Odd ACD/Blue Heeler Habits

[NotAtTheBarn]

I have noticed that my three year old ACD has a few peculiar habits, and wondered if any of your ACD’s, herding dogs, or other breeds have any entertaining habits?

First off, she circles my horses continuously when he is tied in the cross ties, and thinks that she is what’s keeping him there.

She follows my horse about two horse lengths behind our entire ride, following us through circles, changes of direction, jumping, etc.

For about the past month she has made herself a little cave under my bed, and curls up with my dirty clothes she takes under the bed with her.

She was able to unzip my lunch box (without disturbing the box or breaking the zipper!) to finish my lasagna leftovers.

I can’t figure out how to add a picture of my cutie or else I would!

Anyone else have any entertaining dogs?

[drawstraws]

I’ve got an 11 year old ACD that has always used his chest to his advantage. The phrase “Scooter, stop smashing the cat!” comes out of my mouth quite frequently. He’ll also do it if I’m propped up in bed on the laptop - he comes over and flop down, putting all of his weight into his chest on top of me. At 50+ pounds, it’ll about take the breath out of you! He also will gently take my hand in his mouth and hold onto it if I stop petting him and he decides he wants more, has done this since he was a puppy.

[Crackerdog]

Is there anything that Cattle Dogs do that could be considered normal? :lol:
Mine just turned three and she is the weirdest smartest dog I have ever owned. The list of her oddities is long but her top things are:

1. She likes to dig her blankets into balls, growling the whole time, and then lay on them. It’s more like hiking a football than digging.

2. She groans and moans all the time, some times more dramatically than others.

3. She lays on her back and barks, throwing her legs out in all directions.

4. She can’t go outside without something in her mouth, ever.

5. When you pet her, if you stop, she gives a quiet growl-y sound until you start petting her again.

6. She shows little to no herding instinct.

[Horsegal984]

These oddities are because ACDs are just not normal to begin with. my male does the same following two strides out thing, but I punished the circling a stationary horse thing because I don’t want him to think it is his job to stop said horse if it moves.

He digs blankets into a pile too, then lays with only his butt on them, rest of him on the floor.

He literally prances through the house with his Kong. His forelimb extension rivals that of Totilas.

He barks like a chihuahua.

He is super smart, but needs a helmet he runs into things so often.

[Crackerdog]

Sometimes when she’s frustrated because I have told her ‘no’ and meant it, she will howl at me. She also likes to be blow dried and will lay on the heat registers.

[Arrows_Endure]

My 12 week old ACD puppy does the digging the blanket and talking thing. Cracks me up every time. He also “heels” the other dogs, thinks horses shouldn’t be allowed near the fence that shares our yard, but is fine with horses if we are in the pasture with them, and yips like a poodle.

He is wickedly intelligent, and at 12 weeks, sits, downs, shakes hands, targets a hand and an object, goes to his mat and lays down when asked (and will stay there!), and quite a few other tasks. Of course, he does use that intelligence for evil too, and thinks my work shoes are his personal chew toys. As he has learned that I don’t want him playing with my shoes, he takes them and hides them now. If he can’t chew them, I can’t wear them. So there!

I am enjoying it though, I like the smart dogs…

[Horsegal984]

Scroll about halfway down, there is a section called “are you sure you want a cattle dog?” cracks me up everytime.

http://hollowlogacd.com/id13.html

Great pic on the homepage of a “working” dog too

[Kenike]

There are not enough pages available to share all the oddities my ACD/Catahoula has…but they’re all straight out of the ACD playbook! Except how he would work a bull…only a bull. That was all Catahoula.

He does the digging thing, the squish the cat and/or human thing, the herd everything in sight or keep it still thing, the lay on his back with legs flailing while also barking and grunting thing…but he also chases lightning in order to bark at the thunder, bathes the cat, chases aircraft flying over (my C-130s being his favorite because they’re noisy and usually rumbling quite low over the house), he tells birds where to shove it and then tries to play tag with them, and so much more. He sits, lays, rolls over, shakes, hi-fives, speaks, balances treats on his nose and catches them…
And the expressions he gives! I’ve never had such an expressive, martyr-type dog!

