Some of the local schutzhund types work their dogs at a local park on Sundays, tho they do look a tad out of place around here.

Quite often after I walk my dogs I'll sit with my dogs a little ways off and watch them for a bit, them mostly breaking in young malinois and the like to the fetch and worry mode.

I have a female heeler, good dog, three years old ain't had her fixed yet, never been bred..

Given a choice, I'll pick a known mix every time, a "designer dog" if you will. IMHO a heeler/shepherd or heeler/'nois mix would make an awesome dog, especially for general good companion quality as opposed to specialized purpose/competition dog.

Approached the club today, three dogs at heel,doesn't help I guess that I do a pretty good homeless impression, casually asked if anyone was interested in outcrossing.

Now I had casually approached a mostly different group several months back and got a polite decline, shoulda known better to inquire again, but I thought someone, being actual dog people, mighta been interested.

I got a stern lecture on responsible dog ownership from an animal control lady in the group, and close to ridicule condescension from another guy.

Heck, I wouldn't be doing it for profit, just the opposite in fact, and would give away the pups. My interest would be in breeding good dogs, nothing more. I figure could easily find good homes for such a litter, prob'ly here on the 'Fire alone.

*SIGH*, shouldn't a bothered....

Birdwatcher

Don't let it bother you. There's always somebody around to tell you what to do and to criticize.

They sound like snobs. You're better off without them.

Ya well, just to piss 'em off, I know a guy who has a kennel and who breeds and sells mals.... maybe I'll pay him a stud fee... and then show up again in a year or two.... heck, knowing me that's EXACTLY the sorta thing I'd do...

But actually, a big part of the reason that heeler ain't fixed yet is she ain't actually come into heat but once in the last three years, ever.....

If you can't find any takers locally, my two JRT's will step up to the plate...poor old lab can't even take a decent schitt without the boys trying to put a good "rasslin" hold on her...

Yeah, looks like you'd be used it from your time at the 'fire.

BW, I'm with you. Healers are smart dogs, and the protective qualities that make them good cattle dogs make them great around kids as well. Mix in some Shepard and you could have a great family dog.

I'd like to see the healer mixed with a good pointing dog, such as the GSP. Yes, maybe that's heresy, but I think it could work.

Only heeler I've been around was a biter. Nipped everybody but family.

Ya, the thing is, back in the days, before all these different breeds were defined, dogs weren't bred for "breed" they were bred for "type". Hence around the Netherlands you had these herding types more recently broken down by specialized breeders into mals or teruvens or whatnot, and a very few of which were repeatedly inbred to creat the German shepherd.

Exact same thing with the creation of heelers themselves, a sort of melting pot admixture of functional herding dogs with a shot of dingo in the mix. Both Greg and I here have dreaded the intrusion of the AKC into that breedin recent decades.

I do very much like the kelpie breeding associations where the ENTIRE merit of the dog is based on ability and performance, they have no physical breed standard, on purpose.

I shoulda known with the schutzhund group though, I expect they are paying around a $1,000 or more per pup, solely for the bloodlines, so some guy asking about outcrossing shouldn't expect to be well recieved.

Birdwatcher

Yep, that's how they drive cattle, hence the name "heeler". Take that same dog and cross it with a sheepdog though and you'll likely get a dog similarly obsessed with working with and learning commands from their humans, but with a better-balance psyche.

Leastways that has been my experience.

Birdwatcher

My poor boy apparently suffers from seperation anxiety. He looks a lot like a GSP. He's a rescue dog and he's such a good boy. He's been shuffled around and knows he's safe with us now. Pure unconditional love. I know some here will find it difficult that any living creature could have those kind of feelings for me . But he can't seem to be away from me when I leave in the morning. Lots of digging. Thank God he's not a jumper. Yet!?!
Any suggestions? We started giving him a Benadryl before I leave In The morning. Seems to help.

Another dog?

I have three and I'm careful not to leave any of 'em alone by themselves all day. Dogs is social creatures.

A lot of that type at work. They very rarely make any mistakes because they very rarely do much of anything.
Same azzholes are quick to criticize the man who is doing something.

That's why my almost 18 year old is pissed at me. She's already making plans on moving out (which I have decidedly mixed feelings about), and was wanting to take our little female Chihuahua with her (she claims it, but it's really a family dog). I shot her down because I told her it wouldn't be right for the dog to be stuck in the house all day while she was at class. Here, she has all of the other dogs to play with, can run outside without any worries of getting run over, and has somebody (human) around all the time.

Dorm room is no place for a dog.

She'll actually have her own apartment, or house, but it still wouldn't be as good, from the dog's perspective, as what she has now. Plus, I'm ALMOST as fond of that little dog as I am my Wiener dog.........

Tell her we all said ....NO!

My son has a really good red heeler. He's friendly and smart if you think another healer would be right. Unfortunately, he's in Iowa. He has not had him fixed because he has some good qualities. Just no papers if that's important. kwg

Here's the little trouble maker......... Also, notice who she's hanging out with?

Malligators are most emphatically NOT for "everybody". I have the prime verifier of that thesis living across the lane right now.
Why anybody would screw up a good line of heelers by putting that narrow headed strain of haywire firecracker in on top will forever ELUDE me.

