Australian Working Stock Dog Magazine - June 2018

From Ayres Rock

to Allora

O

nce the domain of the sheep/cattle farmer, originally to

pit their best dogs against their neighbours, the sport,

the iconic and very Australian 3 sheep trial is thought

to be struggling a little with lack of new blood, new competitors.

he daily struggle of drought, wild dogs, and the day to day

problems of our farmers, the younger generation are opting to

leave the family property and ind their feet in the ‘Big Smoke’,

leaving our older stoic competitors, those with such a wealth

of knowledge, to keep the sport going.

However, the weekend warriors, the new generation of tri-

allers who go to extreme lengths to train and trial their loved

working dogs are helping to keep the sport alive, not only 3

sheep, but yard and utility trials as well.

Living on a house block in suburbia on the Sunshine Coast

QLD, presents all the usual problems for the Weekend Warri-

or, limitation of dogs due to council regulations, neighbours,

and lack of readily available stock for training, however that

hasn’t stopped father and daughter duo, Geof and Jessica

Brown, from regularly competing at 3 sheep trials.

Although growing up in a rural area on the mid north coast,

near Kempsey, NSW, Geof had no experience with stock other

than his grandmothers’ dairy cows that required little work and

obediently came to the milking door like well trained puppies.

Geof met his wife, Sharon, when she was just 15 and he 17,

they moved to Brisbane and married on the 5th of May, 1990.

From there, they moved to Ayres Rock and irst Dylan then

Jess added to their family. Geof and Sharon bought a motel in

Narromine in 2003, which they sold and moved to the Sun-

shine Coast in 2008.

Geof and Sharon again added to their family, a Kelpie pup-

py they named Stella. he bond between Geof and Stella is

palatable, however having a working dog in suburbia has it’s

problems and when Stella was 8 months old, it was suggested

to Geof that he take Stella to try sheep dog training, a move

that led him to George and Lyndal Nichols door at Sheepdogs

on the Cove, a small sheep and cattle property nestled on the

outskirts of Woodford that can be attributed to many Week-

end Warriors in QLD, get their start in Yard, Utility, 3 Sheep

and ANKC trialling.

Every weekend, in the early hours of the morning, Geof and

Stella would make the 2 hour round trip from the sunshine

coast to Woodford to train, Geof and Stella would compete

in short course trials held at the property and help with the

stock handling.

At only 12, Jess was your typical suburbia almost teenager, who’s

only experience with working dogs was the family pet, Stella.

Jess had no contact with stock at all, but decided one morning

to tag along with Dad to ind out what this sheep herding was all

about.. Her impressions of a sheep property were ‘it stinks here’.

Aer a few weekends, Sharon Dungey took Jess under her

wing, and ofered her the opportunity to try her hand at work-

ing her dog Wondarra Gemma and as they say, the die was

cast,.

Story By Annette Ross

Photos: Supplied

WEEKEND WARRIOR

Stanthorpe Trial 2018

4th Encourage

14 AWSDM http://www.stockdogs.com.au