I've got a 5 year old Blue Heeler who will fetch just about anything I throw for him, whether it be a frizbee, ball, stick, etc... Anyway, I was wondering if anyone's used them effectively for stirring up small game or flushing (not necessarily retrieving) upland birds...I realize they're traditionally bred for farm/ranch/herding use, but figured I'd see if hunting was another area they could handle. He's very obedient as far as staying close and not running off, loves getting outside to work/play, but I'm not sure how he'd be as far as gun-shyness.

Anybody?

No reason gunshyness should be more of an issue than with any other dog. Handle it the same way.

They say you can teach a dog to do anything. One thing for sure, he'll never run out of gas, or at least I never saw a heeler that did.

Good luck,

t

I had a female that would retrieve ducks with the best of 'em. Loved hunting from a canoe. She was also a natural blood trailer, went to elk camp for 5 years and really took a shine to finding and baying cripples. One gut-shot spike bull holed up in a scrub oak patch, and she grabbed his nose and hung on till my hunter got there. He thrashed her against the brush so bad patches of hide were peeled off but he finally gave up and just stood there. Any timber patch you wanted cattle out of, she wouldn't quit till every cow(and every elk) was clear. She was also the best coyote decoy I ever seen and would kill a trapped bobcat in nothing flat. Versatile dogs that aren't just cowdogs. Don

Saw a duck hunting video once where they were using a German Shepard as their retriever, did a good job of it.

my old red heeler was a squirrel treeing fool. we would run them up the tree and howl and bark till you got. after u shot the squirrel it was a foot race to see who claimed it. me or wesley the great red heeler. best damn dog i've ever had.

This female had a blue heeler cow dog for a daddy. They both were great pheasant hunters, the heeler daddy was the better of the two. He embarrassed a few high dollar German Shorthairs in the fields and cattail patches of home.

I lost track of him one day in a 1/2 acre of swamp & cattails. It took me over thirty minutes to locate him, still locked on point with a rooster under his nose. Another time, five of us went out for pheasant in foul weather, wet and cold with a mist lying right on the ground. We did not see a rooster that day, but the heeler killed four hens before they could get off the ground.

Properly trained a heeler will also keep your pheasant hunting grounds cleared of feral cats. I always thought that to be a desirable trait in a bird dog. I know we had some pictures of the old boy, but I sure can not lay my hands on any now.

Great pic, Idaho!

I rescued a clutch of heeler pups, when I was in south TX. Man, they went fast. Found them under a bridge....starving to death....nursed them back to health for a month or two....placed an add...and BOOM...they were gone.

HoundGirl

Mine like waterfowl and upland. On elk hunts they wear packs and help carry out the load.

.

That was the fall of '81. Been a bit of water under the bridge since then. I left the dog on the farm with my folks when I moved to town to be with the first and last woman I found that would have me. This sheltie cross and her heeler daddy have been gone for over twenty years now. They sure were great dogs while they lasted.

Idaho-....nevertheless, loooove the John Denver hair cut<giggle>...and the fact you remember the pooches speaks volumes. Thanks for sharing.

Alamosa- what kind of bird is the first dog escorting? Great pics....btw.

HoundGirl

HG
Those are pheasants.
t

Noticed the pheasants.....but couldn't make out the first bird/dog in Alamosa's pics....thanks, T!

HoundGirl

I've a 4 yr blue heeler that works stock will flush and retreive mountain grouse for me when I'am hunting a horseback and I've put him on a couple of bears in the trail in front of the horses to clear a path so I can get to the huckleberries, so far he hasn't retreived them yet. Danny

I guess I didn't get that picture. Sorry

I really enjoy this thread. It's nice juxtaposition to the other stuff, although I must admit my participation in the other. But I like this better.
t

Wow, you all have had far better experience than I'd have expected. I know dogs are versatile, especially heelers, but it sounds like a lot of them really took to hunting quickly. I'll have to take mine out for rabbits and squirrels, and upland birds next fall. Any tips for training? I'm not looking to turn him into a full-blown bird dog, just trying to point him in the right direction.

