Our first blue, aptly named Dingo, showed up a little under a year old at our first property here in MO. Neighbor was going to take him to the pound as a stray, we said no, we'd take him. That dog loved everyone, everything and no fence could hold him. We rescued 5-3 month old reds from a local Amish puppy farm. Sidney, Ben, Rocki, Diesel and Varna. Sid died when she was 16 months old from Pythiosis a very rare and incurable parasite infection that isn't even supposed to be here in Missouri. The other 4 have been a real adventure. They hate cats, our other two rescues, Buck (border collie/hound) and his half sissy, Spot, (border collie/Jack Russell). well, actually, Spot loves the boys and hates Rocki, Rocki hates Spot because Spot hates Rocki. Buck just hates everyone. And the four reds hate all small animals. Hate might be an overstatement. They just play things to death if they can catch them. Rabbits, squirrels, moles, mice, possums, chickens...cats.....They are probably far more genetically Cattle Dog than Dingo was. As a result, we divided the house in two. Buck Spot and the three cats on one side, the cattle dogs on the other. Makes live interesting but keeps the vet bills down, LOL.
I'll have to hunt up pics of them.
This is Varna at Halloween. He's short, stocky and all attitude:
Right to left, Ben, Diesel, Varna and Rocki. We were told Rocki was a boy, until the next day when DH lifted her up and I noticed the plumbing didn't match what we were told 'his' name was Ox as that pup was just huge and fat. We changed it to Roxanne but that didn't suit her.. One day I called her rock head and that stuck as Rocki. She is a sweetie.
Heel low:
Very glad that Dingo was friendly...not all ACD's are like that. My spouse says there was a reason you biked by a farm as fast as able, ready to put your feet up when the farm dogs figured out you were going by...
"DOG!!!!!!!!!"
Ah man...sorry about Sid...Makins got whipworm which like the Pythiosis (never heard of that one--always learning something new--and it's a zoonotic disease so a very dangerous one!) we don't even do a deworm for...but I try to do fecals on one dog IF they are looking thin or off after a right proper deworm. What I think happened is before we got Pear-A-Dice, we would walk the country roads and I think the local rodeo had people show up from all over North America...not unlikely a dog got pottied on this road and left the whipworm larva for Makins to pick up.
The order of "pecking" in your pack is mind boggling...reminds me of chickens...one chicken can pick on this one and on it goes until the last one in the loop can pick on the top chicken and the circle of poo continues. LOL
Fixins caught the neighbour's cat over here hunting rodents and she got bit real good in the ear (cats are dumb that way...they figure dogs and cougars can't actually catch them...guess again!). Course it blistered up and I called my fav vet (now retired) and asked him what to do. Got told to leave it but it would likely blow when it needed to. I asked him when and he said, "Oh you'll know!" and of course, dressed for work, one last five minute hug and BOOM! I swear she was smiling the whole time, "Shared it with you MUM!" Had to hurry and get re-dressed...ugh...dang c@tz & dawgs, eh.
Vet bills or the cone of shame...by the time any ACD is too long in a cone, all of us are like "Make it stop already"...the bruising in the back of the human legs or better yet, the flip of a cone with some sorta fluids or fud bits. And I totally swear they do that solely to hear the uproar it causes...comic relief to overcome the horrors of the coning.
Varna...now that's a costume!
I made these ones for our 1st ACD Makins so she could go undercover to gather herding info-intelligence.
Ben, Diesel, Varna & Rocki are all that awesome auburn red ACD...Fixins was that but HyBlade and Lacy are more a mottled/speckled red. I had a canine judge comment upon seeing Fixins what a lovely coloured red that is and not commonly seen. It is a gorgeous red in the ACD's. All your reds look amazing with the rich red and black noses. Nice.
Fixins inherited the greyed muzzle from her mother Makins; looks sorta outta place on a red but not the blues.
Both HB and Lace are homozygous extension which is what makes a golden Lab "golden." Without the e/e, they are Blue, Black & Tan ACDs that cannot express black pigment in their hair coat so the red in their undercoat shines thru...an ACD in their PJ's basically!
Sometimes the little "e's" don't fire off right away and the hair tip is black and gives the overall e/e red ACD a shadow cast to their fur coat.
HyBlade & his brown summer nose...his nose went pink in winter. Huskies get this and they are called "snow noses."
Lacy being shown my by son.
HyBlade & Lacy are strangely similar in looks...uncanny. Both even have red eye lashes on the same side of their heads.
If you visit my website...
wolven.ca/higgins/ratranch
Tales from Ratworld, you can read some of the ACD Profile articles (#9 - ACD Ideal Home & Owner is a good one--you will laugh!!) and read the article #12 - "Red from Blues" about HyBlade, the world's 1st DNA profile (means we know who both his parent are) and DNA e and b colour genetic tested ACD. Problem everyone has is two blues (blue, black & tans) which are the bottom recessives, should never be able to have red pups (more common reds are dominant red)...but HyBlade and his brother Dusty were reds outta a litter of seven, the others were the expected blue/black&tans.
Great time to be alive is now...we have all these wonderful technological tests we can perform.
https://iqbirdtesting.com/chickenbreeders
Like now we can detect lavender in chooks, blue eggs, recessive white, fibromelanosis, and gendering.
I gendered our Oz Black Swans, twenty bucks and they even got a certificate. Sure, they did not like that I "touched" them and cut one toe nail close to get a few drops of blood for the card they send, but I was eventually forgiven. LOL
No worries on the confusion over gender of the ACD's...I recall getting some sheep a few decades ago. Was told all the girls had undocked tails...so fine, I chose my ewes and brought them home. You'd laugh when I was out the next day and the "girl" sheep was peeing outta her belly. I literally believe people WAY too much and immediately thought something horrific like the worst case possible EVER of waterbelly (urolithiasis/urinary calculi). Agh, never did I think the correct thing, someone did not get adequate rest during lambing and never docked a boy lamb. Egads...gotta stop being so trusting.
OK to trust our critters; humans, not so much. LOL
Lovely chatting Heelers with you...we both have some of the very best shadows--never alone, not even in the bathroom, eh!! Fixins use to jump in the tub and demand you turn the COLD faucet on. She even did that to guests and the smart "dog" ones knew exactly what she was wanting.
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
