Australian Cattle Dogs are descendants of the wild Dingo. But, there is no historical evidence of Dalmatian or Collie breeds included in their development.
Australian Cattle Dogs originated in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia in the 1800s.
Here is the truth about what breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog.
What breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog?
In the early 1800s, Australia was a hard place to live. The expanding cattle ranches, or stations, were being developed by settlers from Great Britain. Also included were a good number of convicts that were sent as part of their imprisonment.
The terrain was rough and the weather unappealing.
The George Hall family arrived from England in 1802. It is George’s son Thomas who is credited with the original crossing of Dingoes with local drover’s dogs. These crossings created the Hall’s Heelers, the ancestors of our modern Australian Cattle Dog breed.
Above Image Credit: Willowpark Whiz Kid, Brett Spader, Belinda Carter
Thomas Hall settled in Dartbrook and by 1828 was in charge of about 4,700 acres. He had dogs to help move the cattle from Hawkesbury Valley to Dartbrook. The trip was long and challenging, almost 200 miles.
Some dogs were probably better than others at their cattle work and were logically the ones to be used in his breeding program.
With the crossings of these drover dogs, “a blue mottled, bob-tailed working dog, a drovers dog of some kind,” with Dingoes, a more hearty, courageous working-dog emerged.
Crossing the best with the best, eventually, a better dog would be produced.
The Australian Dingo was an important factor in the origin of the Australian Cattle Dog
The Hall's Heeler began to emerge in the late 1820s
“Need for them became extreme during the 1830s. The phasing out of convict transportation foreshadowed labour shortage and the Halls would become increasingly dependent on their own family members, and particularly on their dogs, as their landholdings increased.” (Noreen Clark)
What do we know about those local drover dogs that were the ancestors of the Australian Cattle Dog?
What can we say concerning the breeds that make up the Australian Cattle Dog?
What breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog?
No real evidence exists to indicate that any specific “breed” or “breeds” were “imported” to cross on Dingoes.
Were Dalmatians used to create the Australian Cattle Dog?
This is another myth based on supposition without actual facts.
It may have been invented to try to explain the fact that the Australian Cattle Dog is born all white.
The thought that the Dalmatian breed was introduced to increase the dogs’ acceptance of horses makes no sense.
If there were dogs that had no tolerance of horses, it seems that these would simply have been eliminated from the breeding program for temperament reasons.
What breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog?
Why is There so Much Misinformation?
There are several myths concerning what breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog.
Robert Kaleski (1877-1961) was an author and lover of the early Australian Cattle Dog breed. He was the first one to write about the connection between The Hall Family and the ACD’s ancestor that he called the Hall’s Heeler.
It seems that, for whatever reason, his later writings did not match up with facts stated in his earlier writings. As an attempt to explain certain characteristics about the dog, it seems he wrote “facts” that were not able to be substantiated.
This includes the infusion of Dalmatian blood into early breeding programs, as well as the “importation” of collie type dogs.
As would seem logical, it was easy for later writers to simply rewrite what was already written without questioning its validity.
What do we really know about Australian Cattle Dog Origin and History?
Noreen Clark is the author of A Dog Called Blue. This is the most highly researched and documented history of the Australian Cattle Dog breed and the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog yet written.
The following article was written as she was doing yet more research in preparation for her new book, A Dog for the Job.
Check out the link below to find out how these myths started in the first place and the truth about what breeds make up the Australian Cattle Dog
