re: Need help identifying dog breed

Updating my situation:

Dog (maybe I'll call him Blue, not real sure yet) appears on the farm late Saturday night and hangs around all Sunday. I fed him some canned chili (didn't have any dog food on hand).

On Mondsy, he disappears all day long. Then about 9 o'clock he reappears again. I feed him another can of chili and he laps it up. Still won't come within 15 feet of any human unless they are on a side by side then he just runs right along.

When you get off, he's very very skittish. Half barks at anyone who approaches and then if you begin yo walk near him, he moves away. He's not mean, that's obvious, but he just won't get near a person at all.

On Tuesday, same thing happened. He disappears during the day only to reappear that evening after dark.

This time, I have bought some dog food and fake bone chew treats because he was chewing on sticks before.

I feed him some dog food and later give him a fake bone and he devours it in like 20 minutes.

Fast forward to today. He hangs around at the farm all day. I feed him dog food again and even make him a little bed of hay to lay on in a dry spot under cover. He no longer barks when I get around him, but he only approaches if I have food. If I try to get close to him, he walks away.

I even got him a ham hock bone to chew on because he liked the fake one so much. I go back to the barn where he's been hanging out tonight around 8 pm and he's gone. Don't know where he went, don't even know if he'll come back. Him leaving at night is unusual, but it's very cold and rainy out tonight. I was never able to get close enough to him to put a collar on him.

We havn't had a dog in many years, but we've had horses, cows, chickens, etc, so the fan all knows how to act around animals and the environment is very good for outdoor pets.

This one though is strange. He seems like he's been around 4 wheelers and such before and tracks/sniffs trails like a mofo, but he's very, very standoffish and seems extremly nervous around people.

I've checked the local social media missing pet boards and there's nothing about a dog of his description. Not really sure how to get a collar on him now, and with his habits of roaming off, I figure someone else may get him now.

I like having him for home security (he howls at basically anything he hears). But I'm just not well versed enough in canines to know if I'm doing the right things to get him to stay around.

He's probably 4 or 5 breeds. Some of the best dogs to have around.

Definitely part Heeler.

He won't get within 5 feet of any person unless someone had got food in their hand. And even then he'd extremely apprehensive. I've never seen a dog be so skittish around people before. Someone really must have beat the hell out of him or trapped him a lot because he won't even go through a narrow door in the a shop when someones inside..even if there is food in the other side.

get him a kong and put some peanut butter or some kind of food in it, all the dogs I have had have loved peanut butter but that may be an isolated incident. Just find something that he'll have to sit down and take a while to eat and just hang around doing something to where he knows you are nearby and let him get comfortable laying down to gnaw on something near you. If not a kong maybe a bigger/tougher bone. But make sure he has some water nearby if you go the peanut butter route lol.

Edit: as far as taming him, I'd say it is always possible but judging on his history (trauma, etc.) it may take a lot of time and coaxing before he really lets his guard down.