RDanny

Any Australian Cattle Dog owners out there? I am thinking about buying one. I'd like to know the pro's and con's about ACD's.

-Are they good with children?
-Are they good sport dog's?
-What is their temperment?
-Any other info would be helpful...

Thanks

jabennett

I've been around them my whole life. Males for the most part are dumb as stumps while most females are the easiest to train dogs I've seen and super smart. Great with kids make a very good watch dog. Want to be with you. Tree anything that comes in your yard. My uncle trained his to tree squirrels by shooting a squirrel in front of it and just teasing the dog with the dead squirrel and saying get em. Wouldn't believe it if I had not seen it. Not saying she was the best squirrel dog because she only watched the squirrel some of the time so sometime you would walk into an empty tree but no dog is percect. She made an excellent all around dog. Side note like to play fetch so much I'm pretty sure she would drag a car tire back if you were to throw one for her.

Yellowsnow

This seems to be an old thread brought back from the dead. I'll add my opinion anyway for anyone else searching this topic...

ACD's are very intelligent with a ton of energy. They are great with kids and protective of children and the family in general.

ACD's are great in agility. I have not seen one hunting, but will work great on a farm to eliminate pests. I would bet that they could be used to tree coons or as a good squirrel dog.

All in all a ACD from a working dog breeder is an awesome family dog that will be at home on a farm.

Check out Airedale Terriers as well. Some working Airedales are pretty versatile as hunting and retrieving companions.

jabennett

when i first started posting on this forum i was using my phone and i was posting on some really old post because on my android it wasn't showing me the date. i've since have not posted anything off of my phone.

Chopayne

My friend had two of those dogs, great dogs, never aggressive to us. Crazy eyes though, wish all dogs had those kind of eyes. They ran all around the field with llamas 4 wheelers anything, great dogs.

MZS

We have an Australian Shepherd - Once I tossed an old fence post as far as I could and he tried his darnest to drag it back to me!

The good thing about most any herding breed is that they will stay close to the house, as compared to hunting breeds that might be off to the woods (or neighbors chickens). Our Aussie will not go 50 ft from the house unless he is sticking to one of the kids. Aussies need constant companionship or they pretty much go insane. We have to hire a house-sitter to keep him company if we take a trip.

HogNDog

Australian Cattle Dogs are wonderful family dogs and are usually great with children. Australian Cattle dogs are excellent working dogs. Australian Cattle Dogs are great farm dogs (herding is their specialty). They can excel in sports like agility, flyball, frisbee, weight pulling and dock jumping (dock dogs). The Australian Cattle Dog is quite the character as they are extremely active, loyal, intelligent and brave. They make excellent watch dogs and are quite alert. I only recommend this breed of dog for experienced dog owners only. They tend to get bored easily and can become destructive if not given some type of work and exercise. These dogs are working dogs and need to be placed in a home where they will be able to work. They tend to have a high prey drive and need to either be carefully watched around smaller animals or not be around smaller animals at all.