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About the Australian Cattle Dog

Origin: Australia
Typical life span
12-16 years
Size
Medium — from its typical weight
Weight
16-23 kg
Height
Male
46-51 cm
Female
43-48 cm
FCI status
Recognised by FCI
FCI group
Sheepdogs and Cattledogs (except Swiss Cattledogs)
Origin
Australia
Also called
Boyero Australiano
Known hereditary risks
5 documented conditions, with the test for each

About

What is a Australian Cattle Dog?

Compact, muscular working dog with distinctive coat markings and exceptional endurance for cattle herding; known as the Heeler

Australian Cattle Dog history and origins

Developed in 19th century Australia by crossing British herding dogs including blue merle Collies with native Dingo, with later infusions of Dalmatian and Black and Tan Kelpie to create a hardy cattle herding dog for harsh Australian conditions

Australian Cattle Dog appearance and size

Males typically stand 46-51 cm at the shoulder and females 43-48 cm.

What the breed standard says

Bred for
Cattledog
Behaviour and temperament
“The Cattle Dog's loyalty and protective instincts make it a self-appointed guardian to the Stockman, his herd and his property. Whilst naturally suspicious of strangers, must be amenable to handling, particularly in the Show ring. Any feature of temperament or structure foreign to a working dog must be regarded as a serious fault. As the name applies the dog’s prime function, and one in which he has no peer, is the control and movement of cattle in both wide open and confined areas. Always alert, extremely intelligent, watchful, courageous and trustworthy, with an implicit devotion to duty making it an ideal working dog”

Quoted from FCI standard n°287. It describes the breed the registry recognises, not any individual animal.

Breed reference from The Dog API.

Characteristics

Size
Medium
Exercise needs
4 of 5
Easy to train
—
Amount of shedding
4 of 5
Grooming needs
4 of 5
Good with children
—
Cost to keep
—
Tolerates being alone
—
Intelligence
—
Health of breed
5 conditions documented

Pros & cons

Pros & cons for the Australian Cattle Dog

What you get with the Australian Cattle Dog

  • Purpose stated in the standard: “Cattledog”
  • The standard describes the breed as: “The Cattle Dog's loyalty and protective instincts make it a self-appointed guardian to the Stockman, his herd and his…”
  • Longer-lived than a crossbred dog — median 14 years across 125 animals, against 12

What you are taking on

  • 3 serious inherited conditions are documented, mainly in eyes and hearing. The health guide tab has the test to ask for on each.
  • High grooming needs — the standard’s own description is “A coat either too long or too short is a fault.”

Drawn from sources rather than written as an opinion — cited health research, the registry’s own standard, and peer-reviewed longevity. FCI breed standard; McMillan et al. 2024, median age at death; Australian Cattle Dog Club of America — OFA-CHIC Health Testing Requirements. One breeder’s animals can differ from any of it, and an empty column means we hold nothing for that side rather than that there is nothing to say.

Characteristics

FCI standard · Australian Cattle Dog

Coat and colour

As the FCI standard sets it out. Every line below is the standard’s own wording, tagged preferred, permissible and undesirable.

Coat

The coat is smooth, a double coat with a short, dense undercoat.

The outer coat is close, each hair straight, hard and lying flat, so that it is rain-resisting.

Under the body to behind the legs, the coat is longer and forms near the thigh a mild form of breeching.

On the head (including the inside of the ears), to the front of the legs and feet, the hair is short.

Along the neck it is longer and thicker.

As an average, the hairs on the body should be from 2,5 to 4 cms in length

Notes

  • A coat either too long or too short is a fault.

Colour

  • Preferred
  • Permissible
  • Undesirable
  • Disqualifying

Preferred, permissible, undesirable and disqualifying are FCI’s own words about the breed. They describe what the standard asks for — not an assessment of any individual dog, and not ours.

Blue mottled

  • The colour should be blue, blue mottled or blue speckled with or without other markings.
  • Permissible: The markings are black, blue or tan markings on the head, evenly distributed for preference
  • The forelegs tan midway up the legs and extending up the front to breast and throat, with tan on jaws
  • the hindquarters tan on inside of hindlegs, and inside of thighs, showing down the front and the stifles and broadening out to the outside of the hindlegs from hocks to toes.
  • Permissible: Tan undercoat on the body providing it does not show through the blue outer coat
  • Undesirable: Black markings on the body
  • Red speckle: The colour should be of good even red speckle all over, including the undercoat, (neither white nor cream), with or without darker red markings on the head.
  • Preferred: Even head markings
  • Red markings on the body but not

Shortened from FCI standard n°287 — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source.

What the standard penalises

What a judge marks the Australian Cattle Dog down for, and what puts one out of the ring, in the registry’s own words. This describes the breed standard — it is not a checklist for the animal in front of you, and a pet with a disqualifying fault is an unshowable dog rather than an unhealthy one.

Severe faults

Marked heavily against a specimen in the ring.

  • Shoulder that is loaded, slack or straight.
  • Weakness at elbows, pastern or feet.
  • Straight stifles.
  • Cow-or bow hocked.
  • Movement that shows stiltedness

FCI standard n°287

Breed-level information from The Dog API. It describes the Australian Cattle Dog in general; any individual animal can differ.

Health guide

Health & screening guide for the Australian Cattle Dog

Known hereditary risks for the Australian Cattle Dog breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.

5 conditions documented

Health checklist (PDF)

Bones & joints

Eyes

Progressive retinal atrophy (prcd variant)

Serious

An inherited, progressive degeneration of the retina leading to blindness, usually starting with loss of night vision in early adulthood.

What to ask for

A prcd-PRA DNA test from an approved laboratory, on both parents — one of the parent club's required CHIC tests.

1 source

Primary lens luxation (PLL)

Serious

A weakness in the fibres holding the eye's lens in place, causing the lens to dislocate in adulthood. This is a veterinary emergency: untreated, it can cause glaucoma and blindness.

What to ask for

A DNA test for the ADAMTS17 mutation, on both parents, from an approved laboratory — one of the parent club's required CHIC tests, added in 2014.

1 source

Hearing

Congenital deafness

Serious

Hearing loss present from birth, linked in this breed to the same pigment-related genetics that produce its coat pattern. It can affect one or both ears and does not improve.

What to ask for

A BAER (brainstem auditory evoked response) test, on both parents — one of the parent club's required CHIC tests.

1 source

How long the Australian Cattle Dog lives, in the records

Median survival 14.0 years

95% confidence interval 13.2–15.1 years, from 50 recorded deaths among 125 dogs

Mortality hazard 0.59 (0.45, 0.78) relative to crossbred dogs, whose median is 12.0 years.

Few deaths recorded for this breed, so the figure is imprecise.

Measured in the United Kingdom from 584,734 dogs. Median survival is not a prediction for an individual dog.

McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L., Upjohn, M.M., Casey, R.A. & Christley, R.M. (2024) Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Scientific Reports 14, 531.

Gallery

No photographs yet

This is where Australian Cattle Dog owners’ own photographs will go, from the pet profiles they keep here. Nobody has added one to a public page yet.

A photograph in a pet profile stays private to its owner. We will not put one here unless they ask us to.

Puppies

No puppies listed right now

No Australian Cattle Dog breeder has a record on this platform yet, so there is nothing to list. That is a gap in our coverage, not a fact about the breed.

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