Pointing in the right direction, will probably be all it takes, SN.

At the risk of insulting other collie, working types, the heeler types, probably the most versatile of all breeds for performance, function, versatility. Take advantage of it SN, or you'll miss out on a lifetime of memories and adventure!

all i did was teach wesley and rowdy to fetch and heel. their natural instinct to herd took over once the game was spotted or spooked.
both of these dogs were used daily for work on our farm and would herd anything that moved, like my sister, horses, cows, 4 wheelers, lawn mowers, tractors and such. those dogs acted like they would die if i left the house with a gun and they couldnt go, but in truth they didnt really care about hunting they justed wanted to be with me.

We were with our dogs in the field farming and handling cattle all day every day and they were trained to work cattle first. All it took to make the switch to game was to point and PSSSST, just like siccing them on a recalcitrant cow.

The heeler daddy I mentioned was actually my Brother's dog which he got when he was in Jr High School. I inherited the dog when my brother died at the age of twenty. Both of these dogs would retrieve from the water anything which floated, right to the water's edge. They never let a crippled bird get away, but neither of them ever carried a bird back to our hand. They would catch, hold, and kill any running, swimming, or floating critter with feathers. But as for an actual retrieve, they both would just look at you as if to say, "You've got two perfectly good legs." "Get your lazy butt over here and pick up this stinky bird." "I did the hard part, what more do you want."

Houndgirl, Who is John Denver? Was he the Skipper's "Little Buddy"?

No? Us old pharts have a hard time keeping up with the celebrities you youngin's recognize.

That's Bob Denver.

John Denver, the singer.

Yeah, I know really. But if I keep yankin HG's chain, we'll both be Kahunas. She sooner than I, despite my three year head start.

HEY...BOOG....you calling me a big mouth?? If you hurry up a bit, Mr. Denver.....the 'Fire Gawds might just crown us both 'Kahunas' in a double ceremony...LOL...

<<<together now.....do da do da do....thank God I'm a country boy>>> ....just yankin your chain so you'll catch up...lol

HoundGirl

Nope, big mouth might be considered offensive.

How's "Chatty Lassy"

Nah, I prefer 'big mouth'.....

HoundGirl

What have you got, eighty five to go?

Not sure....


HoundGirl

Not sure...Oooopsa daisy....double post...lol

HoundGirl

I can't wait til I get a chance to take him out and see how he behaves in the woods. Right now all we can really go after are squirrels and rabbits, but I'm sure if he does actually go after those, he'll flush birds too, even if we can't do anything about that til this Fall.

Alamosa

Many thanks for posting those pictures and especially the one with the pheasant. Just seeing it sitting there with its ears straight up brought back memories of Tina, the one I had, who was my loyal companion for over fifteen years. She went with me almost everywhere and saved me hundreds of steps when working cattle. It was a sad, sad day in my life when I was forced to put her down. I never could bring myself to get another Blue Heeler after that. even though today they remain my most favored breed of dog, because I feared I would compare it to Tina too much.

Although I never trained her to hunt, I am sure that it would have been plenty doable because she was the smartest dog I ever was fortunate enough to own. It's been said that a person usually only gets one great dog in their life and she was definately mine.

alamosa, that is one BLUE dog! wow ...
ya gotta give those heelers jobs. they wanna work, demand to work.

I've got a Red Heeler that I've tried taking bird hunting with me. My ONLY hope is that I see the birds before he does! I'm not a bird dog expert, but do know that dogs fall into pointer, flusher, and retriever catagories. My Heeler is most definitely a flusher. I don't think even a turkey choke would be enough to hunt with him. He can hear/see quail easily from a couple hundred yards and then takes off after them. He's done the same thing with yotes, so when he takes off I just stand there and watch what flushes out. In the end, it's just a nice hike with a shotgun and an old friend. I don't have that stress of trying to fill my bird vest.....

