The Furry Missile

I may have posted something about this previously (if I have, my apologies), but every time I witness it I am no less amazed. This is not a brag, but it's just the craziest thing I've ever seen.

We have an ACD (Australian Cattle Dog, for those unfamiliar), his name is Cisco. I've commented before I'm sure about how unbelievably fast this dog is. I've never seen anything like it. I mean, we knew ACD's were pretty quick when we got him, but I had no idea!

When Cisco was just a pup we noticed he was pretty quick. He was just a little fella (3-4 months) and he'd take off after rabbits (we have TONS of rabbits on our place). He'd give them a pretty good run for short distances even at that age, which was surprising. By the time he was a year old he could run down a rabbit. As a matter of fact, the first time he actually ran one down he literally ran OVER the rabbit, sending the rabbit ass over tea kettle flipping across the ground. The rabbit was sitting there looking around like "what just happened???", and Cisco was out in front of him looking around like "Where'd he go???" Now I'm talking about cottontail rabbits on a flat-out sprint here, not just some rabbit sitting there munching on grass.

Over the past 5 years this dog has gotten progressively faster, and faster...and FASTER! It is absolutely unreal how fast this dog can run. He's like this finely tuned athlete. Over time he has realized this too, to the point where it actually seems like he trains for it even. I've always felt we've had a problem getting Cisco to eat enough, but the vet says he is in absolutely exquisite physical condition. This dog is actually "cut", his front shoulders are huge and his hind quarters are just solid muscle...and it's too funny because he knows this (because "mom" (my wife) always tells him this, every morning).

So yesterday I'm out in one of our pastures with him and our Australian Shepard. The shepard spots an antelope off in a different pasture. Being a heeler, the ACD takes off after it. This antelope had at least a 100 yard lead on him, and antelope are FAST! By the time they got to the edge of the pasture Cisco had closed the gap and was ON him...just as the antelope dove under the fence. (Antelope don't jump fences like deer do, they go under). I had whistled Cisco off, and he broke it off like a good dog (I don't like antelope in our pastures because they bring noxious weeds with them...in their poop. Not so with deer, so the deer are welcome). Unreal, this dog just ran down an adult antelope who had a 100 yard head start on him. So Cisco comes back (probably 6-700 yards or so) and we go back to what we were doing. Next thing I know he spots a rabbit. This time it's a Jackrabbit, and it spotted him first so it sprints by him in the opposite direction. I couldn't believe my eyes with what happened next...

This dog does a 180 in the air and takes off after the Jackrabbit (which is really a 'hare', meaning it's much faster than a regular rabbit). They both come streaking by me and the ACD is literally kicking up a rooster-tail of dirt behind him! They're both headed toward the corrals. Cisco is gaining on him. The rabbit ducks under a corral panel and takes off. Cisco hit that corral panel at full speed, stretched out, dove under the panel and came up running without losing a single stride. They shot across the corrals and dove under another set of corral panels, under another fence, around the cattle loading complex (out of my view). Next thing I knew I heard a squeal and saw the rabbit sailing through the air above the alley! A moment later that dang ACD came around the corner with that rabbit in his mouth! I kid you not, that dang dog actually ran down a Jack rabbit and caught him on his home turf. Unreal!!

Now, I don't know how fast this dog can actually run, and I know some other breeds like Greyhounds and Whippets are fast, but I simply can't imagine one of them being able to accomplish that.

ACD's are a funny breed; this one is skeered of his own shadow half the time, but he'll go into the corrals and take on the biggest meanest bull with no problems. He'll step on a sticker and you'd think he was going to die with all the theatrics, but two minutes later he can get stomped on by a cow or a bull and he acts like he didn't even feel it. And he's tough too, holy cripes! I've just NEVER seen anything move that fast, and with that level of coordination. He'll go under a barbed wire fence, in the DARK, at full speed, not even hit it and never miss a step! I'm serious too, he does it every day and night.

Probably should have named him...The Furry Missile.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thanks for a great read with my AM coffee.....AGAIN!

I've got a Belgian Malinois/ Husky mix. She is more Bi-polar than my wife. Yes I say that to her and she laughs now, (my wife that is).

She has a brown eye and blue eye, and every once in a while the 'blue' eye takes over....

For a short time we lived in a sub-division, and Sasha, (the dog) would bolt at ANYTHING. It was SO embarrassing, we would listen for the screams in the neighborhood and head that direction in the truck. I never understood the neighbors fear of her!!?? She just wanted to play!

She would see my truck coming and must have figured it was play time, so she would RACE the truck. I clocked her at 37 mph.

