front of legs and feet. Thicker and longer on neck. Average hair length 2.5-4 cms (1-11/2 ins).
	Colour Blue: Blue, blue-mottled or blue speckled with or without other markings. Permissible markings are black, blue or tan markings on head, evenly distributed for preference. Forelegs tan midway up legs and extending up the front to breast and throat, with tan on jaws. Hindquarters tan on inside of hindlegs, and inside of thighs, showing down front of stifles and broadening out to outside of hindlegs from hock to toes. Tan undercoat permissible on body providing it does not show through blue outer coat. Black markings on body undesirable. Red Speckle: Good even red speckle all over, including undercoat, (neither white nor cream), with or without darker red markings on head. Even head markings desirable. Red markings on body permissible but undesirable.
	Size Height at withers: dogs: 46-51 cms (approx. 18-20 ins); bitches: 43-48 cms (approx. 17-19 ins).