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Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog
| Other Names | Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog, Stumpy, Stumpy tail, Heeler |
| Country of Origin | Australia |
| Weight | 35 - 50 lbs. (16 - 23 kg) |
| Height (at withers) | 17 - 20 in. (44 - 51 cm) |
| Coat | The coat is medium length to short, straight, dense and harsh. |
| Colour | The coat colour is a speckled red or speckled blue. |
| Litter Size | 3-6 puppies |
| Life Span | 10-15 years |
| Origin & History | The origin of the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is a mystery, and a hotly debated one. The breed was developed in extremely rural areas and was bred exclusively as a working dog. These factors combined with the fact that it appeared before written records were typically kept of dog breeding mean that no one is sure about how and when the breed was created, or who developed it. It is a commonly made claim that the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is the oldest pure bred dog in Australia. This is both possible and likely, but until more conclusive evidence comes to light cannot be stated with certainty. There are a number of theories and stories about the development of this breed although evidence to support any of them is sparse and unreliable at best. All theories agree on four key points, that the breed was developed in Australia, that it first appeared in the first half of the 19th Century, that it was the result of crossing British herding dogs and the Australian Dingo, and that it was bred as a cattle and sheep drover. The history of the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog began in 1788, when the first British colony was established on the Australian mainland. From the earliest days of European settlement in Australia, the cattle and wool industries played a major role in the country’s economy, just as they had in the British Isles. For hundreds of years, British herding breeds have been regarded as some of the most highly skilled and best performing livestock working breeds. These dogs were perfectly suited to both their job and their homeland. When British shepherds and cattlemen first immigrated to Australia, they brought the dogs that had served them and their ancestors for countless generations along with them. Although extremely dedicated and dependable workers and highly skilled herders, British dogs fared poorly in their new homeland. Dogs adapted to life in cool England and the frigid Scottish Highlands were very ill-suited to Australia’s climactic conditions. The temperature in Australia often rises to well-over 100 degrees Fahrenheit where it remains for hours on end. British collies and sheepdogs often collapsed in such weather, and frequently died of heat stroke. Numerous diseases flourish in the heat, including many that were either not found in Britain or were extremely rare. In addition to a greater disease load, greater numbers of parasites and biting insects are found in Australia as well. The Australian wildlife is also considerably more dangerous than that of Britain, where the largest surviving predators are the red fox and river otter, neither of which is much of a match for an adult sheepdog. Australia is home to many species willing and capable of killing both dogs and livestock such as the Dingo, large monitor lizards, massive crocodiles, wild hogs, the most venomous snakes in the world, and if legends are to be believed, the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger. One of the most developed nations in the world, the United Kingdom was densely populated with a good road system and generally passable terrain. During the 1800’s, Australia was perhaps the least developed nation on Earth, with essentially no roads and countless square miles completely uninhabited by human beings. Even the sheep and cattle in Australia were considerably more difficult to work with. Whereas the cattle and sheep in Britain were extremely tame and pliable as a result of breeding and close contact with man, those in Australia were half-wild due to the survival necessities of the Outback and the fact that many only saw humans up close a few times a year. The difficulties placed on British herding dogs were most extreme in the farthest reaches of European settlement. Cattle and sheep ranchers operating in the Australian interior often owned hundreds of acres which were located well-over one hundred miles from the nearest major settlement. Before the introduction of railways and automobiles, the only way for them to get their livestock to market was with droving dogs and horses. These operators needed dogs that were capable of working at a rapid pace in extremely high temperatures for countless hours over entirely undeveloped and rough terrain, in addition to possessing disease and parasite resistance and the ability to deal with Australia’s dangerous wildlife. There was however, one type of dog extremely well-suited to life on the Great Southern Continent, the Dingo. Although its origins have been lost to time, the Dingo was first brought to Australia sometime between 4,000 and 12,000 years ago by seafaring explorers from Indonesia or New Guinea. Once on the Australian mainland, Dingoes went feral and eventually reverted to a completely wild state. Living in isolation on Australia, the Dingo developed so differently from both other dogs and wolves