About us

In the mid-1960s my Grandfather went to Adelaide in Australia to visit his sister and came back raving about the wonderful dog she had. The dog's name was 'Fleck' and he told me the dog was a Blue Heeler. My Grandfather could not get over how intelligent this dog was. I immediately looked in my 'Observer's Book Of The Dog' but there was no Blue Heeler mentioned and I didn't know whether he had misheard or my Great Aunt had just made it up.

Over twenty years passed, and in the interim my Grandfather had died, still telling people to the end about the most intelligent dog in the world that he had met in Australia. One day in 1987 I was flicking through a Fieldsports magazine and saw an advert for 'Heeler x Greyhound' pups. I immediately telephoned, not really interested in having a crossbred puppy but desperate to know if the Heeler was, in fact, the elusive Blue Heeler.

The gentleman I spoke to told me that indeed the sire was an Australian Heeler aka Blue Heeler but it just so happened the dog was red! He also informed me that the official name for this breed was the Australian Cattle Dog, and a couple of years earlier the breed had been accepted by the Kennel Club.

I telephoned the Kennel Club and was put in touch with Stella Smyth, Secretary of the Australian Cattle Dog Society of Great Britain. I joined the Society and contacted the listed breeders.

In 1988 Ros Cartwright (Drenoss) telephoned me to say that she was expecting a litter by Drenoss Foster ex Formakin Kimba and if a bitch puppy was available I could have it. There was only one bitch puppy in the litter and Ros wanted to keep her but she told me that her dog Drenoss Red Wyola (Kanga) had sired a litter to Lismear Piskie (Tarka) and advised I contact Tarka's owner, Mrs Rose Savage. I did so and booked a red bitch puppy called Northking Eudora, to be known as Taz.

Taz was the first ACD in Scotland, as far as I am aware.

She flew up to Scotland in November 1988 to join our other dogs, a Welsh springer/cocker spaniel called Sian and lurcher called Chiara.

I had never experienced anything like it. She was the most independent, uncuddly puppy ever! She was happy to lie under my legs but would not be picked up and hugged. She hated a fuss her whole life and I spent each week at dog training being told I didn't praise my dog enough. She was most uncomfortable with over-zealous displays of affection! Her attitude was 'You want me to do this? I'll do it because you want me to but if you make a big fuss I will never do it again!'

She had an invisible no man's land which she would not tolerate being broached by strange dogs. She would ignore the other dogs at dog training as long as they stayed outwith this zone but woe begone any dog that took one step too close. It was, therefore, a great surprise to me when I was asked if I would take a second ACD, Dill, on his way back to his breeder to break his journey and Taz loved him on sight. She was usually so standoffish with dogs she didn't know, but not Dill. I let him out his crate, her eyes lit up and they became the closest of friends. Dill never did make it back to his breeder but there are still days when .....................!

Dill, Kingfisher Red Barron, was 7 months old when he came here in November 1988. He had not been well treated. He was absolutely covered in manure, so much so it was encrusted into his ears and took a great deal of scrubbing to remove! He, it later transpired, had been kenneled with a stud Great Dane and had had to compete for food so, as a result, was considerably underweight. He was terrified of brushes, rolled up newspapers and sticks. He would not walk past someone standing at an open door no matter how desperate he was to go out or come in. Needless to say, over the years he has mostly forgotten his traumatic beginnings but still shys away from the floor mop.

He turned out to be a fine sheep-herder, let down only by his incompetent handler! Now at almost 11 he is a little too long in the tooth for the rough, hilly terrain here but he is still more than willing to have a go!

In 1993 we mated Dill to Taz and had 3 red female puppies. All three went to active pet homes where they are much loved. These were Cucrodh Tingiringi, Cucrodh Jaman and Cucrodh Yabu.

In 1994 we repeated the mating and the worst disaster struck. Taz needed a caesarian section and after the 4 puppies had been delivered she died. We were distraught. We were so fortunate to find John Allinson of the Pearlsyde GSDs who had a bitch with a litter of 2 week old puppies. He agreed to try my pups on his bitch and, thankfully, it was a success.

The litter, 2 males, two females, all red, came back here at 4 weeks of age and from that litter we kept Jazz, Cucrodh Phantazia. Both dogs, Red (Cucrodh Phantaztic) and Jazz (Cucrodh Phantazm), yes another Jazz, went to farm homes to work and Holly (Cucrodh Phantazy), the other bitch, initially went to the Isle Of Man. Holly came back here when she was 15 months old as she was too full of beans for her owner and was subsequently re-homed with the Allan family in Northumberland where she is adored by her owners and the elderly people who live in the nursing home where Julie Allan works. She is well known in the neighbourhood and even the Pakistani newsagent gives her a Milky Way every day despite having been raised to fear dogs - not that it doing Holly's waistline much good!

In 1993, just after the first litter was born, we were offered a blue imported dog called Coomablue Bola Boy. Tigger had been bred in Queensland and came to the UK when he was a year old. His owners had had some personal problems and could no longer keep him. He was a very beautiful but somewhat unruly boy when he came here. We had to work very hard to turn him around but it all paid off and he is now a reformed character.

It took us a year to get Tigger KC registered - this was the only glimmer of light in a very bleak July 1994.

Just after Taz died the ACD Society of GB advised owners that breeding stock should be hearing tested and eye tested. We took Tigger to Huddersfield and he was tested by Celia Cox of the Animal Health Trust. He has excellent hearing in both ears. Celia said, "When I say this dog can hear the grass growing I mean this dog can hear the grass growing!" Jazz was tested in 1997 and she also has bilateral hearing.

Tigger was last tested for PRA in May 1999, aged 9 years and was PRA free. Jazz was tested in March 2000, and she, also, was PRA free.

In 1998 we mated Tigger and Jazz and had two puppies. A red dog, called Red - ACD owners are just so imaginative! - which went to a pet home, and a blue bitch, Cucrodh Lucky Blue Heather, known as Tag. Tag went to John and Rose Fisher who had bred Dill. Tag was shown at the Australian Cattle Dog Society Show in October 1998 and was Best Puppy In Show. She then was Best Puppy In Breed at Crufts 1999. Since then she and Rose have been concentrating on agility.

In 1999 we repeated the Tigger/Jazz mating and on 28th February 1999 had 4 puppies, two males and two females. One of the dogs, Red, went to Guy Rowley in Lancashire and is a farm dog. Zed, another red, went to Graeme and Sharon Darragh and accompanies Graeme to work at a can crushing plant. The only blue, a dog, went to Mike and Rose Condie of the Kurgan Border Collies in Dunfermline, Fife, and he has been shown a couple of times. He was Best Puppy and Reserve Best Dog in the Any Variety Not Separately Classified Rare Breeds Pastoral classes at Scottish Kennel Club Championship Show in August 1999, then in October 1999 he was Best Puppy, Best Dog and Best AVNSC Rare Breeds Pastoral at Working And Pastoral Breeds of Scotland Championship show. The only girl in the litter was a red called Cucrodh Sunny Side Up (Millie) who went to live with Kimberly Jebson and Mark Plummer of the Austmans ACDs and Alaskan Malamutes. Millie has been shown a few times and has won a number of Best Puppy awards including Best Puppy In Breed at Crufts 2000.

I cannot describe how much our lives have been enriched by our ACDs and I am so glad I finally found my 'Blue Heelers', even if only one-third of the dogs here is actually blue!

Pamela Harrow

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