Did you know that a single kelpie is capable of working 3,000 sheep at once? That's the workload equivalent to that of three-to-four men, which is why a fully-trained working dog can fetch up to $20,000 on the rural market.
This is according to Anthony Attard from Hawkesbury Working Kelpie Stud, who - along with his business partner Jenny Sant - was back on home turf this month for the Hawkesbury Show, where he raked-in packed crowds to watch his working dog demonstrations.
He does most of his business down south these days, having moved from the Hawkesbury to a property at Young, but this area is still big business for the stud, supplying working dogs and providing education on the benefits of kelpies to the rural lifestyle.
"We breed for orders, around 30 to 40 pups a year. I have about eight fully-trained dogs in my work team, and I do contract work to farmers with mustering, and I also work in the sale yards," said Mr Attard.
At the show, he demonstrated the skills of his kelpies in three separate age groups, including his 'top dog', a seven-year-old female named Jam - black and tan in colour.
Kelpies also come in red and tan, fawn and tan, blue and tan, straight red, black, fawn, blue, and - very rare - cream, he explained.
"Cream kelpies are often mistaken for a dingo, and that is because the Australian kelpie was made up from a working [border] collie, and a dingo, so dingo is in their blood," he said.
"That is where I believe these dogs get their intelligence from, because they are very, very smart dogs - especially the way they work, handle themselves, and learn."
Energetic by nature, kelpies can cover an astonishing 100 kilometres per day - day in, day out.
"Anybody that's got a kelpie and thinks they'll take it for a 10-kilometre run per day to wear their dog down, you're only kidding yourself, because all you're doing is making your dog nice and fit!" Mr Attard laughed.
He also demonstrated two pups: six-month-old Ross, and 10-week-old Nell, who both displayed natural instincts for working stock.
"Kelpies are 'gathering' dogs, and they know how to work - we do not teach them how to work. All we teach them is obedience, and 'dog action' - which is how to move the dog about," he said.
"But at the beginning of each day, the dog must be working for us - if the dog is working for itself, [he's] just going to chase sheep wherever he wants to take them.
"That's where the discipline comes in, and that direction - the training."
For Mr Attard, who has worked in the agricultural and pastoral industries for over 25 years, training dogs is "easy".
"It's important we don't let the dogs get ahead of us. It's important that I become the alpha dog and make sure it listens to what I'm asking it to do," he said.
It takes Mr Attard two years to train them, and they start at six weeks, "so they are very, very valuable to us in rural Australia, and around the world," he said.
"In a normal situation when we start off a pup we start with three or four sheep, to get some movement - because movement and noises excite dogs.
"For the first 12 months of their life, all I teach these dogs is 'stop' and 'recall' - or calling the dog off the sheep. The reason for that is, during the first 12 months of his life, he's actually teaching me a lot about himself.
"What I'm looking for is what traits he's got, because no matter how many pups there are in the litter, they will all be different."
- Find out more about Hawkesbury Working Kelpie Stud at www.hawkesburykelpies.com.au.
Sarah Falson
Daily Liberal journalist. I love telling people's stories. Get in touch at sarah.falson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Daily Liberal journalist. I love telling people's stories. Get in touch at sarah.falson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
