Having owned two heelers, one of them a rescue, I would say that your girl has obviously had some unfortunate experiences with people, and likely they were abusive with the way they handled her on a leash… these are incredibly intelligent animals though, and by showing her consistency in your loving care will do wonders for helping her overcome/unlearn the negative lessons she had previously… per another commenter re: the excited accidents, try waiting 15-30 seconds before acknowledging her when greeting, and this should eventually end those (it’s a puppy thing in my experience)… otherwise, re: her wariness of the leash and strangers, develop your bond with her and let her know 100% she is safe, secure, and loved, and once she is confident in that and in you, everything else will come. Communicate with her- and go slow. Recognize when she is becoming anxious, and pause whatever activity you were engaging in with her, provide reassurance to her (treats and praise go a long way, haha), and then, when she has relaxed, you can- slowly- go back to the activity. Understand that with the leash, she was likely jerked around without warning (and likely without reason, unfortunately), so this is where your consistency with her will be incredibly important. When she knows she’s safe with you, then you will be able to start to change her association of the leash as a scary thing into one where the leash means “yay!! We’re going out!!!”. Communication with her couldn’t be more important in this endeavor- but start with the basic foundation of “you are safe with me/us, we are family, you are loved and protected and can trust us”. Once that is firmly established, the rest will follow, and you’ll have one of the most devotedly loyal and loving little girl you could possibly hope for- blue heelers are a special breed, they choose a master when they join a new family, and instinctually want to devote themselves to them. Be that rock for her, and she will flourish!
Best of luck, and Godspeed you both in her journey to unlearn and recover from her unfortunate past experiences- the rest of her days will be much sunnier thanks to you…

We have a Blue Heeler mix we got her from a rescue she is 5 months old. I’m not sure what her life was like before we got her. She is very sweet and loves other dogs but she’s not real sure about people. She also has accidents when she excited. I know we need to socialize her but she is very skittish around people she doesn’t know . Also she is terrified of a leash. Anyone have any suggestions?

There’s a difference in being protective and being aggressive. Aggressive is never a good thing.

We have found with all of our healers that piddle when greeting. If the humans can completly ignore the puppy for the first 10-30 seconds. They dont piddle when you do aknowlage them and after a few weeks the accidents stop altogether.

Wonderful breed if you put in the work up front. And pay attention to the environment. My blue’s behavior problems early on had more to do with our Corgi cranking him up than him alone. Once we solved for the instigator, we solved most of the bluey issues.
His parents were working cattle dogs but Zeke needed to be able to go town or country which worked out very well. Also having 3 cats prior to his appearance was not a problem for him. Wolfgang, the big ginger, slept with him every night.
The sitting and staring to go out was pretty funny. I thought it was just him.
I’ve had Australian shepherds and corgis so well acquainted with working breeds but these guys are one of a kind.