But you have to picture this is in a subdivision with kids at play signs and 30mph limit.

She would be running just off the road through peoples yards and across their driveways. The reactions we used to get were priceless, once I calmed down enough to appreciate the humor of the situation.

She is lucky she is still alive, there were times I was so mad I would have run her over myself.

Thankfully for both our sakes we are now in her proper habitat, very rural, no nervous neighbors who think she is a rabid wolf every time she 'bolts' after a squirrel or rabbit.

I miss those days!

On another note, one of the interesting things Cisco the ACD will do is when he completes one of these rocket sprints he starts bounding like a deer when he slows down. It's these high bouncing arcs. I've chalked it up to him bounding up into the air to look around over the tops of the bushes and the like.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Interesting pup. He's a great dog though!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
That was good. Somehow I knew it would be about your Australian cattle dog when I saw the title because mine is the same way, even though she's mixed. Does your dog also jump? Mine can launch herself straight up in the air (I mean totally vertical) and touch my nose with hers. She also can jump pretty far horizontally too. She jumps just to jump sometimes. That's her in my avatar.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Seems like you have your dog in the right environment . Blue heelers as we call them in Australia dont do as well if they are a house dog . Interesting fact , they are not so good with sheep as they bite with the same strength they would with cattle thus hamstringing many of them . Hence their name here , Blue for colour and heeler because of the way they bite when working .

ETA...this wasn't a fun story, and I kind of wanted the thread to be fun, so I'm removing it.

a reply to: hutch622

Yep, that's exactly what he is, Blue, correction, Red Heeler. They say the ACD breed has a little bit of Dingo in it which makes them slightly different genetically.

Yeah, Cisco would be a basket case if he were ever a house dog. There's no way you could keep a dog like this in a confined environment! They need to be able to run...and run...and RUN!!

And yes, I would never want to put him in with smaller stock than cattle, that would be a recipe for disaster. He almost hamstrung my Lab.

ETA...He's actually a Red Heeler, not Blue. Sorry about that (missed that the first time).

a reply to: Skid Mark

Jump? HA!! OH...YEAH!!! This dog can jump like no dog I've ever seen! And like you say, it comes out of nowhere! Just BOING!

Just the other day he jumped from the ground to on top of a hay bale sitting on the trailer. These are 3x3 bales and sitting on the trailer they're right about eye level with me (and I'm about 6'4"). I'm looking around for him, and he's up on top of the bale just standing there looking down at me, wiggling.

He can jump pretty far horizontally too. Not sure how far because so far everything just looks like a casual 'hop'. With a running start he can sail a pretty good distance!

They say ACD's make great Frisbee dogs, but I could never get him to take the least interest in a Frisbee (or a ball for that matter). Cows he was just naturally drawn to, and rabbits, well, they're just sport to him.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk
Sometimes I think I should have named mine Tigger. She jumps so much. Another fun thing she likes to do is run at me and pounce me. It's her way of saying hi I guess. Then she's grab my arm with her front paw and lean into me and give me hugs. She also likes standing on her back paws while holding onto my arm with her front ones and looking around. I've tried to get her to play catch but it's iffy. She'll chase a ball or whatever and sometimes she'll bring it back but only if she feels like it.

Does yours have a thing with licking you? Mine does with licking me and her dad is like that, too.

I also have a missile. Not an asd, but fast nonetheless. Rescued a little cute pup from the shelter before she was put down. Thought she was a beagle mix, turns out she's a German Jagt Terrier. Insane fast, she also runs down bunnies, squirrels, and even catches chipmunks occasionally. I didn't know about the breed, but, after researching a bit I found out why she's "insane". They are used for hunting bear, badgers, boars.... absolutely fearless- I have to keep her in the truck when I cut wood or she's in a hole somewhere trying to drag some poor creature out of its home. Last time it was a pissed off badger- which you can't shoot here. Uh-oh, here we go- out of nowhere chloe slams this guy on its side, flips it up, starts running full speed with it into the water.... Wtf? Now I'm running over thinking my dog is gonna be doa quickly- wrong.... she was trying to drown the damn thing, while it was biting at her.... had to grab some bull-rushes and pry these two idiots apart. After which, Mr badger growls and chases me! Never again will I let her out in the woods... Dogs, gotta love em....

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sounds like you have an ACD who had good endurance training as a pup and grew up strong and healthy. Good for you. If you want a comparison as to how fast he is compared to sight hounds, see if there's a local lure coursing event nearby. Sometimes the organizers will let non-sighthounds run a "fun run."

