The Australian Cattle Dog

Click Here! History The Australian Cattle Dog made vital contributions to the growth of the continent’s beef industry, and important component of the Australian economy. The long, complex, and sometimes troubling history of Britain’s settlement of the Australian continent is beyond the scope of our story. We can pick it up in the early 1800s, when Anglo-Australians began their migrations from the original coastal settlements to the vast grasslands of the western inland. This was prime territory for the raising of beef cattle. In re-creating these wild areas as cattle ranches, good herding dogs were essential. Australia’s first cattle dogs were British imports of a breed known as the Smithfield, unsuited to the high temperature, rough terrain, and vast distances to market of their new home. Thus, stockmen began a long process of trial and to breed a herding dog that could meet the challenges of the Australian interior. Smithfields were crossed with Dingoes (a feral breed brought to the continent by its earliest human inhabitants) and such other breeds as the Scottish Highland Collie, as breeders worked toward the hardworking and durable herders they desired...read more....... Click Here!