04/02/2026
How I Deal With Aggressive Cattle Dogs
First, I will tell you a little about Cattle Dogs to get a better understanding of their character.
Cattle dogs are territorial by nature and can be very aggressive.
They are normally very happy to be one-man dogs, not requiring other dogs if they have a master they can look up to.
They have a really hard bite, but unlike a lot of protection or fighting dogs, they tend to bite hard and let go. They have to bite the heels of cattle to get them moving so that's their job. They aren't trying to kill the Cattle like a Pitbull. Any Cattle dog that hangs on runs the risk of killed pretty quickly or being rejected by the farmer.
That makes for a very level-headed dog that doesn't normally go into an uncontrolled rage like a Jack Russel would, for instance.
However....if you ever get bitten by a Cattle dog, it will be bad news for you. That one bite is bad and hurts.
They face a one-ton bull head on and bite them on the nose. It takes a very tough courageous and thinking dog to work like that and not get itself killed in the process
I love Cattle Dogs. They have been my bread and butter dogs for 35 years. The reason I love them is ...for me...they are really easy to train.
Cattle dogs understand dominance. They have to be dominant to very dangerous cattle. So when I come along and show them I am in charge and dominant, they respect that. They love having a dominant Master to follow and will mostly come into line immediately.
Of course...The first meeting I have with a client's dog on the dog's territory is a bit dodgy. I've been bitten a few times. But a thousand or so haven't managed to bite me. That's a plus point.
They all come around within an hour or less.
One thing you have to watch out for is when you stand up to leave. The memory of chasing everyone away kicks in, and they may revert to the old way again. But it is only a temporary thing that needs a bit of maintenance to correct.
There you go.
I will put up a video next of a pack of three of the tykes who wanted to kill me and explain what I did to stop them attacking me, and hopefully the owners friends and visitors into the future.
Cheerio for now.