The short answer to whether or not Australian Cattle Dogs are good watch dogs is, yes.
Sharing What We’ve Learned about Australian Cattle Dogs
When we got Pandora, we knew she wasn’t a full breed ACD, Blue Heeler, Queensland Heeler. We were told that she has an 1/8th of Border Collie in her. Now I never thought to ask how they knew that, whether or not they gave the pups a DNA test or not. I didn’t care. This wasn’t a pre-planned breed pick, nor was it a pre-planned adoption. It was an “I detect a weakness in my husband and am taking whatever this dog is.”
Once we decided on her, I went home and started researching the breed. I didn’t know much about the breed. The only thing I knew was that they are great herding dogs. I’d only known two people with Blue Heelers. One was an older gentleman that would bring his dog up and visit with us often. His dog would say “I love you.” The other was a friend whose dog would chase us whenever we showed up at his house. I’m thankful I lived in a small town where we didn’t keep our doors locked, because I can’t count how many times I raced into that house, without knocking, and slammed the door between me and the beast.
My limited knowledge on the breed, followed by my initial research, scared the bejeebus out of me.
What Research Told Me
I learned that this breed can be aggressive to others if not socialized well. That was a big red flag of “oh no.” We were in the middle of a pandemic lock-down, how was I going to expose her to other animals and people?
Australian Cattle Dogs are a one-person dog. Well, hell. I have a husband and college-aged boys around the house. I knew she’d be my dog. Which was what I wanted, but I also wanted to her to like the rest of the family, too.
But the biggest one, the scariest one, the one that concerned me most, the one I saw on every single thing I read was: NOT RECOMMENDED FOR FIRST TIME DOG OWNERS.
The reasons given were that this is a stubborn breed and a breed that needs immense exercise and lots of mental stimulation as well.
Apparently, we’d just picked out a Tasmanian Devil.
And I was not going to share any of this information with my husband. I didn’t want him changing his mind before we got our girl home. This was my chance to have a dog and if we didn’t get her, my chance at ever getting a dog would be nil.
Without further ado, what to know about Australian Cattle Dogs:
This is going to be a mini-series of posts. Going over what I learned and how it pertains to a novice dog owner with a breed not recommended for novice owners.
Are ACD’s Good Watch Dogs/ Guard Dogs?
Yes. Yes, they are.
I have had the experience of my friend’s dog who went after anyone who showed up at his house. I have watched many hours of YouTube videos where ACD owners talk about their dog’s anti-social issues. And I’ve read a lot of articles, from veterinarian websites, breed specific websites, and blogs regarding cattle dogs.
And, I now have my own experience with Pandora to add to that knowledge list.
Pandora is almost always “on.” As in, “on alert”. I know whenever anyone in my household makes a move to do anything. Think you’re going to sneak out, oh no, no, no. Think you can slip into the house at 3:00 a.m. without anyone knowing what time you got home? No. Pandora lets me know about anyone outside the house, inside the house, heck, I even know when my neighbors come and go.
She lets me know when a stray cat is strolling around on the deck. She lets me know when our cats are roaming the yard. We know more information than we ever thought we needed to know.
If you want to read more about Pandora’s watching/guarding, read Wonky Schedules Throw Off Schedule-Loving Dog.
The Difference Between Watching and Guarding
Pandora will alert for anything, we’ve covered that. But it goes further than just alerting. She knows what I’m doing and where I am at all times. Unless I leave her home while I’m out and about. I curl my legs on the couch? Her eye opens. I lean forward to adjust a pillow behind my back and her head lifts up. I stand up and she’s right there, ready to go.
Guarding behavior is different. Pandora knows her family, she knows the boys and Dad, she knows they are okay. Yet, whenever one walks anywhere near the room I’m in, particularly my office or bedroom, she gets between them and me and grumbles, sometimes barks.
At night, if I go up to the bedroom before my husband, Pandora comes with me. And if I don’t put a hand on her, like rest my hand on her leg, or side, or head, she will leap up and place herself between my husband and I and bark.
Watching is letting me know what is going on within her sight and hearing range.
Guarding is placing herself between me and whatever she feels she needs to guard me from. I don’t like her doing it with family members, I’m not okay with that, and I haven’t been able to train her to stop. She hasn’t made to attack them, and her bark is less vicious. And I don’t let her carry on or get out of control. We put an end to it right quick.
Once when we were on one of our favorite trails, she did place herself between me and another man who was walking by and her bark was much more vicious. She’s normally fine with anyone on the trails. So, who knows why she didn’t like that guy? I’m not going to claim he was creepy or that dog’s sense malicious behavior. Sometimes, dogs just don’t like a scent. My dog that I had as a young girl, hated hunters. She would love on someone, but if they came by after hunting, she would flip her lid.
Oh yeah, I did socialize her…kind of
The only way to socialize her was on the trails during the pandemic. It wasn’t a crowded trail, but we’d meet people and talk and I didn’t force Pandora to love on anyone. So she’s pretty good on the trails.
So yes, Pandora is watchful and on guard. Would she attack someone if she felt I or another member of the family was threatened? Possibly. We haven’t been in a position to see that, which I’m totally okay with.
Do you have an Australian Cattle Dog, either full-breed or partial breed? I’d love to hear what you’ve noticed that is common to ACD’s or not.
