Pretty Humbling when you get OWNED!!

So the cattle dogs are all excited to go outside and feed the cows, steers and bulls. Happens every night. They get GEEKED!.

If you don't take them, they are glued to the ceiling for an hour. So we go out to feed.

Australian Shepard jumps in the corral first (bad boy!). All the animals are coming in. Shepard wants to give them the "Blue Eye" (he's a Merle, and he knows how to use that blue eye).

Unfortunate part is, he misjudged who was in the corral. He Knows to never mess with "Jack", the herd Bull, but he forgot there's a big steer in the mix too.

So he jumps in the corral and thinks he's messing with the cows. OOPS! He's messing with a big frustrated Steer!! Steer's mad and he's raking the dirt. He get's Rhode (the shepard) on his nose and runs him across the corral and flips him up in the air! Rhode goes airborne! and he's a big dog!

Rhode (pronounced "Roadie") lands on the ground and he's ready to fight! (Bad Idea!) This Steer is pissed!!! And the Steer is ready to STOMP him! But, Rhode doesn't give up (he never does). In comes his brother, Cisco, who is a full-on ACD (most fearless Cattle Dog you've ever known!). Cisco jumps into the middle of this and "heels" the Steer.

All the while, Cisco is looking back like..."Okay, what next, Dad? Where do you want 'em??" Best, most fearless dog, you could possibly imagine!

So, in the pen they go, Cisco on the heels...not even Jack will mess with him!

Poor Rhode. He tried so hard, but that 1,200 lb steer just got the best of him. He's a good boy, but as much as he wants, he'll never be an ACD.

We love our ACD, Cisco, but he has so many scars from his efforts it's almost unbelievable. He's proud of those "war" wounds.

I just wish he could live forever!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Always had Blue Heelers growing up, pound for pound the baddest ass dogs imaginable. If they can still breathe, they're not out of the game. My Dad's heeler, Tinker, took a hoof to the skull from a Longhorn (which kick totally different, going up and straight down, than the Charolais Tinker had grown up herding do, up and out) and it took a Copenhagen can lid sized chunk of bone out. Dad thought he'd lose Tinker that night, laid him in front of the fireplace in the great room and next morning Tinker was standing at the door waiting to go to work. He lived another 5 or 6 years after that with the only lingering issue being that he'd get knocked stone cold if he got hit on the head right. Dog tried to jump into the back of the truck one day and caught the tailgate, out cold sprawled in the front yard took him about 5 minutes to come to, shook his head, then went straight to the porch for a nap.

One of my heelers when I was a teenager was a walking MASH unit and it never slowed him down. Dog's name was Gator and he had a perfect mix of loyalty and demon possession in him that made the damn dog act like he was immortal most of the time. Never had an issue with cattle, but he would flat out shred wild hogs when they got onto the property, got bit by rattlesnakes often enough that he built up an immunity to them entirely. Worst thing about that dog was that he killed every skunk he encountered.

ETA: I'm also in the camp of "Heelers should have their tails." I understand the intent of docking their tail, just never agreed with it. All of ours had tails and we never had any issues with them getting their tails stepped on by the stock.

Cisco is a "heeler" like you say. Amazing dog. Jack kicked him in the head one morning and knocked him clean out! Just laid him out. Poor dog! Jack went to stomp him, but the wife intervened. Cisco got up, shook it off and wanted to go inside. He got a solid hit from Jack.

"Sis", as we call him, was ready to go the next morning. Jack caught him once, but he knew he'd never get him again. The only place Cisco wanted to go was into Jack's corral, or area, and Jack was AFRAID.

Jack is our herd bull, and he won't mess with Cisco! If Cisco says "go left", Jack goes left. That's 2,200 lb animal and that 60 lb. dog will make those cows, bulls and steers go anywhere we tell them to!!

Absolutely FEARLESS!!

I just lost my Queensland (Australian Cattle dog/Blue Heeler, take your pick, they'll always be Queenslands to me) last year he wasn't a "proper" color, but he was a proper Queensland lol. He was the old style short, stocky kind with a tail.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
So the cattle dogs are all excited to go outside and feed the cows, steers and bulls. Happens every night. They get GEEKED!.

If you don't take them, they are glued to the ceiling for an hour. So we go out to feed.

