Just a couple of interesting facts on the Australian Cattle Dog that I gathered


The Australian Cattle Dog has been a huge help to the beef industry of Australia. When populations spread to huge farmlands, Australian Cattle Dogs became indispensable and enabled farmers to maintain huge herds.

The most popular working dog used by the early drovers was a breed brought out from England known as the Smithfield, a breed that eventually became one of the ancestors of the Australian Cattle Dog.

The Smithfields were interbred with the Dingo, a native Australian breed, to increase stamina and to encourage a silent working dog, but the breed died out. Later, another pair of imports, a pair of Scottish blue merle Highland Collies, were interbred with the Dingo to produce a breed known as the Hall's Heeler. With the success of this breed, various other crosses eventually produced the Australian Cattle Dog of today.

The standard for the Australian Cattle Dog was drawn up by Mr. Robert Kaleski in 1902 and was based around the Dingo type.

The Australian Cattle Dog was first known as the Australian Heeler, although it is still called the Blue or Queensland Heeler today.