Interior Redecorating
The British, who colonized Australia, arrived in what is now known as Sydney on Australia's east coast on January 26, 1788. For some time the non-native population of Australia was gathered in and about Sydney, where land holdings were rather small, the distances traversed taking cattle to market were not great and those cattle were familiar with the sight of man and dog.
The working dogs brought to Australia by subsequent British settlers did not always take well to the warmer Australian climate, but they apparently worked the docile cattle efficiently. The most popular herding dog at the time was the Smithfield, a big, black, cobby, bobtailed dog with a long, rough coat.
In 1813, when immense grazing lands to the west of Sydney were opened to the public, drovers and cattle owners thought they had died and gone to paradise, but this paradise also had its peccadilloes. The Smithfield dogs, which had controlled the herds effectively in Sydney, were overwhelmed by the outback's difficult terrain, its huge, unfenced areas, and the effect it had on domestic cattle -- which was to turn them into half-wild creatures at best. To make matters worse, the Smithfield's constant barking kept the drovers' horses and cattle in constant agitation, which frequently made the cattle stampede and run off their condition. Thus, the cattlemen set about developing a dog intelligent, rugged and courageous enough to meet the back of beyond's job description. This task, was not, as they say in Australia, a walkover. It did not happen overnight or without struggle.
Worried About the Worrigal
For many centuries before Australia was colonized, a predator descended from the Asian wolf had a fanghold on the back of beyond. This wolflike dog, which existed simultaneously in the wild and in the camps of Australian aborigines, was called the Worrigal or dingo. Aborigines are said to have socialized dingoes by taking them from their nests before their eyes had opened and hand-feeding or even suckling them. These efforts produced a relatively tame dog, able and willing to track and to hunt.
Meanwhile, the wild dingo living in the outback existed on a diet that ranged from kangaroos to small rodents. The arrival of the stockmen and their herds, which by now included sheep, added a daily special to the menu. In no time the dingo was so fond of the taste of sheep--and so adept at self-service--that the stockmen's herds were in danger of extinction. Thus, ranchers hunted and killed the dingo without mercy.
As much as the ranchers despised the dingo (to this day dingo is Australian slang for a bad, cunning person), they grudgingly respected its aptitude for survival: The wild dog's tenacity and courage were boundless; it was such a swift and silent hunter that its prey's first encounter with a dingo was nearly always its last; it possessed great intelligence, excellent conformation and an incredibly rugged constitution; and it was not troubled by Australia's frequently inhospitable temperatures and feral environment. Therefore, instead of eliminating the dingo, the ranchers decided to incorporate its lines into their blueprints for a better cattle dog.
Into the Mix
The first domesticated dogs to whom dingoes were bred belonged to Thomas Hall, who lived near Sydney. In 1840 Hall had imported a pair of blue-merle, smooth-coated collies from Great Britain. When they proved no more adept at coping with Australia's harsh environment and wild cattle than the Smithfield had, Hall decided to include dingoes in his breeding program.
The resulting offspring resembled small, sturdily made dingoes in all respects save color. Dingoes were normally red-fawn or white. The crossbreds were red-speckled or blue-mottled.
The collie-dingo hybrids worked silently, and instead of working at the heads of the cattle, as most sheepdogs do, they worked from the rear, snapping at the heels of cattle when necessary. This tactic kept the cattle moving forward and prevented them from challenging the dogs head on.
The downside -- there is always a downside in breeding -- was the collie dingo cross's inclination to treat the ranchers' horses much as they treated cattle. This inspired Jack and Harry Bagust, brothers from the Sydney area, to breed one of these hybrids to a Dalmatian imported from Great Britain. Their aim was to introduce the Dalmatian's rapport with horses into the gene pool. The offspring from this cross were born pure white. Like their Dalmatian parent, they did not develop coat color -- either red or blue-speckled -- until they were three weeks old. This characteristic remains with the Australian cattle dog to this day.
The horse-friendly disposition of these crosses was obtained at the cost of some herding ability. To restore that quality, the Bagusts introduced the black-and-tan kelpie, an Australian sheep-herding breed, to the equation. (Whether bull terriers, known for their jaw power and tenacity, were also added to the equation is a matter of speculation.)
The Superdog Emerges
The ranchers' collective blueprint eventually turned into a dog that combined the dingo's athletic conformation, rugged constitution and silent way of working with the best qualities of the other contributing breeds. Word of this superdog's unique abilities spread rapidly. The breed became so popular among Queensland ranchers that it came to be known as the Queensland heeler or Queensland blue heeler. Sometimes that name is shortened to blue heeler, which is also the nickname for police officers in the land of Oz, a nickname for Australia.