Australian Shepard jumps in the corral first (bad boy!). All the animals are coming in. Shepard wants to give them the "Blue Eye" (he's a Merle, and he knows how to use that blue eye).

Unfortunate part is, he misjudged who was in the corral. He Knows to never mess with "Jack", the herd Bull, but he forgot there's a big steer in the mix too.

So he jumps in the corral and thinks he's messing with the cows. OOPS! He's messing with a big frustrated Steer!! Steer's mad and he's raking the dirt. He get's Rhode (the shepard) on his nose and runs him across the corral and flips him up in the air! Rhode goes airborne! and he's a big dog!

Rhode (pronounced "Roadie") lands on the ground and he's ready to fight! (Bad Idea!) This Steer is pissed!!! And the Steer is ready to STOMP him! But, Rhode doesn't give up (he never does). In comes his brother, Cisco, who is a full-on ACD (most fearless Cattle Dog you've ever known!). Cisco jumps into the middle of this and "heels" the Steer.

All the while, Cisco is looking back like..."Okay, what next, Dad? Where do you want 'em??" Best, most fearless dog, you could possibly imagine!

So, in the pen they go, Cisco on the heels...not even Jack will mess with him!

Poor Rhode. He tried so hard, but that 1,200 lb steer just got the best of him. He's a good boy, but as much as he wants, he'll never be an ACD.

We love our ACD, Cisco, but he has so many scars from his efforts it's almost unbelievable. He's proud of those "war" wounds.

I just wish he could live forever!

Wow, thanks for that great story! I wish he and they could live forever too.

I've never met this breed. I wish I could, and I particularly wish I could watch them in action.

a reply to: Lilroanie

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. He looks like a very serious boy. If you ever want to share his story, I would love to hear it. (How you guys came into each other's orbit, what were his quirks, his joys, your best memories)

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

he would flat out shred wild hogs when they got onto the property, got bit by rattlesnakes often enough that he built up an immunity to them entirely. Worst thing about that dog was that he killed every skunk he encountered.

"Shred wild hogs"? I. Am. Stunned. Seriously?

And why haven't I heard of this breed before? (feeling very ignorant) I've missed a significant part of Dogdom.

a reply to: drussell41

Absolutely one of the best dogs you could ever hope for! Smart, fast as the wind, agile, caring, and just all-around great dogs.

The only thing about an ACD is they do get hurt, most times self inflicted. They're just so fast, like rocket ships. Cisco is so fast he often breaks his nails (up high), usually on his back feet. He's got scars on his head from running at full speed through the barb wire fence in the dark. I've said this before, but I've watched that dog run down, and over, a jack rabbit on a dead run. He's like a missile. Ran that rabbit over so fast neither one of them knew what happened. Rabbit went ass over tea kettle for about 5 yards and got up stunned, looking around like "What the hell was that???" Dog was looking around like..."where'd he go???"

Here's a picture of him 'supervising' when moving some hay to one of the corrals.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Lol he's thrilled he's got a badass view on the hay while dad drives the tractor. Gotta love when they do stuff like that. Does he ever try to run around the tractor and herd it? And nip the tires when you drive it? I had a boarder collie that did that, always would worry he would hurt himself the way he would dart out of nowhere to herd the truck etc

a reply to: BerkshireEntity

He used to try to heel the skid, but he doesn't too much anymore. He'll bark when I start up the tractor or the skid, but once we're moving he stays clear. Now, the Australian Shepard on the other hand, I have to keep an eye on him for a few minutes because he will nip at the tires. Both of them are herders, but Cisco has things figured out better.

Where I worry about Cisco is when I'm picking up the bottom bales in the barn. He likes to get right in there when I pick up the bales to check for rabbits. One time he got pinched between a bale and the side of the barn. Lucky it didn't kill him because these bales weigh 1,400 lbs. each, and the skid has about 12,000 lbs. of turning force. So, he's got a pretty healthy respect for the skid steer now.

