I have had one in the past. She was a young and from a rescue and totally untrainable. Very wild and nippy. Her instinct ws to herd, be it deer, toddlers, old folks, ducks, cars, etc.......That said I have been around many more as I live in Wyoming, USA and we have plenty of Heelers here. From a pup they seem to be easy to house train and voice command. They are very instictual and will herd. They seem to have boundless energy and will need vigorous exercise everyday. Everyday. They can be trained to be a family dog as well but they are always very close to being wild, so they will be strong willed and short tempered. I have heard they have a very long life span, 20+ years. The Blue's seem to be a bit more even tempered, with the reds being decidedly higher strung. They doc there tails, they are not born stub tailed. We have a lot of cattle dog mixes here and that seems to mellow them out some. I love them and a doc'd double masked Blue female is in my future I am sure.