He loves to tree squirrels too, and if that were my thing, he'd love to assignment.

Retrieving seems to be "beneath" him, as he only brings animals back about half way then drops them.

He LOVES the water, but fetches from the water as poorly as he does from land. Swimming is an easy way to keep him clean however.

Our dogs loved nothing more than chewing on the hind leg of a cow. The heeler male was especially aggressive. The type of abuse he could dish out to the cattle just was not needed with a herd of gentle milk cows. So the first and most important lesson he learned was the call back. He obeyed my brother religiously. He could be called off of game as easily as he could a cow. At least he could as long as my brother was alive.

He sometimes failed to pay as much attention to my commands as I did not have the heart to really get the old dog's attention as was sometimes necessary. The fact that old boy had sat at my brothers feet or more accurately ten feet out in front of him while literally thousands of rounds of ammo had been fired, and the dog was deaf as a stone by the time he was ten years old did not make him any easier to command in his old age. He still loved to hunt though.

Bottom line: If your dog is explicitly obedience trained. If he sits, stays, heels, and comes immediately without hesitation. And you never let him stray from those habits while hunting, then he will be controllable. If he is as hard headed as most heelers, an electronic collar might be advised to help remind him to come back the first time the temptation to chase a bird into the next county arises.

This is our boy, Rocco.

Awesome. I love that it has a tail also. In fact she looks like my "Tina" did a lot.

On another note, have any of you had a Blue Heeler that smiled. Mine would if you told her she was a "Good Girl".

You give me hope for my ACD. She needs a job. If I can get her to hunt, that would be grand.

Pepper:

is it me or do all dogs lie on your clothes once they hit the floor? i see pepper and dobie my corgi have the same habit. love them heelers they've got to be the smartest dogs in the world

I don't trust those blue heelers.They're always crabby and nervous little suckers.

Ours isn't crabby...he's the most loving dog I've ever seen and gets along great with all other dogs and most cats too.

Must be how they are treated from the owners.They were all farm dogs.He's a pic of my mutt.Found him in a garbage can tied up in a sack when he was roughly 6 weeks old according to the vet.He was very sick but after some time in the animal hospital he pulled through.
That was 6 years ago.Not one mean bone in his body.

Yeah, my red ACD smiles sometimes. In my bachelor days I rented a doublewide on a 10K acre ranch. The front porch was elevated about waist high, so with him on the porch and me on the ground, we'd be eye to eye. When I pet him he'd smile and offer my a front paw.

Anyone else have their Heeler shake off on them after they swim? Mine will wait until he can catch me off guard then shake right next to me. I'll watch him glance up at me and wait for me to look away. He's always done it, and I guess it's his idea of Heeler Humor.

Deleted. Duplicate post.

I dig all the pictures and stories. Keep them coming.

Personally, I chose heelers because they travel well and because they are smart and adapt well to whatever situation. I'm happy that mine love to hunt.



This dog is packing out about 15lbs of elk in the picture below. Not that much but over several trips with 2 dogs it helps.


This photo below is from a NAHRA hunt test. This dog really likes NAHRA and HRC hunt tests. She earned an HRC started title but I never entered her in more advanced levels.

Is it just me, or is this a straight up awesome photo?

Was thinking the samething.Awesome photo.

My female Blue Heeler is an incredible dog. She is almost 6 years old now. She may be the smartest dog I ever owned and she "owns" the place. Nothing moves that she doesn't know about. many times she has woke me up at night with her "tree bark". Nothing will do but for me to get the old .22 rifle and go to her and shoot the offending possum or coon out for her. She usually catches them before they hit the ground and she is a savage until she is sure they are dead. After that, she has no further interest. Yeah, Ruthie is my best girl!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5249518974978628334&q=skidboot&hl=en

SN - Check out Skidboot, if you've never heard of him. If can find on this site, check out the video where he won the National Pet Tricks one year on Animal Planet. Try to figure out HOW MANY commands and signals the dog understands during the perormance.