You better talk to Ingwe about this idea of yours, he's got real savvy on the breed, and knows whereof he speaks.

GTC

Yes, we have four! He (Spot) is pretty tight with Basil. He's just really attached to me.

Many of these dog clubs consist of liberal, elitist, PETA type jerks.

It just comes with the territory unfortunately.

I remember when our Alf was a pup, we took him to a dog club-agility training-type deal in Fairbanks, Alaska--our hometown.
He was incredible and outperformed most of the older and very skilled dogs there. It was clear that this bothered the regulars there and they went out of their way to be critical of his wanting to socialize with other dogs. He'd never even been around other dogs other than his litter. Overall he was very good with the others.
We avoided the place and snobs for several months and when we returned several of the jerks there had acquired wire-haired pointing griffons like our Alf.

None of them ever had his intelligence, nose and agility. They seethed over his gifts.

,..shoulda told her that that fishy smell coming offa her would be more conducive to raisin' cats.

It's best to cut to the chase when dealin' with an uppity female.

Tell her, "Yeah, lady. You wouldn't even have to learn how to say 'here kitty kitty',......just park your crotch upwind of them and they'd come a'runnin.

"None of them ever had his intelligence, nose and agility. They seethed over his gifts"

What about their dogs?

Breed that healer with a border collie or a mountain cur, love my border collie/healer cross. The Cur/healer make great coyote dogs

lol! touche'! indeed, they were a-holes...

Well, I want a dog that will actually CLIMB AN 8FT FENCE to nip the schidt out of kids passing by on bicycles

Sad part is, all these people were sure they knew everything there is to know....

You're the weinner.

Yep, the little mutt in my avatar is a mostly heeler/sheepdog mutt. When my aunt passed years ago her wishes were for her ashes to be scattered along with those of her beloved newfie/lab mix Bear. I'm thinking I'll request the same w/respect to the ashes of that little mutt.

My bigger heeler is actually a heeler/stumpy-tailed cattle dog mix, that latter breed being poorly known outside Australia, but since they are basically taller, leggier heelers born w/out tails I dunno that counts as a mix.

And I've posted this pic before of my sister's heeler/aussie mix, bred on purpose by my other sister. A great dog...



Birdwatcher

Good advice. I do not like most people and keep to myself.

Smartest dog I've ever seen, was my little Brother's half Border Collie / half blue Healer, mix.
Best guard dog I've ever had was half Red Healer / half Coyote, that a kid in Vet. School gave me when I was still a student at TAMU. That dog hated blacks and Hispanics like no dog I've ever seen. But he would sleep with our big Tom Cat.

That's what she says........

One of the most athletic dogs I've ever had the pleasure to be around was a Belgian Shepherd (Mallinois) x Aussie Shepherd.

Very smart, capable, responsive and one of the best cow/bull dogs I've seen in action. Been wanting a pup out of him for a while. Seems like every time there is a litter, it's the wrong time of the year for me.

Lately, they've been breeding this male to a couple English Shepherd females which the local vet had imported. Nice dogs also. They don't seem to have been screwed up breeding for pet attributes resulting in watered down intelligence and functionality.

Birdy, the arrogant AKC types are some of the most annoying, anti-social flakes you'll encounter. Several times I've been to an AKC show only to be turned off by rude behavior on the part of the owners. "Dog Nazis" is not a bad term for them, and many of them repeatedly breed dogs with health problems, all for the sake of looks, trying to win shows.

I suspect if you found a reasonable breeder, and could talk to him one on one, you might get one receptive to providing a stud for your female, but I expect he won't want anyone to know about it.

I've met one malinois socially that was a pretty calm, well behaved dog, but he was watching me very closely as I chatted with his disabled owner. The folks who work with them a lot urge caution, though.

And yeah, I agree most dogs need someone around the house. That's one reason why I have cats, as they function fine when left alone during the day.

I'm not sure who the guy with the hair and bell-bottoms is but this late-seventies photo shows one of the best dogs I have owned; Mozart, an Old English Sheepdog..



Both my sisters are into horses and work around the moneyed Eastern horsey set (mostly wealthy women, some homosexual men, mostly owning thoroughbreds). Mozart there was brought in from England by one of these ladies.

He proved too high-energy for her to handle so one of my sisters took him, and shortly thereafter he became my dog. We got him when he was two.

The AKC by that time had already turned this breed into inbred, oversized, defect-plagued non-functional masses of hair. I suspect the English breeders had more integrity because Mozart weighed in at around fifty pounds and was both fast and agile.

He had the brains of a good working dog too and never needed a leash, readily learning commands. He was the boon companion of my high school years and after I went off to college, I still recall how depressed he became when he saw me packing to leave when I was home on visits. We still have many funny stories in our family concerning the antics of this dog, he was one of us.

By the time I came home from Africa Mozart was stone deaf and could barely walk, still the same cheerful and faithful dog though. A year later I took him on his last ride to the vet, it was time, and it was for me to do. He smiled at me the whole way there as he always did and followed me right in. He died with his head in my hands. I surprised myself by sitting in the truck and weeping when I came out of the vet, I didn't think I would.

One dog I'll be looking for for sure on the Rainbow Bridge.

Birdwatcher