Tucker

This is Tucker the Cattle Dog. I am absolutely devastated to be selling him. I have had him since he was 6 weeks old, he is now 2.5 (3 in May).

I feel like I could write an essay about Tucker. The reason that I am selling him is that he is slightly aggressive. As is the nature of cattle dog he lunges for wheels and car tyres etc. This is not a big issue and I have been training him out of it. The two difficult things is that he can be aggressive to other dogs, hit and miss (he did grow up with an older dog who is now gone) and he got along fine with her. But I have tried introducing him to two other dogs since which hasn’t gone so well. He is amazing with my 3 cats though, very gentle! So he would be best in a home with no other dogs, or perhaps and older dog, but I can’t promise how that interaction would go.

Secondly, and perhaps the most important, he has a very strange aggression streak towards people. He was well socialised his whole life but for some reason there are 5 instances of him nipping people, usually with no warning or indication. 2 cases have been letting people into the yard and he bit them on the heels which is typical of this breed but most concerning last week he bit my neighbours child. This is something that really concerns me as I am at the age where my friends are having children and I would like to have them in the next few years. The fact that I cannot trust him around children anymore is very saddening. And I must reiterate, he should NOT go to a family that has children.

So that is the bad stuff. The good stuff is that he is the most affectionate, crazy, cutest dog ever and he has got the best little mannerisms. He is incredibly well trained, I take him to dog training group classes every Saturday and he is by far the best dog there. I started going to help with his aggression, and he has gone from barking at every dog on a walk to now being able to sit or walk past them without too much hassle. The other dogs at dog training are by far more aggressive than him. I am so impressed at his ability to learn, he sits in his kennel and waits for you to let him eat, he heels well on the left side, he can beg, march, roll over, lay down, commando crawl, so many things. I guess the fact that I have been putting SO much time and effort and $$$ into his obedience and training is what makes me devastated at his unpredictability around people and dogs, I just cannot ever let my guard down and that can be exhausting. I am just about to graduate uni, move somewhere new and I don’t want to give Tucker the life of having to be hid in the corner with a muzzle on whenever people come over.

I live in a row of town houses with a relatively small backyard. I walk him about 5km every day. He NEEDS lots of exercise and his is an incredibly fit and strong dog. But living in this kind of area means it is difficult to avoid kids and other dogs.

My vision for Tucker is: someone that has lots of experience with dog, cattle dogs would be great, has a BIG yard, a farm would be awesome, maybe even goes to the beach occasionally (he looooves the beach), someone that is not going to be perturbed by his aggression and someone that doesn’t have small children. I cannot reiterate that enough. It would break my heart if he goes to someone who expects the best and then something happens and he ends up in the pound or tied up to a fence for the rest of his life. Tucker has so much love to give and joy to bring his owners and I want him to go to a FOREVER home. Which is why I want to be really cautious in my selection process and would be even happy to do a trial basis.

I know it is around Christmas time but Tucker should NOT be a christmas present.

please email me on cassidydrayton@gmail.com with your interest and how you think Tucker would fit into your life.

Microchip number

900164001965375