AND THIS DOG IS ONLY PART BLUE HEELER!!!

Amazing.

My Blue Heeler went blind at about age 13 also.

I've been around a number of blue heelers. For every good one there is a dozen of them that are totally worthless.No shortage of inbreeding and piss poor training.

A friend of mine has a couple that are good dogs and obey well,but they fight amongest themselves so bad that you end up breaking up dog fights constantly.Every other day they have to have their asses launched by a quarter horse also.

The same friend uses these heelers in camp to keep out grizzlies. I've had the dogs sleep through an entire night of bears in camp,with bear tracks right outside the tent. Dogs inside sound asleep. One year we had one of the heelers hauled up into a tree cache by a pissed off black bear. The two fought and finally the dog was evicted from the cache a little torn up.

My favorite on going heeler hunting stories,involve a local hunting club. The club is owned by an oil company who use it for their rich execs to hunt,needless to say they have a dozen or so high end bird dogs that the company owns,plus trainers.Its also open to the public for pheasants. Being wyoming,you have all kinds of cowboy wannabe's with heelers and aussies. They book a hunt and use these cow dogs on birds. Needless to say the majority get their asses skunked,because the dog just runs around eating deer [bleep] and whatever else it can find. I showed up for a hunt this past season and the club had a couple idiots in their clubhouse crying about being [bleep] out of birds on the hunt. The manager was genuinely suprised and asked about the dog they were using. The reply was they were using one of the best pheasant dogs in the country. The manger asked to see the dog. It turned out the dog was a heeler.So he told them to get in his truck and they'd use a couple of his lab pups that he was training to get them birds. Took them back into the same 40 acre piece of ground and limited out in an hour. Asked him about the ordeal and he claimed that he gets all kinds of idiots using every breed out there for bird dogs then trying get out of paying for the hunt. The club runs around 3000 birds a year and i've never been able to not limit out in a half day hunt.

Lots of heeler owners will recognise Skiboot's attitude and intensity of purpose, even if their own (like mine) ain't nearly that accomplished. I was reading a pretty funny piece recently about a lady who had three heelers while her friend had two labs.

In the house the labs would pretty much crash out on the living room rug while the owner moved around the house, but all three heelers would invariably get up and follow their owner around everywhere, while intently watching whatever she was doing.

Easy to see how a heeler can grow up twitchy and compulsive, they ain't inclined to be overly fond of strangers or worse, strange kids, and WILL home in on the ankles of a stranger or kid on a bike from behind. Another thing too to watch for is that they are mouthy and bite and snap readily.

All of which can be ironed out with proper socialization, but ya gotta put in the time, these ain't usually dogs that can grow up neglected in the back yard and still turn out OK.

On the other hand, if you DO put in the time, you get a dog that you can bring anywhere and trust to stay focused. In run mine off-leash at heel behind my bike through the big city all the time, in fact its the usual way I exercise them. Add to that the general overall tougheness of the breed and Outback roots and you have a perfect all-around South Texas companion dog.

Mine live to tree stray cats, run off stray dogs, and chase rabbits. On cottontails they are comically inept on account of they try to chase 'em through thick brush by sight.

About twice a year they bounce a skunk with predictable results. I never have seen them kill anything they brought to bay though, not even a bewildered possum or stray kitten. Maybe on account of they both grew up around cats in the house. Mostly they just bark until whatever they have bayed runs again, the chase being what they are interested in. Fine with me, them killing stuff could be a problem in my urban setting.

What they DO have that makes them good in the woods though is an observant attitude, they'll be constantly zigzagging back and forth investigating stuff, that and a willingness to pay attention to what you're doing and a desire to please. Prob'ly I could train 'em to do most anything.

