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THE COURAGE OF THE CATTLE DOGS
By David Hancock

Here is a mental exercise for all owners of Corgis, Lancashire Heelers, Swedish Vallhunds and Australian Cattle Dogs. Imagine going into a field of hefty lively bullocks, then getting down on your hands and knees and just picture the menace faced by your dogs when the cattle surround and threaten you. I write this from my memory of a story told to me on the Black Mountain on the Herefordshire/Welsh border, when I was researching the bob-tailed heelers found there. A cattle farmer told me of when he once had a diabetic attack when in a field containing twelve well-grown bullocks. He 'came to' surrounded by determined bullocks but protected by two of his heelers. Lying vulnerably on the ground, he saw the menace his dogs experienced every day, and, for the very first time, from their perspective. This experience gave him a new respect for his agile, steadfast and highly-focussed dogs.

We tend to use the word 'cur' in a derogatory manner these days, but the word was used to describe a nondescript working dog rather than a definite type. In The Sportsman's Cabinet of 1803, such a dog was described as "In colour the Cur is of a black brindled or of a dingy grizzled brown, having generally a white neck and some white about the belly, face, and legs; sharp nose; ears half pricked, and the points pendulous; coat mostly long, rough, and matted, particularly about the haunches, giving him a ragged appearance, to which his posterior nakedness greatly contributes, the most of the breed being whelped with a stumpy tail." That sums up rather well many of the dogs I saw on the Black Mountain; researchers should never dismiss the word 'cur' as just derogatory.

Every year in Britain dog-walkers are harmed by cattle, usually defensive cows, usually with calves, when walking in pastureland. But any 30lb dog facing a one-ton beast has my admiration; facing a dozen, with horns as well as hoofs, takes a very special kind of dog. Dogs serving man by herding horses, driving cattle or rounding-up wild bulls survive through their great agility, but they are chosen for their courage. Without courage, they wouldn't be exercising their agility; they are remarkable dogs, the smaller heelers especially so. Clever experienced heelers will nip the rear foot that the cow is standing on, rather than the one free to kick. The approach is nearly always from behind: a quick nip and away. Watching a farmer drive cattle up a ramp at the Bath and West Show, many years ago, using a small terrier-like dog, I asked him what kind of dog he had; he replied that ‘she’s a nip ‘n’ duck dog’. It’s an instinctive inherited skill related to the dog’s size and agility.

I first became aware of the heeler's skill in an unusual way: playing football with a fellow twelve-year old who had a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. The dog 'played' football with us, and every time it was threatened by a swinging foot, it flattened instinctively and the foot cleared its head. This was done with remarkable timing. I was impressed; later on, when this dog was mated to a local terrier, I obtained a pup, such was my admiration. This 'drop-flat' technique is a vital survival technique when lashing hooves respond to a small dog's urgings. Clever experienced heelers will nip the rear foot which the cow is standing on, rather than the one free to kick. The approach is nearly always from behind: a quick nip and away.

This ability was valuable when cattle needed to be moved: in markets or when loading lorries or railway trucks. Short-legged, terrier-like heelers were not an unusual sight in Britain in the last two centuries. If they had been gundogs or hounds, whole libraries would be filled with tales of their deeds. But they were used by shepherds and stockmen, not squires, and little has been recorded of them. But when, as a student in the early 1950s, I had summer jobs on farms, it was not unusual to come across small nondescript foxy-headed dogs working cattle.

Abroad, specialist breeds have developed: the Norwegian Buhund, the Florida Cow Dog and the Australian Cattle Dog (ACD). The ACD is often said to come from root stock of two Scottish blue merle working collies crossed with dingo. But why should any experienced cattleman intentionally use the blood of a creature that instinctively preys on domestic livestock? If anything, I see Bull Terrier features in the anatomies of many ACDs but am told that the outcross to the Bull Terrier was not considered a success and not favoured. The dingo blood is alleged to have produced great stamina but also the inclination to creep up behind cattle and attack them. But there has never been a shortage of British working collies with the instinct to get behind stock and nip it into compliance. I once owned two working sheepdogs that would nip the hocks of cattle, as a herding tactic, without any training to do so.

