We have owned blue and red heelers for more than 30 years, there is no difference (aside from the colour) all cattle dogs are born white and gain their colour - red or blue in the first few weeks of their life. The photo is of Rosie, our 3.5 y.o red dog.
As you have already observed they are a very intelligent dog - this is a two edged sword because intelligence needs occupation, or "work" if you will - unless you are able to put a lot of time into activities with a cattle dog you are making a rod for your own back as a bored cattle dog gets up to mischief.
You will find that one family member will be "adopted" by the dog and that whils tother family members are well regarded the CD will look to that one person for its major interaction and will bond with that person. Other pets, including cats are OK but limits have to be set very early in the dog's life.
never, ever forget that this is a "manufactured" breed and that these little dogs were breed to run with horses rounding up cattle all day and to charge in and nip the heels of recalcitrant cattle to get them moving they are crazy brave but at the sticking point they are well armed and have a bite pressure greater than many dogs that are much bigger than them.
Therefore the very first thing you must instil during early play is bite inhibition, otherwise family members are going to get hurt.
Fortunately the teaching process is easy - they want to please their owners and they want to learn. Rosie has a simply enormous vocabulary, she will also work out new behaviours and put them into action on her own initiative - such as collecting her lead and dropping it at your feet if the time for walking has passed, or picking up her food bowl and carrying it to the kitchen if meals are a bit late.
Cattle dogs love all games and excel at those that require the dog to be agile and to think for itself, they are good problem solvers - Rosie spent a night in hospital after a minor mishap, she opened her cage and then for good measure opened all the other cages as well. The over night staff had to sort our a wheeling mass of cats, dogs and rabbits, review of the CCTV revealed our Rosie as the guilty party.
Health wise they are VERY robust - typically ours get to see the Vet once a year for their yearly shots and check over, but occasionally they have had accidents.
Some random thoughts
Lots and lots of toys - balls, squeeze toys and rope based chewing toys are a good start.
We buy our horse balls (really heavy rubber balls with a handle that are given to horses to play with) as they can't bite through them so they last a bit longer. We also give her coconuts when available, she can husk one fairly completely in under three minutes.
Don't expect a cattle dog to rush up and want to meet other dogs and play with them - they are a bit stand-offish in that regard, firstly because they don't know that they are dogs and secondly because as a breed they bond more strongly to their "special" human than they do with other dogs. To the un-initiated taking a cattle dog to puppy school is a worrying experience, all the other puppies will be in a seething single mass of fun having - the cattle dog will settle down about 10ft away and simply watch - its what they do and perfectly normal.
In summary, strong, healthy, brave, intelligent and loyal. What more could you want in a dog.