Bear watchdogs? Depends on the dog I'd guess, one of mine will sit up nearby and watch all night when we sleep out, the other just wants to crash out under the blanket.

Birdwatcher

Well done, Birdwatcher!

Sledder said 99% of the "dog" problem in his first sentence in the post he made.

The name "heeler" I would think should be self-explanatory, especially when one realizes they were bred to be working stockdogs.

The trick with a dog problem, is to focus that "problem" into an response that is not a problem for each situation. By denying what is innate in the dog (wolf), you can create even greater problems over time, and in some cases make the dog insane.

Much simpler to solve problem than many realize, or just to lazy to follow through on. For instance the heeler: Their primary instinct (at different "innate" levels, all individuals are different as to character)is to drive the prey for the pack, usually where the alpha has trained them. Going through gates, into pens, to your hand, is a trained response that is the alpha's responsibility. Heelers can also be very agressive, as they are inclined to protect what is the property of the pack, space, animals, yards, farm or ranch property. To what degree they do this is the alpha's responsibility.

Heelers can make very good housedogs, farm and ranch dogs, and while not the best choice for a specific type of hunting, their versatility can be adapted to many useful functions as a member of the pack. And as individuals, they will also differ in the amount/type of behavorial characteristics each dog has.

It is the owner's (alpha) responsibility to bring out the best, and their fault if the worst exists. There is NO magic!

Kind of like raising a kid, isn't it!

In case anyone is interested, a very great deal of human psychology was found from study and understanding how dogs related to each other that applies to human bonding as family groups, type of characteristics in social adaptability. and maturation of a particular individual.

We are able to learn exactly when a puppy "bonds" with it's mother, how the puppy learns to form charater and behavorial and interact within it's environment. We also learned a geat deal about what causes mental illness from the study of canines. All of these same traits exist in the human species also. (e.g., with the puppy "bonding" to it's mother, it can actually be witnessed (measured), and the exact same scenario exists with a human infant and its mother. There is a time and a place for it, that if denied, can be difficult for the human infant or the puppy to overcome. Oh yeah, father figures are important too!

All dogs have the instinct to hunt, to a greater or lesser degree. The work different breeds do is the result of certain aspects of the hunting instinct emphasized by breeding and training. The herding breeds all have strong stalking and coursing instincts.

When I was younger, the family pet (Great Dane) turned out to be a very servicable rabbit dog. Danes are bred from sight-hunting hounds and that's the way she hunted bunnies. Her head was higher than the waist-high grass and she'd bust 'em out and chase them through the cover. The most ridiculous thing you ever saw was this giant animal "sproinging" through the tall grass, like Pepe Le Pew, after a cottontail. Even though she was the dunbest canine I've ever encountered, she figured out how to push them into the open where I could nail them with a .410.

There were a lot of quail in those fields but I could never get her the least bit interested in birds. She was also adamant about not picking up dead things. As in all things: run what you brung, but if you want a pheasant hunter that'll get birds in the bag with minimal training, you massively improve your odds with a field-bred Springer or Lab.

My blue heeler on an elk hunt.....



My current red heeler (as a pup) ferret hunting over stuffed animal bait.....

My red pup grown up and still hunting ferrets.......


Her first litter of ferret hunters.......

Yes, they were bred to be working stock dogs and for my money they are the best there is. Mine would go get a cow for you and put it in the shed by simply pointing the cow out and telling her "Go get her girl". She would have done about anything for me but was also obedient to my Wife and son. In fact my son when he was young could roam anywhere on the farm and she would follow him and watch out for him.

She wasn't particularly hard to train, I started out by teaching her what "NO" meant. When I had to reprimand her, I made sure I showed some affection to her about ten minutes later to prove to her I still loved her and she soon learned what was acceptable and what was not.

