Farm dogs/heelers/livestockuardians

[Aster44]

I'm not a real dog person. I'm new to dogs, really. Have two atm. One I adopted a baby heeler mix months ago. He ate a chicken. Which I would assume natural. He was yelled at. Etc. N the chicken was taken away. Wondering if anyone has knowledge on this subject bc it seems to me that you can't really think any breed of farm dog including Pyrenees would be incapable of eating a fresh meal. Is it true that Pyrenees and other guardians don't want to kill and eat chicken? I'd like to learn more about dogs, primarily farming and draft dogs. What to expect. How much I can expect with training etc. My heeler dog is a great pet, friend n individual. He also is very very smart. And knows he cannot bother the birds. He's improved already. Obviously I don't trust him left alone with them. I love heelers. he isn't from a top bloodline or anything. Just a local farmer who has two heelers, a blue and a red. They live as friends together. So when I got him (and I know it's weird I got him when I had chickens) I didn't have any strong expectations. His owners exact words about his parents were "they're useful sometimes".

 

[Amish Heart]

You can train him to leave the chickens alone, it just takes work. We have an old blue heeler. He is nearly blind and mostly deaf, and I don't expect him to last long. His name is Chookie. He's been a really good dog. Our neighbor's dog is a poultry killer. It took out around 15 of our guineas. The other neighbor has an extremely well trained shepherd. It's a working dog, and she is amazing. She doesn't go after fowl, which is good, because she comes onto our property from time to time. She helps with his horses and his cows.

 

[Aster44]

..so are heelers very prone to deafness?

 

[Amish Heart]

I don't know. Our dog is pretty old.

 

[Aster44]

..so are heelers very prone to deafness?

I don't know. Our dog is pretty old.

The Guinness book has a heeler as oldest dog alive. I think she just retired.

 

[Amish Heart]

Wow! Our dog is 11, and on his last leg. We had another heeler years ago who died about the same age.

 

[Aster44]

I read they require a high fat diet. I try to give mine plenty of healthy fats. He's an eating machine. Idk how to keep up with it.

 

[Patchouli]

I think heelers are prone to ignoring because our heeler mix (she looks like a Kelpie) will blatantly ignore occassionally. Normally, they need to be given a job (herding sheep), or worked or played hard to burn off their normally high energy levels. When ours was younger I ran her on the property a lot, threw a tennis ball for her a few times a day until she was tired. Thought it was cool she'd jump into the air to catch the ball, but then found out it was bad for her legs and ankles and could lead to injuries or sprains.

Blue heelers are good dogs and most can be very territorial for the property including your truck and your stuff. Several heeler owners here have told me their dogs would just as soon bite you if you reach onto dad's truck.

 

[Cascadian]

I don't think I ever met a blue healer that wasn't a bit of a jerk.

 

[sonya123]

I don't think I ever met a blue healer that wasn't a bit of a jerk.

That! lol
My neighbor has one and it is the only dog in my entire life that tried to bite me! No reason, I love dogs and her other dogs have absolutely no problem with me petting them. This one I didn't even touch but it ran up behind me and bit me in the back of my boots. It didn't break the skin ( rubber work boots) but surprised me. She is getting a little better training the dog I think the delivery guys complained
My German Shepherd killed one chicken and I smacked her with it, she never did it again. Our livestock dogs don't hurt the chickens but they do eat groundhogs and kill Skunks and totally keep the coyotes away.

 

[Hooch]

There is alot of great information on different dog breeds on youtube and the internet. You can get good basic general info on what to expect for each breed you have interest in.
I would highly advise dutiful research on any breed you might be interesting in getting.
Many breeds of dog might not be best suited for folks who are first time owners or folks just that are not experienced owners.
Any pooch will need some basic training with their owner to better understand eachother..maybe that might help you set some good basics with your pooch n future dog.

 

[Peanut]

Training is the answer... Most farm type dogs are smart, they can learn complex behaviors. For instance here on my farm. My dogs won't chase a cow in the pasture... but! If that same cow appears in the garden (or other forbidden place) the dogs will chase her out or stand and bark alerting me to a problem. They learn where other critters are supposed to be.

Same for small critters, the dogs will go into the chicken pen with me and pay no attention to the birds. Now if a raccoon or some other critter messes with the chickens the dogs will kill it.

When I was a kid our dogs were... working farm dogs and hunting dogs. Dogs can learn to turn off one or the other depending on the situation.

All that said, a dog is still a teenager until age 2. There will be mistakes, might lose a bird or two before they learn. By age 2 they should know their role... if not, I'd get rid of it.

I have to add... the dumbest dog I've ever been around was a heeler. My dad got one as a gift. This dog would stand in the rain barking at rain drops splashing on a puddle.... every time it rained. He never learned to stay out of the highway either... Oops!

 

[Hardcalibres]

That! lol
My neighbor has one and it is the only dog in my entire life that tried to bite me! No reason, I love dogs and her other dogs have absolutely no problem with me petting them. This one I didn't even touch but it ran up behind me and bit me in the back of my boots. It didn't break the skin ( rubber work boots) but surprised me. She is getting a little better training the dog I think the delivery guys complained
My German Shepherd killed one chicken and I smacked her with it, she never did it again. Our livestock dogs don't hurt the chickens but they do eat groundhogs and kill Skunks and totally keep the coyotes away.