The only non-sighthounds I've seen run a lure coursing event were pooped out and slowing down before 1/4 of the course...I think your Cisco would do a lot better than that.

a reply to: Natas0114

Heh, yeah...I always worry about one of our guys tangling with a badger. There's a few around too.

Cisco found out the HARD way about skunks, but I'm pretty sure he'd do it again given the chance.

a reply to: kelbtalfenek

What is a "lure course"? Haven't heard of that. Sounds interesting.

We used to do Field Trials with the Labs, and I've watched some of the terrier obstacle courses, but never a lure course (I don't think anyway).

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: kelbtalfenek

What is a "lure course"? Haven't heard of that. Sounds interesting.

LURE COURSING

Basically it's a fun way to mimic what the sighthounds were bred to do for hundreds, and in some cases thousands of years.

a reply to: kelbtalfenek

VERY intesting...it seems ACD's are not allowed..only "majesty" dogs, not a dog whom might "run" one of them.

It's sad sometimes...dog show people are such "upper crust". The real "working" dogs seldom get recognition, the one's who actually do what they were bred to do...

And, sometimes they come back limping and covered in mud and crap, but they never give up. I'd love to see one of these "pretty" dog show dogs do what some of our dogs do on a 'daily' basis.

If a "show" dog ever did that it would be a tragedy.

These dogs are true to their breed, and not in some "fluffy" dog show.

I LOVE their instinct and their courage. I would be hard to find anywhere else.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Hope you don't have porcupines where you live. I never forgave my ex for selling "Boss", the most beautiful, big ole sweet, best treeing, ball mouth Blue Tick hound he ran for coon hunts (which I despised) to the mayor of a town close to us. Why? We heard later that Boss had disappeared on a hunt, and when the SOB found him with a mouth full of porcupine quills...he just LEFT him there...as a "LESSON"! It was a good thing for the both of us that I never laid eyes on that guy again because the town definitely would have had to hold another mayoral race...due to the unfortunate loss of the one in office who mysteriously disappeared on a hunt. Over a cliff. Gerrrrrrrrr rr....

I loved reading the conversation between you guys! I could seriously see all the action going on in my mind's eye...Z O O M💨🍃 Up, over, around, through and...pant pant...the proud displaying of "catch of the day"! Tell me, you eat the trophies?! Or do the jacks/bunnies end up with "wolves" in them? HUGE fly larvae that embed themselves in animals who're out and about alot...yick! Very unsavory, mentally and literally!

You ought to try and catch some of the action on camera to post with the next great story you share!

Oops...sorry I ruined your positively HAPPY post. Sometimes the burden of grief and bad memories is lessened when shared....

Very funny thread! I would love to see a video of the dog in action!!!!

I have a blue heeler/pointer mix, and after reading about Cisco I can sure point out his heeler tendencies! He is 45 pounds of pure lean muscle, sprints like a rocket and jumps like a kangaroo. When we took him to the vet for a pulled muscle, the first thing she said when she saw him was "there's a dog that would run with a broken leg", and she's probably right. But yet if he gets pricked by a cactus he will just stand there with the offended paw in the air, waiting for me to rescue him. He bounds through tall grass on the trail like a deer, and likes to chase deer too when he sees them. He has boundless energy for fetch, and sprints and jumps for that ball like it was an olympic sport. If he doesn't get a couple outings a day he goes stir crazy in the house. He's awesome.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
It's sad sometimes...dog show people are such "upper crust". The real "working" dogs seldom get recognition, the one's who actually do what they were bred to do...

And, sometimes they come back limping and covered in mud and crap, but they never give up. I'd love to see one of these "pretty" dog show dogs do what some of our dogs do on a 'daily' basis.

If a "show" dog ever did that it would be a tragedy.

These dogs are true to their breed, and not in some "fluffy" dog show.

I LOVE their instinct and their courage. I would be hard to find anywhere else.

Sorry you feel that way.

I was a dog show person. Most of us are down to earth, hard working people that are crazy about our particular breed. Yes, it's true that there are some OCD and some snobby people in the dog show world, but not all of them are that way. I stopped because it was costing too much money and taking too much travel time for me. A great many of the "fluffy" dog show dogs are very capable of working, and the sporting and hound types often hold various certifications for coursing, tracking, retrieval, obedience, and even agility. My Pharaoh hound" actually holds a certification for herding ability.


If you find a lure coursing club, start an email conversation and see if they're receptive to you...if that doesn't happen, there are some dog day cares that have lure coursing type equipment. It's super fun to watch.