She was an exceptional watchdog and one thing that amused me is that when a salesman drove into the yard she would run out and sit looking up at them before they could get out of the rig often with the hair on her neck standing up. I would watch from around the corner and if it was someone I wanted to talk with I would call and tell her it was okay and she would wag her tail to show she was friendly with them. If I didn't call they usually just left and she saved me wasting time talking with someone I had no desire to. I had several people tell me that if they just went about their business if we were not home she never bothered them but that she did like to keep them in sight. If they went into a building she often followed them in so she could watch them.

Another very humorous thing that happened involved my neighbor who had a pickup that was nearly identical to mine. He came over one day to borrow a wagon of mine when I wasn't home. He simply backed up to the wagon and got out to hook it up to his truck. He left the door open and Tina knew that if I left the door open it was an invitation to hop in which see did. When Cliff got into the truck she realized she had mad a mistake and Cliff said if you could visualize the look of an embarrassed dog, she was it. She usually waited by the door to make sure it was me before jumping in after that.

I could tell many stories about what a great companion she was but most folks can probably see by now why I say she was a once in a lifetime dog.

Cool pics Huntsman. I don't know anything about ferrets, but I never would have guessed that one would play with a pup or a dog.

I've got a heeler that is with me 24/7,greatest dog and friend I ever had,he hunt,fish and truck across the USA. People ask about the dog and could care less about me.

Good stories, and sounds like you got a handle on the Heelers. Also good looking litter of puppies there.

I never could figure out if it was 40% versus 60% the dog training the owner, OR 40% vs: 60% the owner training the dog, LOL!

Edited to add: NO is one of the most valuable commands to teach a dog. Can save the dog and/or even a persons life sometimes.

Most interesting.
I own a female Blue Heeler and she is a tireless fetcher.
If you throw it she will go for it and bring it back every time.
Trouble is she doesnt want to let go of it.
These dogs are also very good in the dog obediance ring and fly ball trials.
What i use mine for primarily is guard work.
Yes,for my house.
I dont live in the best of neighborhoods and i keep Venus in my house.
She is without a doubt the most suspicious bitch in the world of dogdome.
Very aggressive in regards to perceived threats around the house or yard.
Hates cats even more than strangers.
And she is constantly dogging the poor squirrels in the yard.
This dog has never destroyed any of my furnishings or clothes.
Was very easy to house break as well.
The only negative is that they do shed a lot of hair.
But then again anyone that keeps a dog in their house cant expect a super clean home.
I bought her for $100.00 off of a working cattle ranch when she was eight weeks old.
She was the dominate dog in the litter and i knew i was gonna have my hands FULL with her.
And she lived right up to that prediction.
Working with her constantly finally ingrained in her that i was boss dick around the house,not her!!
These dogs SHOULD NOT be owned by inexperienced people who have little knowledge of working breeds.
I would strongly urge if you are going to buy one to try and get one from a working line.
Mine is now eight years old and has never had one health issue.
Very sturdy animals!!
Unfortunately I have already seen first hand how the AKC show breeders are gutting these fine dogs working abilities.
Never heard of one as a hunting dog until i read this thread.

My heeler only hunts the warmest part of the bed at night. When I had a horse on the place ,she would easily go get it and put it in the barn. After two attempts with the mules, she said the hell with that, put them in yourself.

This is actually my wife's dog. Spoiled rotten, but would kill anyone touching my wife. She even bites me if I get too personal with the wife. All day long, she is at my wife's heels.

Only have to say "Do you want to go" and she is setting on the center console of the Dodge.

