We have owned 3 different blue heelers over the past 35 years. Great dogs. DON'T try to teach your pup to do ANYTHING with the cattle yet. If he's got any breeding behind him, he WILL chase/herd your cows.
Teach him DISIPLINE. SIT - STAY - DOWN - COME. Keep treats in your pocket at all times. When you say COME, give him/her a treat. There is nothing worse than a dog that won't come. Don't ever punish him for doing something bad when he comes to you. IF, you can put your hands on him "in the act" of doing something bad and tell him NO. But, if he's doing something wrong, and you yell no, then say COME, you still need to PRAISE him when he comes. I repeat - there is nothing worse than a dog that won't come!! and if you scold him or disapline him when he comes, he will learn not to come.
As the pup matures, hubby plays with a frisbee/ball. Makes pup stay by his feet, throws the ball, gives the command to get it, then yells DOWN - before the pup reaches the ball. Then he will release him & tell him to get the ball. You have got to be able to CONTROL him on a run. Because, they like nothing better than to "chase" cattle. The chasing isn't the problem - it's the controlling. Also, when he works with a ball or frisbee - if the dog loses sight of it, we make a large sweeping motion with our arm/hand pointing left or right and SAYING "round right" or "round left" (or whatever command you're confortable with as long as it's always the same.) This way, as he's herding the cattle, you can DIRECT him which way to move the cattle.
It's fine for you to walk him behind the cattle, on lead, and saying a command, but the absolute most important thing you need to do is teach him COMMANDS for OBEDIANCE. Your cattle will get trained to work with your dog also.
Many people see our dog work & say, "man, I would love for you to bring your dog when I need to catch my cows". Well, it doesn't work that way. If you take a stange dog into a herd, the cows just "fight" him, at first.
Good luck.