The origins of heeling cattle dogs are often the subject of fierce debate. EC Ash, in his Practical Dog Book of 1930, wrote: "...they are a cross of Shetland Sheepdog with the Sealyham Terrier, and possibly Border Terrier..." But nine years later, was writing: "I am of the opinion...that the Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) is an Alsatian cross." About that time, Theo Marples was writing: "Probably the Welsh Sheepdog and the Bull Terrier had a hand in his making." Clifford Hubbard however, who made a comprehensive study of the Welsh breeds, linked the Pembroke variety with Flemish weavers who settled in the Haverfordwest area in the eleventh century. He considered that these migrants brought their Schipperke-like dogs with them to provide an essential ingredient in the emerging breed. It is always worth keeping in mind that useful dogs travelled with tribes or migrants across many centuries and across many borders.

But what about the Swedish Vallhund and the only surviving English heeler breed, the Lancashire Heeler? With just over a hundred being registered annually this breed now appears to have been saved and have a sound future. This is very good news, firstly because we have lost too many of our native pastoral breeds, and, secondly because this is a breed well worth saving. A foot high, smooth-coated, black and tan or liver and tan, lively and perky by nature, they represent an ideal companion dog for many households. I do hope the show ring fanciers keep faith with the historic design of this breed and not produce, in time, Dachshund-like specimens with narrow pointy jaws, bent legs and too low to ground a build. This is essentially a natural unexaggerated working breed, deserving to be conserved as just that.

It is interesting that dogs used with cattle can vary from those substantial enough to impose their will, like the Bouviers of the Low Countries and the Fila breeds of the Iberian islands, to the little heelers. The larger cattle dogs overseas are well worth studying. It is interesting that dogs used with cattle can vary from those substantial enough to impose their will, like the Rottweiler, the Fila breeds - the Fila de Sao Miguel for example, the Presa breeds - the Perro de Presa Mallorquin/Ca de Bou or cow-dog of Mallorca, (Fila and Presa identifying the 'gripping' breeds), the Bardino Majero of the Canary Isles and the Perro Cimarron of Uruguay, to the little heelers. All these dogs need considerable courage but the little breeds especially so. They combine skill with guts. As long as man needs beef and milk, he will need clever, brave dogs to support him. Butchers may no longer need strong-headed dogs to pin cattle at abattoirs or markets and the droves have long lost their role. But stockmen in many countries still need cattle dogs, dogs agile enough to dodge lashing hooves and sometimes thrusting horns too, yet brave enough to undertake the task in the first place. These are not just another breed or collection of breeds. All these dogs need considerable courage but the dwarf breeds especially so. They combine skill with guts. In his fascinating book, Dogs and their Ways, published in 1863, the Rev. Charles Williams wrote: "Lord Truro told Lord Brougham an anecdote of a drover's dog, whose sagacious conduct he observed when he happened on one occasion to meet a drove. The man had brought seventeen out of twenty oxen from a field, leaving the remaining three there mixed with another herd. He then said to the dog, "Go, fetch them," and he went and singled out those very three." That takes skill and courage.

As long as man needs beef and milk, he will need clever, brave dogs to support him. Butchers may no longer need strong-headed dogs to pin cattle at abattoirs or markets and the droves have long lost their role. But stockmen in many countries still need cattle dogs, dogs agile enough to dodge lashing hooves and sometimes heaving horns too, and brave enough to undertake the task in the first place. These are not just another breed or collection of breeds. They are very remarkable dogs. As the lifestyle of modern man heads towards total urbanization, sporting and pastoral breeds face an uncertain future. We dispense with their skills at our peril; it would foolish indeed to assume that the uncertainties of the future will not in any foreseeable circumstances present a need of such unique talents - and such courage.