These are high maintenace dogs and if they don't have a job to do, you better plan on playing with them at least 1/2 hour per day, hard. ( My job)

I have a border collie here, and they are also very high maintenance due to the "work" instinct. What I do is channel that "work" routine into daily routine, easier on me, easier on her and helps to fit her to the "pack" routine, and establish her position in the pack.

e.g.: When going outside or somewhere: We're going to the barn I just talk to her, any words, but the signal is barn, garage, shop, truck, car, north field, etc. Over time they learn by direction you walk or head, what specific you head for, and will learn to key on the specific sound or word. To the point if you don't move, they will head to object, and in her case if I don't go there, he will sit or wait when she realizes I'm not moving yet. Also in her case as a high energy "work" type, she will do her best to beat me to the place, thing, whatever she thinks we are going to do or go to. If it is a routine, I need to heel her before she gets there, if for some reason I need to be first.
If in the garage, and I pick up the chainsaw she will immediately head for the tractor and trailer. If I don't head for the tractor first, she will sit there, waiting to see if I put the chansaw on the ATV. When I feed the birds of a morning she will be sitting outside the door, and if I come out say nothing, she will immediately head to the drum holding the bird feed, and if I open one up, she will head to the feeders, waiting for me to show up. When coming around the corner of house, she will be sitting at the feeders, waiting to see what I want her to do. Usually I will find something for her to work with. Could be carrying one of the buckets back, sending her afer a cow or calf I want closer look at, whatever, something she is responsible for doing as her "pack" or place function. I also like to throw in something "new" or at least not done often, to keep anticipating" a command. May point to the orchard and tell to CHECK it out, let her "perform" then call her back for reward, usually a good girl(tone of voice important, a signal also), pat on the head, a bisquit, just vary routine enough to keep her looking for direction from me. In short I'm am adjusting what I do, to enable her to fit in with what I expect from her behavior. Varies much from dog to dog, even in same breeds that "specilize" in their function.

Dogs pick up on signals we give that are so obscure to us at times. I think is what makes it so difficult sometimes to correct a problem behavior. All of the smaller interactions we do with dogs, when it is routine to them them, can be considered work, when it is part of their RESPONSIBILITY and INTERACTION in the pack. The excercise is also important, promotes good health both physical and mental, as it does for humans.

My border collie gets about ten to fifteen minutes of frisbee or tennis ball daily, if she does not have any stock work that day. Working and hunting dogs are HIGH maintenance, and can develop some very bad behavorial problems if that is neglected.

That being said, they also make some of the best pets and family dogs, if the owner is able to provide the bahavorial conditioning they need to be healthy.

Border Collies can be some of the sneakiest, destructive, vicious livestock killers if they are neglected.

And, Saddlesore, you need to get your wife to teach your heeler to let you come up a notch on the dominance pole in the "play" category, LOL!!!

Unlike some others here I am not feeling too friendly toward blue heelers. Friday a pack of three roaming blue heelers killed a registered miniature Belted Galloway heifer calf. A real big loss considering there are probably less that a hundred mini belties in the entire country.

Any blue heeler that sets foot on my property is dead meat. No questions asked.

Our heeler is incredibly attentive and responsive to us, especially when it comes to body language. He'll follow us around the house and when we stop, he stops. As soon as we start opening or fiddling with something or whatever, he sits there and watches intently, cocking his head this way and that like he's trying to figure out what we're doing. He's very keen on vocal commands and especially the tones of our voices, but even moreso as I said to movements and body language, stuff that we don't even usually notice we're doing. He puts our siberian husky to shame, because she'd rather play than concentrate on anything for more than 5 seconds, so while he's trying to figure something out, she's lost her train of thought 4 times and done two laps around the house.

More than likely they will be back!

If you didn't get 'em, be ready. Once they start that, they will not stop. That is the wolf thing in them,, the other side of the shadow that follows the dog. And because working stockdogs are bred to make decisions, they can become the most cunning at hiding their stock killing activity.

Here's Cheyanne.



She is one pyscho little dog. She tries to chase deer, so I keep her close in the woods and haven't tried to hunt with her.

In the wild, dingos will space themselves a great distance apart and then work together to form a sort of relay team to run down and exhaust game that they could not overpower together as a pack.

