Dixie The Red and Blue Heeler

My first and most favorite dog, a mix of red and blue heeler, was a puppy when I got her. I named her Dixie. I derived the name from a lady fox on a childs movie.

When I gave her the name, she had immediately recognized that I was giving her a name and she had jumped up into my outstretched arms and began licking me "to death." She wagged her short little tail, so happily that I cried with joy.

It was a medium to large size dog at full growth. Dixie did not bark a whole lot or very loud most of the time, unless someone was mowing the lawn, or making lots of noise. She did not like motorcycles, or ice cream trucks.

She also did not like the sound of her dog food being shaken. Two of my brothers would each take a bucket of dog food and a stick, then go on separate sides of the back yard and stir the dog food with their sticks, one after the other, so that Dixie would run back and fourth barking at whichever one was making all the noise. They thought it was all fun and games, until Dixie bit one of them on the butt.

Dixie was pretty smart. My brothers and I taught her how to peel an orange, how to crack open peanuts and spit out the shells. She knew the commands "speak," "stop," "sit," "stay," "lay down," "roll over," "come," and "shake."

We loved Dixie so much. Dixie loved us too. While she was a puppy she slept with me in my bed, and my dad built her a dog house in the yard when she got too big.

Dixie knew each of her owners' respective names and would look at or go find the one which was specifically mentioned. If I told Dixie to "Go get mom," she went and looked for her, or if I said "Go get Dad," she would go look for him and if they were nearby, Dixie would sit up and look at the correct person. Dixie even knew the difference between my three brothers's names and to whom each name belonged.

My mom and dad would also have the dog help locate me by asking Dixie where I was.

The dog knew the difference between birds, bunnies and squirrels, and where to look for each of them so as to chase after them. She never caught anything, due to being short-legged and medium-sized. Dixie was good with house cats and kittens and, although did not like sharing her chew toys with other dogs, she was otherwise pretty well behaved with other dogs.

I could use Dixie as a pillow and she did not mind. The dog was fairly active, but perfect for small living spaces. Dixie was people friendly and a little bit protective of young people when they cried or seemed upset. She would try to cheer them up or even growl at whatever seemed to be causing their discomfort.

Dixie was a red and blue heeler mix. She knew how to heel very well. When we went for walks, we did not find use of a leash, which I do not advise.

The dog had some shedding and a low maintenance, short length wavy and bristly coat. She did best in warmer weather, as long as she had shade or water and would get cold kind of quick and fairly easily if left outside for very long.

I do not know everything about the red and blue heeler mix, although I do know that the majority of them are family friendly medium-sized, smart and fun-loving dogs.

I have not owned or babysat singular red heelers or blue heelers. I have babysat and owned a mix of both.

The difference between red and blue heelers is easily told apart from each other, because red heelers have reddish brown splotches on white coats, and blue heelers have blue tinted black or dark grey looking splotches on white coats.

When you mix these red and blue breeds together, they make a beautiful paint bucket, rain splatter design of both colors on a white coat.

Like Dixie, she looked somewhat like a little cow, with colorful, big and small splatter spots. She had black ears and a dipstick tail.

Although some smaller red or blue healers are the perfect size for a lap dog, and most red and blue healers get a little bit of a bigger medium size, and are a bit more active than most dogs that are willing to lay around all day, red and blue healers do not always make the best lap dogs.

Red and blue heeler breeds are usually well aware of their own body mass and just how much room they do or do not take up. Dixie even had a favorite spot in the van we had, where nobody knew how she could even fit herself into such a space.

Even though this breed mix is pretty smart, they are not street wise. Dixie would chase noisy cars or tires and cross streets unaware of traffic. That is actually how I had to say my goodbyes to the beloved family pet.

Dixie was hit by a car and her neck broke. She did not even die right away, she had to be put out of her misery. My family and I were devastated.

The people who hit her had kept on going and neither of my family saw the vehicle responsible, even though we all heard the "pop." It was dark outside, my family was traveling, and we had to stop for a break. It was so sad, but her memories live on deep inside my own heart.

Dixie was not the only red and blue healer mix that I have ever known. My dad got me that dog, Dixie.

No dog will ever replace Dixie. I wish I had a picture of Dixie, but I do not.

Instead, I have an old blue felt binder my mom got me with a cowgirl on it and the binder has Dixie's bite marks; a little gift she left me to remember her by that I still have over ten years later!