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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen thinking of getting an Australian Cattle Dog,<\/a> you will likely try to do some prior research on the breed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using multiple sources, you may find this breed being named differently in each of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides Australian Cattle Dogs, they’re also called Queensland Heelers, Halls Heelers, Red Heelers, and most commonly, Blue Heelers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Australian Cattle Dog vs Blue Heeler dilemma is actually no dilemma at all. These are the same dogs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Blue Heeler is just a name for the Australian Cattle Dog that features a blue-colored coat.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Just the same as the red-coated Australian Cattle Dog is known as a Red Heeler. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, no matter what you call it, the only thing the name Blue Heeler points to is the color. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Other characteristics, such as size, temperament, health issues, or maintenance requirements are the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interestingly, at birth, all Heelers have the same color. They’re all born white, sometimes with random darker markings around eyes or ears.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a adult dogs ,Blue and Red Heelers<\/a> are the most common variants of the Australian Cattle Dog.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Purebred dogs of this breed will almost never be in any other color, although they can have different patterns and markings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides just the appearance, the coloring of Australian Cattle Dogs also has a practical purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The color pattern of Blue Heelers makes them more difficult to spot in the dark, during the night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is important, as it prevents them from scaring the livestock. Frightened cattle can react unpredictably and often kick and injure the dog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, the distinctive red color of Red Heelers made it easier for farmers to distinguish them from wild dingoes and prevent the dogs from accidentally getting shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blue Heeler’s base coat color is actually not blue, but black. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, white hairs spread all over the body give them a sort of bluish color which is how they got their name. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some dogs will have more white hair and appear to be a lighter shade of blue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, Heelers with less white hair will feature a darker shade of blue. The blue coat is commonly speckled to mottled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When speckled, the stripes of white hair will irregularly grow through the coat’s black base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The mottled blue coat has a somewhat lighter base color, but plenty of smaller dark spots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These spots are not bigger than the size of the fingertip. Some dogs will have regular evenly dispersed tan, blue, or black markings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not unusual for some Blue Heelers to have black patches around their eyes. The chest and front legs may have vast tan markings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other common Australian dog variant is the Red Heeler. The base of their coat is reddish, brown, or ginger. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like Blue Heelers, they have a huge number of white hairs dispersed across the topcoat. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another similarity is that they also have two common color patterns, speckled and mottled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Red Heelers may appear to have a lighter or darker shade of red, depending on how frequent and how distributed these white hairs are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some will have Bentley spot or Bentley star. This is a small white hair spot on their forehead, located between eyes and ears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bright red masks over one or both eyes are also common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Australian Cattle Dogs date back to the early 1800s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The British settlers found their shepherd dogs incapable of thriving in the rough areas of the Australian Outback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, they tried to develop a herding breed that will be tougher and more resistant to the harsh living conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1840, a British emigrant Thomas Simpson Hall attempted to accomplish this by crossbreeding homeland shepherd dogs with Australian wild dingoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s not totally clear which breeds were used, but most sources point to different Collie strains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The majority of canine experts believe that the most likely ancestor of the Australian Cattle Dog is Blue Merle Highland Collie. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is probably where Blue Heelers got their color from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the development continued, the Heelers were further crossbred with Australian Kelpies<\/a>, Dalmatians, and Bull Terriers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelpie genes brought endurance, Bull Terriers brought tenacity, and Dalmatians are the reason why the ACDs are born white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope that I managed to clear some of the confusion when it comes to Australian Cattle Dogs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, Blue Heelers, as well as Red Heelers, are nothing more than color variants of the breed. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’ve decided to get the Australian Cattle Dog, the choice between Blue or Red Heeler is only a matter of personal color preference.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Whichever ends up being your choice, your family will get a wonderful pet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While each dog may have a slightly different temperament, all Australian Cattle Dogs share common traits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They’re hard-working, energetic, and loving dogs that will get along and enjoy spending time with their owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Blue or red, your family will certainly get a new affectionate and loving member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Choosing a new dog can often be rather overwhelming. This is particularly true for those with no previous experience with dogs. With so many breeds and their different varieties, potential … Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5311,"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-5296","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\/5296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=5296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What Color and Patterns can an Australian Cattle Dog be?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Australian-Cattle-Dog-puppy-lic-894x1024.jpg\")
Blue Heeler Colors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/blue-heeler-13-1-1024x754.jpg\")
Red Heeler Colors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/red-heeler-lic-1024x876.jpg\")
What Breeds Make the Australian Cattle Dog?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/puplore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/blue-merle-highland-collie-1024x768.jpg\")
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n