He doesn’t do them with as much gusto now as he’ll 13 in a short four weeks, but he does try. He’s now mostly deaf, sleeps a lot, has a grade II heart murmur, and snores like a chainsaw, but he’s incredible.

[Burbank]

Whiskey was half heeler, I miss that dog so much
he was a great barn dog and would love to trot around the ring while I rode, he would lay and watch while I would lunge Warrior and loved to go on the trails.

he would also get up on the coffee table to look out of the window at a higher advantage, same with the kitchen table

as a pup he would carry his pink bunny around constantly and as an adult would de-stuff his toys then play with the empty shells, he would also give baths to his toys

[FairWeather]

Mine insists on “punching” you all the time. You cannot pet, speak to, be near, or exist without him punching you with a foreleg.
He also Constantly herds me around the house, which makes me nuts. If I walk to a closet, he’ll go INSIDE the closet so he can herd me out as I walk away.
Running into things? Got that downpat. Cars, walls, horses, people, you name it. If you’re in the way of he and his ball, you’re goin’ down.

[Murphy_s_Mom]

All of mine like to sleep on their backs with legs straight up in the air. Cash thinks all toys are hers and only hers. She also, unfortunately, has the ACD “shriek”. And she likes to chew. On everything. Especially cardboard and library books. Bear maintains law and order around the house with an iron paw. She likes to “nose bonk” the other dogs when she is in a good mood. On occasion she can be found on top of the dining room table. She excels in counter surfing and dumping the kitchen trash bin. Ember (mix) is a little princess and likes her comforts. I did find her on top of the microwave once. Dexter is growing to be a goofy goober boy. He is the mellowist ACD I have ever owned. He loves going to the vet.

[Horsegal984]

Omg I forgot photos of my own!!

http://m137.photobucket.com/albums/horsegal984/Eclipse%20and%20Oz/?src=www?pbauth=1_uLEBonVPfaLdh1h3YMYz2WY9FJ6ylfpg2sN2tQGxpLPsvlKGOOcFNCaRrS904SLAdO8S%2FpNBgTWU5VILwQLx%2F2QhgqU3Se4Af5dB%2B%2Fcx3V87GP3g6DsK5%2F%2FVsZzff%2FAtXskphySe929y%2BwXC8U%2BvmV9U%2B%2FqHn0Ftc%2BKOOrSuDcQ%3D

[NotAtTheBarn]

Pictures!!!

I had to put together a Photobucket account so I could share some pictures :winkgrin:

http://s1300.beta.photobucket.com/user/UWgirl/library/

I remembered some other things she does, like the awful shrieking sound she makes when I am not throwing the ball as fast as she would like me to, or when she would like a treat.

She loves opening presents on Christmas, but is very polite and will only open a present if it is handed to her. Needless to say, she has multiple presents under the tree already.

She also has figured out that she can get me out of bed in the morning if she strategically pulls the blankets off of me with her paws. One day I just kept pulling the blankets back up and she pulled them off at least four times, all the way to the base of the bed.

Today I discovered that she has a bone hidden in her “cave” under the bed, you know, just so I can’t steal it from her.

I used to drive an Avalanche that had a back seat that folded down so the cab was open to the covered bed of the truck. It was one of her favorite things for me to toss a tennis ball to the back of the bed while driving, so she could run through the back seat and bed to fetch the ball. It was a sad day for her when I sold that truck :lol:

She absolutely loves swimming! it is an everyday event during the summer. Do any of you ACDs swim? I heard somewhere is was uncommon for them to enjoy swimming.

Continue with the ACD idiosyncrasies, and add pictures if you have them!

[SuckerForHorses]

Mine is red, but I’ll join in!

Uncommon for an ACD to swim!? I haven’t met one yet that DIDN’T like to swim! Mine discovered this summer when I wasn’t looking, that he could sneak through the small section of brush adn trees to the neighbor who has a pond…we knew where he was when we heard the “SPLASH!”

Rusty is turning 4 in March. His AKC registered name is “Little Rusty Red Devil” and is this name for a reason…!!!