The Blue Heeler is a working dog.

The neighbors dog was exhibiting working dog behavior when it bit you - it had a reason to.

You work with herd animals (goats) every day....yes?

Some goat scent was on you.

The dog mistook you for a herding animal and was trying to make you submit ready for herding.

When Blue Heelers herd cattle they bite them on the exact same place (ankle) to get them to submit and move.


Working dogs are now mostly kept as pets - but they still have hundreds of generations of breeding in them to work.

When pet owners don't give them work to do, they find work.

Working dogs need an alpha pack leader to follow/obey. If they don't have one, they get confused, may think they should take on that role and can get out of control.

Most people are not cut out for the job of owning a working dog.

 

[Amish Heart]

Our heeler Chookie would herd anyone he could when he was younger. Well, anyone that would put up with it.

 

[Patchouli]

We got our mixed heeler when she was 6 weeks old, too young. But within a couple of weeks she was herding us in the yard. Going along behind us, trying to nip at our heels without hurting us. She is a very smart dog and a bit taller than heelers. She's not dumb by any means.

 

[Hardcalibres]

I have a funny story about blue heelers.......

My sister had one back when I was a young adult - I was living at home with our folks still (I am younger than her) and she had moved out. She had the heeler as a pet.

When she went on vacation, she asked if the folks and I could look after the dog - which we agreed to do.

One evening at supper time, we had just sit down to eat and there was a knock at the door. I guessed it would be someone collecting for some cause or another (which annoys me) and went to the door. The heeler came along too.........

When I opened the door, I saw a yuppie guy wearing a big "Greenpeace" button pinned to his shirt (and I became even more annoyed).......

The guy starts his spiel about how he is collecting for Greenpeace and wants me to pay for them to save the planet. I reply "no thanks".

He says "Don't you believe in saving the planet.........." and then I notice a noise coming from my side of the old fashioned screen door, down near my legs. It is the dog starting to make the most evil noise I have heard a dog make.......so I grab her collar. The dog accepts the grip, but I can feel the dog winding up it's body like a giant spring and the sound is gradually getting louder.

The Greenpeace guy is hearing the noise too and I say: "I think you better go now pal.....I don't know how long I can hold this thing back."

The guy took off quickly.......

I have no doubt, that if I had let the dog go, it would have hurt or maybe even killed him.

The dog didn't have a problem with the Greenpeace guy.....the dog sensed that I had a problem with the Greenpeace guy.....and that was all it took.

It was not even my dog.....

The dog was not even in it's normal home.......

 

[Patchouli]

@Hardcalibres That is one reason why I love our dog. I keep a pair of men's shoes near the front door or outside and this dog on this side of the door. She scares everyone. She no longer tries to herd us and can be controlled on a leash while out walking. She behaves well enough. She's almost 10 y.o. and still going strong. She is not aggressive towards my grandkids.
Blue Heeler

Red Heeler
And soon to be found on a highway near you:

our dog looks similar to this one. the blue heeler fur color comes through on the chest. Derpy ears like the one above.
I wouldn't recommend these kinds of dogs unless you live on a farm/ranch, a few acres, plan on exercising it a lot. They get bored easily.

 

[Spikedriver]

@Hardcalibres That is one reason why I love our dog. I keep a pair of men's shoes near the front door or outside and this dog on this side of the door. She scares everyone. She no longer tries to herd us and can be controlled on a leash while out walking. She behaves well enough. She's almost 10 y.o. and still going strong. She is not aggressive towards my grandkids.
Blue Heeler
View attachment 92506
View attachment 92507
Red Heeler
And soon to be found on a highway near you:
View attachment 92508
View attachment 92509
our dog looks similar to this one. the blue heeler fur color comes through on the chest. Derpy ears like the one above.
I wouldn't recommend these kinds of dogs unless you live on a farm/ranch, a few acres, plan on exercising it a lot. They get bored easily.

Totally agree with Patch here. Heelers need space.

My dad had one for 14 years. She showed up as a stray on Christmas day, 2003. A year old, and expecting pups. Hid under the car and would flinch away at any fast movements. Obviously someone had beat her and dumped her.

Dad took pity on her and set out dog food. She stuck around and slowly she became his dog and he became her person. She wouldn't leave his side. Eventually she was friendly enough to the rest of the family. She loved my daughter to pieces and would come down the road a mile to our house and wait for her on our front steps.

We named her Little Orphan Annie. Annie did have an attitude problem towards strangers. She was a good guard dog. She bit a salesman once. She had full run of my dad's farm, 220 acres to watch over, and she watched over it all. If she had been a city dog she would've gone bananas. She would get bored and try to herd the barn cats, which never went well. She would maul any Raccoon she could get hold of. She was smart as a whip too. My Doberman got hit by a car in front of dad's place. After he recovered, whenever we visited she would herd him into the ditch when he tried to chase cars.

A heeler is lots of work. They need walks and games. They live to herd stock. But they're fantastic dogs if you can handle them.