Originally Posted by TheSquealer

No, you can't switch a gene off by just petting the animal and calling it a part of the family.

A blue heeler will still try to herd you, your kids, your friends, cars, sticks, trees, other dogs etc etc etc without ever being trained to do it or having been around other blue heelers... and no amount of being nice will make it not want to herd things as it is in their genes and they were bred for that exact trait. It is in their DNA and what they are.