By the turn of the century all that remained to formalize the Australian cattle dog's popularity was for someone to draw up a standard for the breed. That service was performed by Robert Kaleski, a cattle dog fancier, whose standard was initially endorsed by the Cattle and Sheepdog Club of Australia, then by the Kennel Club of New South Wales in 1903. Kaleski's standard remains at the heart of the official standard adopted by the Australian National Kennel Council in 1963. About the same time Kaleski drew up his standard, Australian cattle dog became the breed's official name.
Reverse Immigration
The Australian cattle dog's herding ability was its ticket to ride, and in time the immigrants' creation emigrated to lands around the world. Eventually cattle dog admirers brought their dogs into their homes and the American Kennel Club's (AKC) show rings, to which the cattle dog was formally admitted on September 1, 1980. By 1996 the Aussie, with 1,969 new registrations for the year, stood 63rd among the 143 breeds the AKC then recognized. Dedicated cattle dog breeders and owners are adamant, however, about retaining the breed's natural abilities as a tireless worker and unsurpassed herder. Indeed, considering the amount of work that went into developing and perpetuating those characteristics, it would be a shame to see them sacrificed on the altar of popularity.
The Australian Cattle Dog Today
Though more stocky and compact than its dingo ancestors, today's Australian cattle dog still carries some physical resemblance to them. The cattle dog breeds true in color, and even though some variations in shade are acceptable, the only recognized colors are red-speckle and blue-speckle.
The Aussie's outercoat is moderately short and weather resistant while the undercoat, which insulates against both heat and cold, is short and dense. The cattle dog requires little grooming other than routine brushing to remove dead hair and debris from the coat.
Versatility
A cattle dog will join its owner(s) in practically any outdoor activity. Not even those owners whose energy levels register at the decathlon level need worry about depleting the cattle dog's energy. An Aussie can be a star in the pasture or the show ring. Agility courses and obedience trials are a snap for the cattle dog, so are intense sessions with Frisbee or flyball. The more involved and proficient an Australian cattle dog becomes in any or all of these activities, the more apt it is to be a pleasant and devoted companion.
Evaluating Puppies
Anyone considering an Australian cattle dog should confine his or her search to breeders who have a long-standing reputation for producing mentally and physically sound dogs. Although the American Kennel Club standard for the breed says that cattle dogs should be "suspicious of strangers," this protective characteristic develops as the dog matures. As a youngster the cattle dog should be as friendly as one would expect a well-bred and well-cared-for puppy of any breed to be. Prospective Aussie owners should not select a shy puppy that runs away or one that appears sick and listless because they feel sorry for it. Trying to compensate for what good breeding and good care has not provided will only result in heart ache and veterinary bills.
Coloring Outside the Lines
The Australian stockmen who crafted the cattle dog out of several breeds were looking for the ideal dog. As so often happens, however, the search for -- and especially the perpetuation of -- the ideal often introduces a few less-than-ideal characteristics to a breed. In the cattle dog's case, these are hip dysplasia, luxating patella, progressive retinal atrophy, hypothroidism, hemophilia A and deafness.
Hip dysplasia is a malformation of the hip joint resulting in a poor fit between the head of the femur bone and the hip socket, in which the femoral head normally lies. This condition can be alleviated by surgery.
Luxating patella is a dislocation of the small, flat, moveable bone at the front of the knee. An inherited tendency, luxating patella can be aggravated by excess weight and, more likely the case in Australian cattle dogs, strenuous exercise. The condition can be corrected by surgery.
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is the wasting away of the vessels in the retina. Initially manifested as night blindness in young dogs, as PRA progresses, its victims become totally blind. Australian cattle dogs carry two forms of PRA: early onset, which strikes before the age of two; and late onset, which usually is not detectable before the age 6 or more.
Hypothyroidism is an endocrine disease that results in the abnormally low production of thyroid hormones. The symptoms of hypothyroidism include lethargy, mental depression, weight gain and a tendency to seek out warm places. Hypothyroidism can also affect the coat and skin, causing hair loss and excessive dandruff.
Hemophilia A, a sex-linked recessive trait carried by females and manifested in males, is a blood-clotting disorder brought about by a deficiency in certain substances responsible for normal blood coagulation.
In addition to determining -- as much as one can determine -- the occurrence of inherited problems in a particular line of dogs, anyone who is considering an Australian cattle dog or any dog, should ask the seller or provider of that dog who will be responsible for the vet bills if a radiant-looking puppy should be victimized by an obviously inherited condition later in its life.
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