He also does the lay on the back, wiggle around with feet in the air, then jumps up, and tears off like a lunatic! We know when he is wiggling aroudn on his back, head upside down, teeth showing, that its only moments before he gets a firecracker under his butt and takes off!

He also thumps the cat to the ground, but uses his paw. LIterally, wacks the cat and flattens him like a pancake. The cat tolerates this pretty well, but once, after doing this, the cat layed down on the couch. Rusty came over and kept poking the cat with his nose. Cat just ignored him…Rusty kept at it…he would poke the cat, then turn his head and watch him out of the corner of his eye. Well, finally the cat got sick of it, and when the dog turned his head away like “huh, wasn’t me…” the cat jumped up and BIT onto the dog’s ear so hard the dog yelped like a little girly girl, and wouldnt’ come near the cat for hours! Poor guy…he deserved it though!

My ACD has a strong herding/ankle biting instinct with any livestock, so he has to be carefully watched when around them. I wish he had better obedience, but that is my fault.

He loves to ride in any vehicle, and on the 4-wheeler.

He HATES being crated…even though it was a good experience for him since a pup, he just hates it. He has gotten quite nasty a few times with going in the crate (read: if you take him by the collar to assist getting him to teh crate, he will bite you). Once in the crate, you must close the door REAL QUICK or he is no longer in the crate! He will also snap at your fingers as you latch the door.

All in all, I love the little (big? 58lbs) guy. I originally wanted a blue, but couldn’t find one around here. Now that I’ve had a red, I think I like the red coat better!

http://s238.beta.photobucket.com/user/agonyaw/library/Rusty

[SuckerForHorses]

[

THIS is the look JUST before he goes into a fit of craziness!

[SuckerForHorses]

Oh, I remember another annoying habit…

We used to have 2 couches, and that meant that humans could sit on one, adn the dogs would lay on another. Since we are down to 1 couch now, Rusty will come over and stare at you while you’re on the couch. This is usually how he asks to go out…just stares at you, until you get up, and then he’ll normally go to the door to go out. Well, since we have one couch, he has resorted to staring at you, you think he has to go out, and when you get up to let him out, HE STEALS YOUR SPOT ON THE COUCH!!! This has gotten very annoying, because now, its hard to tell if he has to go out, or if he is just being a shithead and wants the couch!

We do not give him the couch, by the way. If he continues to be a pest, after we confirm he does not need to go out, he goes in his crate until we are done with the couch. He can sit on it when we aren’t on it.

[Kenike]

Red (my old man) used to LOVE to swim. He had his own wading pool that stayed up and filled all summer because he would just go lay (with chin rested on the side) in the water for hours. Take him to the lake or a river? Be ready for wet dog in the car. This summer marked the first disinterest in water games. It made me sad, but it is what it is.

The puppy (ACD/GSD) loves water, too. He goes nuts in it. I’m not sure I can attribute that to his mom, though, since it appears GSDs also love water. Dusty maintains a boatload of GSD “oddities” in behavior, but he works like a Heeler. His frisbee antics are all Heeler, he sleeps like a Heeler (often on his back with legs all over, or stretched on his side with legs all over)…and we’re still figuring out things with him.

[2ndyrgal]

I just thought I wanted one

Pretty sure I’ll have to pass now.

Carry on.

[SuckerForHorses]

[QUOTE=2ndyrgal;6723087]
Pretty sure I’ll have to pass now.

Carry on.[/QUOTE]

LOL! Did we scare you away?!

[islgrl]

I have a red heeler mix (pretty sure corgi is the other half) who is the source of endless amusement, he does the blanket thing, the lay on his back and flail about thing, he also will endless lick the floor, he loves toast to the point that he can barely contain himself once he knows the toaster oven is going he stares transfixed and whines. He shreds paper towels if they are left on the coffee table, but touches nothing else that doesn’t belong to him. He has NO interest in swimming, mercifully. My favorite thing he does is to sit at the end of the couch, like a person, on his butt with one arm extended down the arm of the couch. All he needs is a beer in his paw and the picture would be complete. He has done this since he was a baby (he’s now 10) and it still cracks me up every time.