Blue Heelers

[merlecore]

someone in my area trained their heeler to coon hunt, this sparked my curiousity and this site is the best resource for my questions, First, does anybody hunt with a heeler, on any sort of game? what use do they bring to the table in your pack? Theyre very intelligent trainable dogs from what i hear and have read, ive seen them work cattle, and its really i sight to see, anyway, i have the opportunity to get a puppy but im wondering if its worth my time, i have hounds and i dont know or think that they will learn the same way as they were bred for different things, i guess what i would hope to gain by having one is the intelligence and trainability as well as a companion, i hunt coon, coyotes and do a little bear hunting, this winter im going to try cats as well,if anyone has any stories, thoughts, or experiences i would really appreciate learning more, ill even expand my questions to any cattle dogs like collies ect. all are very intelligent - Thanks guys, Josh

[J.T.]

I have a collie in my pack and he is very smart however he really has not caught on to what the hounds are doing but he is only 11 months old

[kiwi]

I had a heeler/collie cross , great little dog went out on the hounds with me
Stayed by my side until she got wind of the deer, bayed them well . Not sure how 'd they go on your game
Great companion she was

[groaners]

I had a cow dog cross that I tried to train with the hounds, all she did was chase critters by sight if at all, and when she got bit she just backed off and then ran away. Not much of a hunting drive and zero interest in trailing. Sure turned into a different dog when she saw cows or sheep around......Needless to say I got rid of that one, LOL.

[Deff]

Our cowdogs (mostly Heeler X's) run with the hounds. Heelers display a lot of terrier characteristics. They are enthusiastic hunters and often locate the coon in the tree before the hounds do and the little mutts tree hard! They don't trail like a hound does but they can contribute to the pack in their own way.

[YotaDawger]

Just don't turn your back on one

[merlecore]

i figured that they wouldnt really trail but if a coyote or coon is bayed up maybe its a different story, i dont need a heeler, i have fair hounds, i just thought it would be a fun project, i know that theyre smart, thanks for the different perspectives, i hope to read more!

[stevemac]

Comming from the land of the heeler and having hunted with quite a few. I can tell you that they are a handy dog to have around for most the reasons you fellas have cur dogs Its true there not much could on a cold scent and wont trail for miles like a hound but if it comes to getting a hog out of the briars or using them to put up game for the fast dogs they are quite capable and enthusiastic we always found they were better worked or hunted in a pair or maybe thats because my mate always kept a brother and sister.

[pegleg]

I hunted a purebred male and he did well on coon and bobcat and was very gritty but didnt grip it was his only issue he would bite and let go quick . I ended up with two litter mate heeler hounds both females andthey handled very well and were super open while running worm to hot tracks good game aggression. Other then that they were different in many ways one was better trailer one more trashy different sizes really good tree dogs one was bear shy after being swatted around as a six month old pup shed still run bear and tree but would only bay from farther back. Theres a variance in heelers across the country and this.will make some difference in results. They all were very tough dogs and could hunt daily in any country . But pick the larger forty.plus lb dogs with decent muscling. Ive worked with some little squirrely dogs that are not as tough mentally and i dont think they someould add much they didnt make the best cowdogs and werent as hardyHardy.

[merlecore]

stevemac and peg leg, did your dogs pack well with the hounds? maybe what im asking is even if they cant smell the game, will they stay with the hounds? or did you wait to cast them after the game was jumped? and can they keep pace with the race or do they fall out? with coon im not too concearned but i like to hunt my dogs on different game, im not expecting a super dog by anymeans, i realize im asking a dog bred to work cattle to pursue game, but i like to hear everyone elses stories and experiences and im happy to hear im not crazy for wanting to try this!

[kiwi]

My dog wouldn't run with the hounds, however when she air scented, that was it , in quick apply pressure on the deer/game and they'd usually bay pretty quick
If they didn't she'd come back to me
What worked for me , may not be want others want

[pegleg]

the purebred male i had didn't run with them but was three or four before i started letting him go out with me and the hounds he was a trained cowdog. the others ran with the hounds and i've never seen any hound out work one of them. i don't know that they'd be as good at a continous fast lope as some hounds but they don't have that gear as far as i can tell. its seems they cover alot of ground but go in spurts and stops. the hound crosses ran fine had good noses good hunt and once the track got jumped were right up front for everything. thethings i noticed is they had double coats super feet and endurance for daily hunts held condition super well and very smart and shined on keeping up with cats in the rocks/bluffs they also did better then my hounds at locating on difficult situations like when a cat goes part way over a rim and starts skipping through the rocks as they'd use both nose and sight with some obvious thinking thrown in. these dogs will run a short track i've seen them trail a cow or horse and had them trail with their nose above the ground but like most dogs raised outside they can wind scent very good and the crosses hunted like a warm nosed hound and would damn sure work tracks and try and get the game. i think they need to be TRAINEDto hunt but as they're quick learners some positive training goes along way and usually doesen't have to be repeated . the draw back is hooved game you HAVE to be sure to let them know what not to run and then reinforce it. i still think crossing them on a good hound provides a better chance at great results

[merlecore]

pegleg- a little off subject but did you cross a male heeler on a female hound or visa versa? and do you have any pictures? i wanted a female but all he had left were males, i picked him up today and i cant wait till he gets older to work with him in the woods

kiwi- i sure hope it works out for me! i have a feeling deer may be a hurdle as we are not allowed to chase deer with dogs lol i live and work on a farm as well so he will always be useful, but i love to hunt with dogs so i was hoping these dogs were as versitle as ive been told

[harperlime]

I owned a few heelers before I got into bulldogs, and they were some of the grittiest little cusses I've ever seen. I was a teenager back then, and I never purposefully took one hunting, but I specifically remember the gyp we had the longest running down game all on her own on a number of occasions. A week wouldn't go by that I didn't have to pull her all bloodied out of the woods after she'd been after some critter. She'd run down deer in the field behind our house, and killed a few bobcats and coons on her own... I'm sure these were animals that she just happened across in her day-to-day travels as opposed to trailing down, but if it's sticktoitiveness that you're concerned with, most Heelers have more than enough of that to go around, and are generally smart enough to be trained to do most anything, their work ethic is off the charts. My biggest concern with training a Heeler to hunt would be getting the darned thing to stay at home - once they figure their job out, you'll be hard pressed to keep them from it. I'd imagine that they'd do pretty well on cats, coyotes or coons - they love to chase things down and keep them, and they're rarely afraid of much, and Pegleg is right on the money with regards to their feet and coats - they're one of the most rugged dog breeds around.

[pegleg]

Male heeler on a hound gyp. They looked fairly houndy at a distance one being a redtick/red heeler the other blue. The red one had some really outstanding traits super locate good tree and Very fast in a sprint. The blue one was a bit smaller and a tree climber deluxe but very handy in rocks hows your pup doing?