Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog

Did You Know?

• The ANKC standard describes the Stumpy as 'a well proportioned working dog, rather square in profile with a hard-bitten, rugged appearance'.
• Stumpies may compete in dog agility trials, obedience, showmanship, flyball, tracking, frisbee and herding events.

History

Domestic dogs first arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788 and later convict fleets; the Australian Dingo is not classified as a domestic dog. A stray dog population grew, and some with stock work potential found a home with free settler George Hall. His son Thomas Hall developed them into working dogs. Robert Kaleski, who wrote the first standard for the Cattle Dog breed, called these dogs Halls Heelers. The Halls Heelers were later developed into the two modern breeds: the Australian Cattle Dog and the Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog. Kaleski also suggested that Thomas Hall imported dogs from England. Kaleski described only long-tailed cattle dogs in his 1902 breed standard, considering the short or absent tail an inherited defect. In Queensland, the two types were originally exhibited as varieties of one breed, but by the 1950s separate classes for long-tail and short-tail were more usual. During the 1950s, administrative decisions by the Canine Control Council (Queensland) and consequent legal proceedings threatened the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog's future as an exhibited breed. Iris Heale of Glen Iris kennels became the only registered breeder, exercising a monopoly by refusing to sell registered animals. In the 1980s, some Australian working dog enthusiasts realized Heale's death would end the breed's exhibition. In 1988, the Australian National Kennel Council introduced a Development Breeding Programme to perpetuate the breed, with Heale's active support, leading to the breed's growing popularity.