A Brief History Of
The Development of the Australian Cattle Dog
By Peter Whitehead
Dogs have been essential to the Australian stockman from the earliest days of settlement to the present time. Originally these early settlers brought dogs out from their home areas but it was soon evident that the conditions prevailing in the new continent were far too harsh for the dogs of Europe.
To overcome this; the obvious solution was to cross these imported dogs with the local native dogs (the Dingo). From the many experimental crosses that must have taken place, two main branches of dogs emerged, those for working sheep and those for working cattle.
Initially the cattle work was primarily driving herds over the long distances involved from the stations to the markets and for this, a hard tough dog was required, intelligent enough to make decisions for himself, sufficiently courageous to take on the semi-wild cattle and to bring them under control and yet still be responsive to his handler’s commands.
Although record keeping was not a priority amongst these early stockmen, what was known is that among the early importations were the various collie breeds from England, Ireland and Wales, Smithfields and Blue Merles. From the Blue Merle and Smithfield crossings with the Dingos, produced the type of dog that these men required.
The harsh, arduous conditions prevailing in those days allowed little room for sentiment so that any dog that did not measure up was summararily disposed of leaving only the best workers to be bred from.
As settlement increased so the demand for a more refined dog than just a driving animal emerged and men like the drover, Timmins, (who developed the strain known as the Timmin's Biters), Thomas Hall, George Elliot from Southern Queensland, Alex Davis and the Bagust brothers from New South Wales, amongst many others, started refining and selecting superior working strains from which emerged the type of dog known as the Blue or Queensland Heeler. These dogs were originally found in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales and attributed mainly to George Elliot's use of the Blue merle in his Dingo/working dog crosses.
Towards the end of the 19th Century, a more versatile dog still was required and the Bagust brothers, Alex Davis and a man called Robert Kaleski started introducing a strain of the locally developed sheep dog, the Kelpie, into the breed to improve the herding ability.
The Dalmatian was also introduced in an effort to make the breed
more horse friendly.
There has been some suggestion that the Bull Terrier was also introduced,
but this hardly bears serious consideration as the characteristics
of the Bull Terrier are exactly the opposite of what a working cattle-man;
would want in his cattle dogs.
By the beginning of the 20th Century, the breed known locally as Blue Heelers or Queensland Heelers had become sufficiently established for Robert Kaleski in 1903 to draw up a breed standard for the cattle dog, which was accepted by the Kennel Club of New South Wales and subsequently by the Department of Agriculture of NSW. It is that standard which is essentially current today.
No further 'infusions' or 'out crosses' have been introduced since then to improve the breed, although selection within the breed has been ongoing to produce the dog we know today.
For those who may not be familiar with the breed, the standard calls for a medium sized, compact, strong, muscular dog of about 18-20 inches (46-51 cm) in height and weighing between 40 & 50 lbs (20-23kg). The head should be broad between the ears, intelligent looking with strong muscular jaws, ears pricked, eyes brown, set well into the head with a sly, wary look (legacy of the Dingo). The body must be symmetrical, strong and muscular standing on clean well-boned legs with small cat shaped feet. Colours range from very dark blue, through to light blue to speckle blue on white in the blue dogs. The red dogs range from light red speckled to fairly dark ginger and no black colouring should be evident.
Black patches on the head and at the root of the tail are permissible, with a little red on the muzzle and chest in the blue dogs, while the reds are permitted dark red patches on the head and root of the tail.
