Reply #4: This is way out of left field

[kimi]

and I admit to bias since the best dog who ever owned me was a blue heeler, but it struck me that besides Schnauzer there might be a drop or two of Australian Cattle Dog, or some hybrid of that breed - heeler, kelpie, sheperd, whatever the current terminology is.

Again, maybe wishful thinking, but I found these pics on the intertubes (I'll try to arrange it so your pup's pics are close for comparison):