that it is now usually (but not always) regarded as a unique subspecies. Dingoes are exquisitely adapted to life in Australia, and have successfully colonized the entire continent even the harshest regions. Having to hunt to survive, Dingo packs are regularly on the move. Although possibly a separate subspecies, all Dingoes can produce fertile offspring with all domestic dogs and all wolves. The most popular and widely accepted theory for the origin of the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is that the breed was developed by a man named Timmins, whose first name has apparently been lost to history. Timmins was supposedly a cattle and sheep drover operating in New South Wales during the early colonial period. Many sources claim that Timmins lived and worked primarily in Bathurst, but there is not any agreement on this point. As was the case with many early Australian settlers, Timmins possessed Smithfields. Now generally regarded as extinct, Smithfields were a herding and droving breed native to Southern England, very similar to the Old English Sheepdog to which they may have been ancestral. Smithfields were named for the Smithfield market in London, where they were most commonly used. At one point, there were two varieties of Smithfield, one with a naturally bobbed-tail and another with a longer tail. Timmins allegedly crossed his Smithfields with Dingoes, in order to achieve a dog with the best qualities of each. Bred to bite and the heels of cattle to get them to move, his dogs became known as Timmins’s Biters. Timmins’s Biters allegedly had the stumpy tail of the Smithfield and the red coloration of the Dingo. Timmins found his dogs to be very hard workers and exceptionally adapted for Australian life. However, they also tended to bite so hard that they injured the livestock that they were driving, as well as being wild and difficult to train. Timmins crossed his dogs with blue-merle smooth-coated collie-type dogs to solve these problems. The puppies still possessed the stumpy tail, working ability, and environmental adaptations, but bit less hard, were more trainable, and some possessed blue coats instead of red ones. Timmins and other breeders focused their efforts on the blue-coated dogs under the assumption that they possessed less Dingo blood and were therefore tamer, although the red color never disappeared entirely. There is another popular theory regarded the origin of the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog. Some claim that it is the descendant of Hall’s Heelers, the same group of dogs that gave rise to the Australian Cattle Dog. In 1802, the Hall family moved from Northumberland, England to New South Wales and came to own a massive interior cattle ranch. The family subsequently imported droving dogs from Northumberland to their new home to assist them. The exact nature of these dogs is unclear but they were almost certainly collie-type dogs. The Hall family may have later crossed their Northumberland dogs with Smithfields, but sources debate this point. Finding that their dogs had the same problems as other British working dogs in Australia, the Halls crossed them with Dingoes that they were keeping as pets. The offspring of these crosses proved to be exactly what the Halls needed, and they became known as Hall’s Heelers. Perfected by the early 1840’s, these dogs provided so much of an advantage over other ranchers that they were not sold or given to any non-family members until the death of family patriarch Thomas Hall in 1870. Believers in this theory claim that those dogs which remained closest to the original Hall’s Heeler eventually became the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog while those which were further crossed with other breeds became the Australian Cattle Dog. Prevalence of opinion and what little evidence remains seems to indicate that the Timmins origin theory is more likely than the Hall origin, but either is possible. In fact, neither could be fully accurate, especially in the precise details. Regardless of how the breed came into existence, the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog became one of the premier livestock dogs in its homeland by the end of the 19th Century. The breed was widespread across Australia and quite commonly used as a working dog, although it was probably never as popular as the Australian Cattle Dog. Although used for similar purposes and probably occasionally crossed, he Australian Cattle Dog and Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog have apparently always been recognized as different breeds, or at least varieties. Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs have appeared in Australian dog shows since at least 1890. Most early shows included both breeds in the same classes, and until World War I Stumpy Tailed Dogs made up almost 50% of Cattle Dog entries. In 1917, the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC) recognized both dogs as separate breeds, initially calling them the Australian Cattle Dog and Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog (without the Australian) respectively. The Australian Cattle Dog wound up becoming a relatively popular show and conformation breed, although it remained primarily a working dog. Meanwhile, its Stumpy-tailed relative remained almost exclusively a working animal. As a result of a large number of American servicemen being stationed in Australia during World