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acd/bc crosses


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Just wondering if anyone has had any experience working an ACD/BC cross on livestock and if so, how, and your impressions. Thanks.

 

It's all individual based on the dog, there is no standard of work for them, they are cross breds, you may get one that works more border collie, you may get one that works more ACD, they may be right down the middle, the varience will be relative to the working styles of the parents. The ones I've worked with error more to the direction of the ACD with less eye, feel, keenness and style, oh, and a little lacking on biddability to, but that's all related to parent selection, it just hard to bring an ACD into the mix with all those traits, imo it's harder to find a good/proper working ACD then BC (BTW, I'm comparing them to BC's, if you compare them to ACD's you might say they have more eye, more feel, keenesss and style and actually are more biddable). From a livestock working direction it depends on what you want, if you want to be able to trial then they could be tougher to train, if you just want them to help out and be a farm dog you might like them in some cases they may be less stimulated and driven to control, but it's to hard to know without considering the parents. Cross breeding is a crap shoot.

 

Deb

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It's all individual based on the dog, there is no standard of work for them, they are cross breds, you may get one that works more border collie, you may get one that works more ACD, they may be right down the middle, the varience will be relative to the working styles of the parents. The ones I've worked with error more to the direction of the ACD with less eye, feel, keenness and style, oh, and a little lacking on biddability to, but that's all related to parent selection, it just hard to bring an ACD into the mix with all those traits, imo it's harder to find a good/proper working ACD then BC (BTW, I'm comparing them to BC's, if you compare them to ACD's you might say they have more eye, more feel, keenesss and style and actually are more biddable). From a livestock working direction it depends on what you want, if you want to be able to trial then they could be tougher to train, if you just want them to help out and be a farm dog you might like them in some cases they may be less stimulated and driven to control, but it's to hard to know without considering the parents. Cross breeding is a crap shoot.

 

Deb

 

Thanks, I know genetics is a crap shoot in general, even more so in a case of crossbreds. I was just curious if anyone ever had any experience with working this particular cross. I'm not even thinking trialing. I think the best that can be hoped for in this case, when it comes to livestock is perhaps a useful farm dog?

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Thanks, I know genetics is a crap shoot in general, even more so in a case of crossbreds. I was just curious if anyone ever had any experience with working this particular cross. I'm not even thinking trialing. I think the best that can be hoped for in this case, when it comes to livestock is perhaps a useful farm dog?

 

Just depends on the dog, if it has low drive or high drive, it has high drive but acd lack of sensitivity it could be a liability on livestock, if it has the acd bite with bc sensitivity it could be a liability with strangers, you just don't know until you get them out there to work and so much as to do with what the person using them thinks of as "useful farm dog". Personally, unless I knew for sure that the parents were estabilish working dogs (not just farm dogs) I would consider them no more then just pets, if they work it's a bonus.

 

We have crossbreds and use them here on the farm, they can be nice companions while doing chores, but most of the work goes to the border collies, they handle requirement better then our crossbreds. Our crossbreds want to help you and work from your side instead of getting out around the stock, they work differently then border collies, but it just could be a difference in genetics based on the parents. Our crossbreds are not a result of our border collies, the crossbreds came first, they led us to border collies, otherwise we would still be exclusively ACD's.

 

Deb

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I used to have a heeler/aussie. She never was any good with stock, but was a companion around the farm. If my hands were full and needed a bucket or something all I did was ask Maggie to pick it up and she would happily carry it to where ever I wanted. I don't know if she came from working stock background or not, she was basically a rescue. The farmer had an opps breeding and was giving the pups away or he was going to "dispose of them".

When it comes to crossbreds you never know what part of the genetics is going to come through. Kind of like throwing darts, sometimes you hit the bullseye and sometimes you don't.

 

Samantha

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I think it has much to do with the genetics and the loss thereof in working dogs. We had a discussion recently on an ACD boards and thought that the original ACDS that went to the states from Australia were more likely to be the bench dogs rather than the true working dogs. Having worked extensively on Australian cattle stations in the seventies, there was nothing quite like the true working bred ACD in its true working enviroment and no other dog compared in that environment. It is sad to see the passing. My current ACDS as much as I love them and as smart as they are, are nothing like those I knew 30 years ago.

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I havent SEEN any work myself, but around here they are pretty common working dogs. I have talked to farmers and ranchers around here(they tend to stop me when they are in town and they see my BCs lol) and the general impression I have gotton from them is that they love BCs and aint to fond of pure cattle dogs..or as one rancher put it "these days they mide as well be dalmatians" lol. as ranch dogs I see almost as many heeler/BCs as I see BCs, so I assume they are fairley useful for the work around here. likewise for LGDs, the dogs of choice around here is either pure Meremma or Meremma/Great Pyr X.

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ACD/BC crosses are big in my area (NW WY). They seem pretty popular with the ranchers, but on the other hand, there's a ton of them in shelters. Like everyone else said, it's a crap shoot when you mix breeds.

 

Most of the cattle dogs I've seen around here don't look like they could work much more than a tennis ball and are only mildly impressive on an agility course. I've only ever seen one ACD that would probably work and she came from a mt. top in CO. A friend found her while mt biking and patched her back up. IMO, they are pushy, barky and block headed. Maybe the ranchers are breeding the crosses hoping to get a more in your face BC for cattle, but I'm not really sure.

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I have long suspected that Holly's biggest problem is that she is part ACD. Just something about her head and face. Plus, she is very barky, pushy, and the most hard headed dog I have ever seen. I tell her all the time, you might have a BC suit on, but I know what you really are. She then licks me.

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