I actually like it when he jumps up on the bales and rides, that way I can see him and I'm not having to look around all the time. Skids have a lot of blind spots so when he's on top of the bale and 'supervising' I know right where he is. Plus he thinks he's king of the world then too. He also likes it if I pick the bale up to full height which is about 16' off the ground, he gets a great view then. Can't drive with the bale up that high, but it's a blast for him for a moment.

a reply to: drussell41

Our story isn't as exciting as the others, but sure I'll share. My Brother in law who may as well have been my blood brother, picked him out when their other Queensland got older so she could raise him. Then tragically he was killed suddenly when Rocky was about 6 months old. My Sis in law had 4 hurting kids, herself, an older dog and him, and yeah it was hard to keep the pup, then her mom died 6 months later of cancer and it was impossible to keep him. We actually all live together now and have for almost a decade, plus her new hubby and 2 more kids, but that's another story.

I took him cause he was my BILs heart dog. I had the need/want, the experience with the breed and plenty of room, plenty of love and lots of company in my other dogs. Literally every dog I've ever gotten has been "the right dog at the right time". So was he.

I live on acreage and used to have horses and livestock (goats, donkey chickens etc) but my situation now and then didn't allow for it anymore, financially or physically. Fortunately for both of us, my other dogs and then my husky when she picked me (the one in my avatar) and he loved each other and I have plenty of room to run and lots of rabbits and squirrels or whatever to chase lol.

He was an awesome dog and I miss him. He was a super happy velcro dog. He guarded me, all the kids and the property from the evils of the world. He was more the Guard side of the breed than the herd side. I took him to herd once at a place nearby that does that and he said "Mom that's way to much work!!" lol, he was kinda lazy that way, even if he took to it immediately.

He even brought my husky back home once when she found an open gate I hadn't noticed and did the husky thing by going RUNabout up into the hills lol. It was funny as hell," Go get her bud!!!" he took off up the dirt road after her and we followed and by the time I got to the road that ends at the hills where she went, they were romping on their way back already. Every time she turned back towards the hills he'd cut her off and keep her going back towards us. They were/are both super well trained except the Huskies recall in open spaces. Open hills=ohh fun run run run!!! for her lol.

Both of them were/are very careful of me and couch potatoes for the most part. He never and my Husky has never got any "I need to do more mom or I'll go nuts" behaviors. They'd just ask to go in the big yard a couple times a week and run till their done then come back to my room with their small yard which is still very roomy and become couch potatoes again.

We did/do go out a lot tho (before the lockdowns) to the beach and he loved being out but really hated the water and would tell the husky to get away from that nasty stuff! See him hiding behind my nephew? He thought the Husky was nuts playing tag with the waves lol.



He developed a brain tumor eventually and sadly I had to have him put down at 14. I still miss his goofy face, so does my Husky, every time i say his name she sits down and let's off this long mournful howl. It's been a year ish and she still does it

originally posted by: drussell41

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

he would flat out shred wild hogs when they got onto the property, got bit by rattlesnakes often enough that he built up an immunity to them entirely. Worst thing about that dog was that he killed every skunk he encountered.

"Shred wild hogs"? I. Am. Stunned. Seriously?

And why haven't I heard of this breed before? (feeling very ignorant) I've missed a significant part of Dogdom.

I'm talking Southern New Mexico wild hogs, which top out at around 200 lbs or so... not the Texas Hogzillas that clock in at 500+ lbs. But yeah, a good heeler can literally shred a hog 4 times their size.

a reply to: Lilroanie

What great dogs. I love what you've done with the animals in your life. He was stunningly beautiful.

I wish I could comfort your Husky girl.

originally posted by: burdman30ott6

originally posted by: drussell41

originally posted by: burdman30ott6
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

he would flat out shred wild hogs when they got onto the property, got bit by rattlesnakes often enough that he built up an immunity to them entirely. Worst thing about that dog was that he killed every skunk he encountered.

"Shred wild hogs"? I. Am. Stunned. Seriously?

And why haven't I heard of this breed before? (feeling very ignorant) I've missed a significant part of Dogdom.

I'm talking Southern New Mexico wild hogs, which top out at around 200 lbs or so... not the Texas Hogzillas that clock in at 500+ lbs. But yeah, a good heeler can literally shred a hog 4 times their size.

Very, very impressive. Even a 200 lb wild hog can be pretty deadly, from what I hear. Do people ever hunt with this dog breed? (Sorry if I'm being stupid.....no caffeine yet)