SHEEPVENTION history was made when defending champion, Bree Cudmore, Colac, won the Working Dog Championship for the third consecutive year with Lanarch Moana.

As a livestock overseer, Bree has a passion for livestock and getting a good flow of animals.

Bree also won second place with Vera Slim - both dogs are by the same sire, Hiltons Tim, but not the same litter.

The Colac local said it was not all about the breeding of the dog in working dog trials; the dog is only as good as the handler and the training.

“It is what you do from there, building a partnership between the handler and the dog, that makes a successful team,” Bree said.

“You need to put quality time in, doing the right things at the right time.  It is about demonstration and replication. It is about building a good relationship between the handler and the dog. It is a partnership where you are both working together.

“We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I am not very good at maths, but I can work a dog. There is a lot of ways to skin a cat.”

How the dog interacts with the stock is also important.

“I like my dogs to work with the stock, not bullying them,” Bree said.

“I want my dogs to handle the animals with sense and calmness. Working livestock can be hard, so I want a dog that is working with me, not battling with me when I am already having a hard day.”

Bree said when trialling, the first interaction the dog has with the sheep when they enter the paddock, sets the tone for the rest of the run.

“If the dog comes in hard and fast, the sheep are going to be very upset for the rest of the run,” she pointed out.

“If the dog walks in there, has a quiet, silent negotiation with the stock, that’s how you get stock to flow.

“The sheep will still test the dog, but a good dog will educate the stock by showing them they can’t get past. The sheep are then rewarded by being left alone when they move away.”

Some dogs that are very good on the farm working large mobs of sheep, struggle in competition.

The three-time winner said just because a dog is excellent in the paddock, it doesn’t mean they will be a good trial dog and a dog that is excellent at trials may not be a great farm dog.

Interest in dog trialling continues to grow, according to event co-convener, Ian O’Connell.

“Entries were way more than we can handle, which is why the competition has blown out to three days,” he said.

“Even then, we had to restrict the number of dogs people can have in each class.”

Spectator interest was also very high, with standing-room-only during the championships.

“A lot of the people watching were from farms and like to see how the dogs and the handlers work the sheep,” Ian said.

“It is like the rest of Sheepvention, people come to learn and pick up new ideas. It is an educational thing as well as entertaining.

“City folk can’t get enough of this type of thing. People are fascinated by the skill of the dogs and what they are able to do. I think it also takes them back to their heritage, where they hanker for that connection with the bush

“We have seen that in recent times with television series like Muster Dogs. That has rated through the roof because people are absolutely blown away by the skill of these dogs and what they do for us.

“We wouldn’t have a livestock industry without the working dog and what they have done for this nation.”

Ian said working dogs are even more important today because the economies of scale.

Properties have got much larger, with labour more expensive and harder to find.

“People in the livestock industries are relying more and more on the working dog,” he said.

“They are more relevant today than they have ever been.

“What is a lost art is the training of working dogs and I think that is why we have so many spectators coming along to watch the dogs. I think they wish they had dogs at home that were as good as the ones they are watching, but the dogs they have at home are as good. People just don’t have the knowledge of how to train them.”

The event co-convener believed that was all that is lacking.

“The quality of dog across the country is amazing, but (you) need the knowledge of how to train them and the methods,” Ian said.

“In the old days everything was ‘bash and crash’. Last century we would hear about people breaking horses in, breaking dogs in and corporal punishment for kids. Everything was about pain and fear to get a positive outcome, but no longer is it socially acceptable to have those attitudes.

“Quite rightly, and what you see in the competition is the younger people now have the knowledge of how to train these dogs using positive reinforcement methods and you see the result.

“The dog is not just a worker, but an actual mate and you see the close bond between them. There is so much trust between them and the communication between the canine and the handler is really strong.

“They show the dog what they want them to do, and the second that dog does what they want, they get a lot of praise and feedback from the handler. That’s what we are trying to promote in modern day working dogs.

“The advice I give to young people wanting to get into dog trialling, having done it myself for a long time, is to enter your dog and have two goals in mind. First is to go there and enjoy yourself, mix with your peers and give your dog a day out.

“Secondly, make sure you learn something from the people with experience. Every time you enter into a trial, if you learn something, you are a winner.”