The Australian Cattle Dog is an excellent example of a particular breed of dog being developed in a particular place for a particular purpose.  The place was Australia. The time was the early to mid-1800's.
     Up until 1813 most of the immigrants to Australia were settled around Sydney.  The land holdings were relatively small, with sheep and cattle herds having the major economic influence on the growth of this newly settled country. Australia did not have the manpower available at this time period, so dogs were used to control and move the herds. The ranches around Sydney were able to get their herds to market easily, as most of the ranges of the sheep and cattle were fenced, and the distances to the market were not great.  After 1813, the immense grazing lands, called the "outback" opened up for the settlers to utilize, and a whole new set of challenges and problems presented themselves for solution , especially for the sheep stockmen and the cattlemen.
     The "outback" was a territory like no other.  Rugged, harsh, immense and a climate that was hot and unforgiving.  The imported European herding and working dogs, that had worked successfully the ranches around Sydney, were not able to adapt to several of the changes that occurred with moving the stock to the outback. The first change was the area that the stock roamed.  There were no fences in the outback, the cattle and sheep could roam for miles.  This meant greater exertion and stamina requirements for the dog to even begin to find the stock he was to herd.  Over time the cattle went feral.  These wild cattle were no longer used to seeing men, dogs, or  horses.  In the outback the cattle learned to be more aggressive as a defense against predators.   Barking dogs would spook and scatter the cattle, making the task of rounding them up so very much harder.  Some of the bulls would charge the barking dogs.  The dogs would herd from in front of the animals, so they were on the business end of the bull.  Herding sheep from in front is not as risky, and many dogs that survived the lesson bulls taught went back to herding sheep.
     A major problem for sheep stockmen and for the cattlemen, was the existence in the outback of a silent hunting, swift, tenacious and intelligent predator called the dingo.  The aborigines of Australia called it the Worrigal.  The aborigines sometimes were able to tame the dingo sufficiently to be utilized as a tracking and hunting dog.  But to the ranchers, the dingo was a marauding nuisance. Prior to the settlement of the outback the dingo survived on a diet that ranged from small rodents to kangaroo.  When sheep were brought to the outback, another menu item was added to the diet list. As a matter of fact, sheep was so popular with the dingo crowd that the sheep herds were almost wiped out.  The stockmen, facing financial ruin, responded predictably, they hunted, shot, poisoned, and tried to exterminate the dingo. (The American cattlemen did the same to the wolf when it became a problem.)  Try as they would the stockmen were not able to wipe out the dingo.  The dingo devised new ways to survive, they learned and adapted, and lived.
     By the mid-1800's, even the ranchers had to grudgingly admire the dingo for its tenacity and intelligence. There was even talk among some to breed their dogs to the dingo, since the dingo was not bothered by the harsh environment and the hot climate of the outback and the imported dogs were still having problems adapting.
     In 1840, Thomas Hall was experiencing a great deal of disappointment in his pair of rather expensive blue-merle smooth-coated collies.  He had had them imported from Great Britain, and they had not adapted to the conditions of the outback nor had they been able to control the wild cattle.  Mr. Hall decided to act on all the talk about incorporating dingoes with the working ranch dogs, and he started an experimental breeding program using his blue-merle smooth-coated collies.  The offspring resembled dingoes except in color, the pups were either red-speckled, or blue-mottled.  Dingoes normally are either a red/fawn or white.  When the pups were of age, Mr. Hall put them to work and there were a number of differences between how these dingo-mix dogs worked, and the "European" herding dog.  One difference was the dingo-mix worked without barking.  This was a good thing in that up to that time barking dogs spooked the feral cattle.  The dingo-mix also worked from behind the cattle, driving them forward, nipping at the heels of the recalcitrant ones, and staying away from the horns.  These dogs were aggressive, courageous, tenacious and had the stamina and power to work the outback.  However, one drawback was that the dogs treated the rancher's horses the same as the cattle, which was very unsettling to the drovers who were riding the horses.
     Two brothers, Jack and Harry Bagust, decided to breed one of these dingo-mix dogs to a Dalmatian.  They thought that perhaps the Dal's rapport with horses would be introduced into the gene pool of the dingo-mix, making the hybrid more horse-friendly.  This was successful but another aspect of the Dalmatian was also introduced.  The off spring from this cross breeding were born pure white.  Like their Dalmatian parent, they did not develop any coat color until they were three weeks old, and the color they had was red or blue-speckled.  This still occurs to the ACD to this day.
     As with any breeding program, some things are gained, while others are lost.  In this case, some of the hybrid's ability to herd was lost.  To try to restore this quality an Australian sheep-herding breed, the black and tan kelpie, was introduced into the equation.
     The resulting offspring, and the establishment of a consistent breed type, became very popular among the Queensland ranchers.   The dog became known as the Queensland heeler or the Queensland blue heeler.
     Robert Kaleski formalized this popularity by writing the standard that was initially endorsed by the Cattle and Sheepdog Club of Australia, then by the Kennel Club of New South Wales in 1903.  This standard remained at the heart of the official standard adopted by the Australian National Kennel Council in 1963.
     The Australian Cattle Dog was formally admitted to the American Kennel Club in 1980.

Return to Australian Cattle Dog Directory

Return to Bark Bytes Home