{"id":10387,"date":"2021-07-18T20:53:29","date_gmt":"2021-07-18T13:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allaboutsheepdogs.com\/?p=4507"},"modified":"2021-07-18T20:53:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-18T13:53:29","slug":"blue-heeler-vs-red-heeler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/blue-heeler-vs-red-heeler\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Heeler vs Red Heeler \u2013 What Are The Differences?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blue and Red Heelers are often at the top of the list for people looking to get themselves a loyal, intelligent, and hard-working dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, choosing between the two and deciding on Blue Heeler vs Red Heeler is actually nothing more than the aesthetic dilemma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each of these dogs belongs to the same breed with their color being the only difference. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’re both Australian Cattle Dogs. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make things even more confusing, this breed also has a couple of other names. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may know them as Queensland Heelers or Halls Heelers. So, no matter if you go blue or red, you’ll be getting a dog with similar personality traits.<\/p>\n\n\n

[wpsm_toplist]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Heeler vs Red Heeler – What Are The Differences?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Blue Heeler<\/span><\/strong><\/td>Red Heeler<\/span><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
\"\"<\/td>\"\"<\/td><\/tr>
Blue Heeler by Ellen Levy Finch<\/a> <\/em> (CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/a><\/td>Red Heeler by Canarian<\/a> (CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even the simple eye test of Blue Heeler vs Red Heeler reveals that there isn’t much differentiating the two apart from their color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’re both medium-sized dogs with an athletic and muscular build, broad heads, and distinctive powerful jaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Heeler Coat Colors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The base color of Blue Heeler’s coat is black. The white hairs are mingled throughout, creating a bluish appearance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dogs with more white hair will feature a lighter shade of blue and vice-versa. Those with less white hair will give out the impression of a darker blue color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their blue coat can be speckled or mottled. The speckled coat is characterized by irregular stripes of white hair bursting through the black background of the coat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mottled blue coat features small darker spots, the size of a fingertip, against a lighter base color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Heelers can also have evenly distributed black, blue, or tan markings. Some specimens have a black patch over one or both eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The forelegs and chest area can have rich tan markings.The Blue Heeler coloring also has a practical purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It makes them almost invisible at night, so they don’t frighten the livestock and have less of a chance of getting kicked by a spooked cow or some other cattle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, lighter color on the tail gives the owners an indication of their whereabouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Heeler Coat Colors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Red Heeler’s coat features a reddish or ginger base, with white hairs distributed throughout the outer coat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like with Blue Heelers, their base coat can be speckled or mottled with white hair. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the distribution and frequency of lighter patches, Red Heelers’ color varies from deeper to lighter red. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, they can have a patch of white hair on their forehead, commonly known as a “Bentley Star”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some dogs will have a stronger red mask over one or both eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Heelers’ coloring was useful to this breed as it prevented confusing these dogs to wild dingo\u2019s who have similar stature and getting mistakenly shot at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Color are Australian Cattle Dogs Born?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Red Heeler with a puppy whose color has not yet developed. by Mdk572<\/a> (CC BY-SA 3.0)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

If you compare Blue Heeler vs Red Heeler at birth, you won’t see much difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Australian Cattle Dogs are born covered in solid white fur with occasional dark patches on the back or around eyes and ears.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

These spots will usually be black with Blue Heelers and brown with their red cousins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not until they reach around 4 weeks of age that they start to grow red or blue hairs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, only after 8-12 weeks, these colors become predominant and you can get an idea of what will the grown dog look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Determines the Color of Blue and Red Heelers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The color of grown Heelers depends on the genes they inherit from their parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three types of genes are significant for future coloring: ticking, agouti, and spotting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ticking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Ticking genes determine whether the puppies will grow to be red or blue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agouti<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The agouti gene is responsible for the red and blue patches that usually appear on the face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spotting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And, finally, the spotting gene influences the distribution of the white spots on the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mating two Blue Heelers will usually produce blue offspring. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are plenty of cases of two blue parents bringing a red puppy to the world due to the recessive genes hiding in the background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red Heelers can produce red offspring with a mate of any color. In some rare cases, mating a Blue and a Red Heeler will deliver a blue\/red mix. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, these are extremely infrequent, as are the Heelers with chocolate or fawn coat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These colors can only appear if both parents have that recessive gene in the background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can remain hidden and carried for generations before showing up and resulting in these unusual color variants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Breeds are Ancestors of Blue and Red Heelers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The development of Australian Cattle Dogs was a result of an effort to create a breed that would be capable of herding livestock over the long distances on the rough terrain of the Australian Outback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Original breeders mixed British herding breeds with Dingo\u2019s to get all the traits crucial for a hardy herding dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s a lot of speculation on what exact breeds played part in the development of the modern Australian Cattle Dog. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to most sources, the original mix was between Dingo\u2019s and Blue Merle Highland Collie. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s likely where Blue Heelers got their color from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later on, they were further mixed with the Australian Kelpie<\/a> which brought endurance and herding ability, Bull Terriers which made them more tenacious and aggressive, and Dalmatians whose genes are likely responsible for Heelers being born white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you can see, Blue and Red Heelers are more or less the same dogs and share all of the key traits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the coat color being the only meaningful difference between the two, the choice mainly comes to a personal aesthetic preference. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both variants are sure to make a great addition to your home. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No matter if you’re looking for a hard worker or a loving family friend, you can’t go wrong with either Blue or Red Heeler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are great playmates for kids<\/a> and are also more than up for any task you put in front of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For ages, they served as irreplaceable help on farms and ranches and were faithful and devoted companions<\/a> to their owners.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blue and Red Heelers are often at the top of the list for people looking to get themselves a loyal, intelligent, and hard-working dog. However, choosing between the two and … Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[656],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australian-cattle-dog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}