Heelers consistently rank in the top 10 dog breeds in intelligence. They are extremely loyal to one person or family. They can become a real problem if they aren't given something to do.



Most dogs do well at whatever their breeds specialty is. Heelers seem pretty versatile in that respect. Heeler owners quickly learn ways to keep the occupied. Mine fetch the paper from the yard each morning, then they search the house for their collars. Frisbees and tennis balls are good toys and mandatory each day. My dogs are not angels and when they have stolen something they are smart enough to hide the wrapper or other evidence.

One of my heelers knows more than 50 words. Unfortunately 'vet' was one she picked up early.

My meter reader says the two breeds she fears are heelers and chows. Most of my neighbors have experienced some vandalism or burglary but I never have. They guard the vehicle also.

The dog below won these ribbons in hunting retriever tests in 2005.


My bear encounter with them was actually while recovering the bull in my avartar. After a short nights sleep we returned to my kill to find the gut pile buried in leaves and debris - a bear's claim. Both dogs were quick to notify me of exactly which stand of trees that bear was in. We never have trouble with agressive bears here and this one never emerged.

I must be losing my touch. Puppy pics are a sure-fire chick magnet, and I thought I could at least reel in Houndgirl with them....... Oh well. Here are a couple more of mine. She loved to coyote hunt.


My calling partner and a couple we couldn't have got without a dog.


She liked to get it on with a critter in a trap, too.

my wesley was a very loyal dog. i raised him when i was single and lived on our horse farm. i got married when he was three and he never warmed up to my wife. he would not listen to her if i was home. my best friend who lived with me and wes, couldn't come to my new house if i wasnt there or my wife he was that good of a watch dog. one evening i was napping before going in for night watch and wes was sleeping next to the bed where he always slept, when my wife came in to wake me wes bared his teeth and began growling at gwen. i never seen a dog that protective in my life. he mellowed as he got older.

Well damn... when I was a kid in England I wanted to be a farmer, and actually had a book on cattle, I remember the belted galloways, they were right next to the dexters.

I expect any one of us here would shoot them three loose heelers for you in a heartbeat.

Birdwatcher

Anyhow, heres mine... both spayed females.

Granted, the brains of the outfit is a heeler/sheepdog mutt, but even so heelers vary in looks/proportions quite a bit, 30 to 50 pound the breed standards say, and these two bracket that.

Speaking of breed standards, a big reason heelers vary quite a bit and a real plus of heelers in general is that they ain't ever been popular enough to catch on in a major way with the AKC crowd (unlike some Australian Shepherds lines for example) and so have never been ruined.

I expect most folks don't care a lot what their cowdogs look like, just so they can move cattle.

Birdwatcher

I have found that the racy models(like rogues) are better suited to keeping up with a horse all day. The blocky models tend to wear down to fast and seem to need a lot more water. Not a good thing in dry country. All said, birdy is right, don't matter what they look like as long as they work.........

I agree with that.
Fwiw my Heeler is the racy model.
The blocky ones just dont look right to me.

Just an observation:

In the different body type, the smaller, thicker dog seems to be the one with more of a instinct to "down" and hold the prey, while the taller, leaner heeler seems to be the type that "surrounds" the prey to position.

Using the heelers on herds of "prey", this would be a more efficient way to position herd to accomplish what needed. When I say "down" I'm talking aout belly down, staring intently at the chosen, while the "surround" heeler moves to force the "prey" in the direction needed.

Having two or more heelers at work on large herds, would accomplish result, with less expenditure of energy for the predator (heeler).

Question: Those of you who know the history of the heeler, have you ever heard anything on this line, about the development of the breed? I know there is a lot BS with histories of breed development, but if get a lot of information and history, gets pretty easy to sort out the probable BS from the probable TS.

Mine's one of the shorter, thicker ones. He weighs in at about 53 pounds and has that sturdy, bull terrier stance...the boy is solid.