Heel Nipper's Australian Cattle Dogs

Rayne was a 6 month old typical ACD when she went to live on the Cape with her new owners.  They gave her the name Audi and she began agility/obedience training.  Things were going well or so I thought.  After months of being kept up to date on her accomplishments all lines of communication dropped.  Imagine my surprise when I read an article in The ACD Quarterly about a little dog named Audi.  At first I thought it was a coincidence but after further investigation my intuition proved correct and this was in fact the little girl I bred (Heel Nipper's Autumn Rayne).

January 16, 2007

SMALL BUT STURDY - GET ALONG, LITTLE DOGGIE:

Weymouth uses Australian cattle dog to round up suspects.

The Patriot Ledger

WEYMOUTH -

By ROBERT SEARS

She’s pint-size as far as police dogs go but Audi, Weymouth Police Department’s new drug-sniffing Australian cattle dog, holds her own - and then some. Even her handler thought at first the choice of breed was unusual for police work. ‘‘She’s not the big, tough, growling police dog that people expect,’’ officer Lorri Landrigan said as Audi jumped into her arms. Audi is about a third the size of a German shepherd, and Landrigan says that in many ways, the dog is better suited for drug detection than her larger counterparts.

‘‘I’ve trained Labs and golden retrievers, but I’ve always had the thought that smaller dogs might be more useful finding drugs because they could get into smaller places,’’ said Kenneth Ballinger, director of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Department K-9 unit who trained the dog. Audi can easily nose under a car’s dashboard, and she can walk on countertops to sniff kitchen cabinets. Ballinger said Audi is the only Australian cattle dog he knows of that is working with police.

The intelligent, quick, tough dogs were bred to herd cattle in the Australian Outback by crossing the wild dogs known as dingoes with several other breeds, including Merle collies, dalmatians and Australian kelpies.The dogs are also known as Queensland heelers after the area of Australia where they originated and because of the way they drive cattle by nipping at their rear hooves.

A Cape Cod woman offered Audi to Ballinger when the dog was a year old. Australian cattle dogs aren’t meant to sit around the house. They’re working dogs and need something to do, he said. Ballinger did his standard evaluation for prospective police dogs, looking at Audi’s health and personality, agility, attention span and food drive because the dogs are rewarded with food.‘‘Most good dogs rate a 7 or an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Audi is a 10 plus,’’ he said.

Audi,now 2, and Landrigan trained for 10 weeks. ‘‘She picked things upsurprisingly fast, and when she’s working she is focused and calm. Nothing seems to rattle her, ’’ Landrigan said. Audi went to work in mid-December, and proved herself soon after by sniffing out a suspected drug dealer’s stash of rock cocaine hidden in woods underneath branch and leaves.‘‘That was a difficult search because of the smells in the woods of other animals and the brush and thorns. She did really well,’’ Landrigan said.

On Monday my youngest son and I made the trip to the vet for the puppies health check-up.  While we were there the puppies had their 2nd set of shots and were de-wormed.  Our vet listened to their hearts and looked them all over.  All received an excellent report.

Today we made the journey down to Connecticut and had our May 09 Litter BAER tested.  Puppies handled the ride very well but were happy to have some time to play in the expen after our arrival.  Each puppy had their microchip scanned and then their degree of hearing was measured.  All passed with flying colors and were very well behaved.  The trip was definitely worth it.

A former Heel Nipper's pup, Torch has garnered himself quite the reputation.  Take the time to visit him in The Woods at Long Pond where he has a hundred acres to run, plenty of friends, frisbee, swimming, boating and did I mention campfire treats.  Follow his adventures and view his pictures on Facebook.