War II, the Australian Cattle Dog was introduced into the United States, where it became quite popular as both a working dog and a companion animal. However, the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog remained essentially unknown out of its home country. As the 20th Century wore on, the Australian Cattle Dog almost completely eclipsed the Stumpy Tail in terms of popularity and public recognition. Interest in pedigreed breed members almost disappeared entirely. By the 1960’s, there was only one family breeding fully registered Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs, Mrs. Iris Heale of Glen Iris Kennels. A number of other breeders continued to breed the dogs as working animals but did not register their dogs and may have crossed them with other breeds and Dingoes. By the 1980’s, it was clear that the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog was on the verge of complete extinction, at least as a purebred dog. In 1988, the ANKC announced a radical program to save the breed, the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog Redevelopment Scheme. Dogs resembling purebred Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs were sought out throughout Australia. Primarily, but not exclusively, working livestock dogs, these animals were graded on how closely they conformed to breed standards, with A being the highest ranking. The offspring of two dogs with an A grading were allowed to be registered as purebred Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs. The Redevelopment Scheme proved very successful, massively increasing the number of registered breed members while maintaining conformation and working ability. |
| Personality | Energetic, watchful, free-spirited, obedient and alert. Brave and trustworthy, the Stumpy Tail is suspicious of strangers, but very loyal to its own family. It possesses a great working ability to control cattle. It loves to work and is very attentive to its owners’ commands. It is an intelligent cattle dog that can become easily bored, leading to serious behavior problems. It is not the type to sit around the house or be tied up in the backyard all day doing nothing. It needs a firm, confident, consistent pack leader, who will give it rules to follow and limits as to what it is and is not allowed to do. This highly intelligent working dog needs to be part of the action and will thrive if you give it a job to do. Some tend to nip at people's heels in an attempt to herd them. Will be good with kids if you make him clearly see humans are his pack leader. If you do not make this clear, the dog may not be good with kids they were not raised with or do not know very well. Very good in the obedience ring and in herding and agility. Firm training and discipline from the start and lot of daily attention will produce a fine and happy pet. |
Care Requirements
| Health | The Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is regarded as being an extremely healthy breed. Although breed numbers dropped greatly during the 20th Century, the gene pool has been expanded with working dogs. Breeders of working dogs are completely intolerant of health defects as they impact the dog’s working ability. Additionally, the harsh Australian environment is completely unforgiving to any defects or weaknesses, placing a substantial amount of natural selection pressure on the breed. The breed has recovered so recently that health surveys have not yet been completed for it, but most fanciers claim that it does not suffer from high rates of any known conditions. This breed is known to be extremely long lived for a breed of this size. The average life expectancy for an Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog is at least 14 to 15 years, but many breed members reach very advanced ages of up to 18 years. Although the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog tends to suffer from low rates of genetically inherited conditions, it is certainly not immune from them. Although health information is very sparse on this breed, extensive surveys have been conducted on similar breeds. Based on this information, some of the health problems to which the breed may be susceptible include: •Hip Dysplasia •Elbow Dysplasia •Bilateral Deafness/Complete Deafness/Total Deafness •Unilateral Deafness/Partial Deafness/Deafness in One Ear •Progressive Retinal Atrophy/PRA •Collie Eye Abnormality •Cataracts •Retinal Dysplasia •Demodicosis/Demodex Mange/Demodectic Mange |
| Grooming | The shorthaired, weather-resistant coat needs little care and is very easy to groom. Just comb and brush with a firm bristle brush, and bathe only when necessary. This breed tends to shed its coat once or twice per year (depending on sex status and region). |
| Exercise | These animals have incredible stamina and will enjoy all the activity you can give them. Exercise is of paramount importance—without enough they can become bored and destructive. They need to be taken on long daily walks. Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs can compete in dog agility trials, obedience, showmanship, flyball, tracking, and herding events. Herding instincts and trainability can be measured at non-competitive herding tests. Stumpys exhibiting basic herding instincts can be trained to compete in herding trials. |
| Other Considerations | Not recommended for apartment life and does best with at least a large yard. Does best with a job to do. |
