WINCHELSEA local Henry Lawrence and his loyal dog Boof, a six-year-old Kelpie, outclassed their competition to claim the title of Cobber Champion.<\/p>\n
Living on the cusp of Lake Mardeduke in Winchelsea, Victoria, Boof is one of 12 working dogs around the nation that competed in the 2018 Cobber Challenge.<\/p>\n
This three-week competition saw two dogs from each state wear GPS collars to track their daily work and score points.<\/p>\n
Boof trailed in his first two weeks before clocking up the mileage in a final dash that put him neck-andneck with runner-up Jess from NSW.<\/p>\n
The competition\u2019s dark horse ran an average of 51 km per day in the final week \u2013 the equivalent of seven consecutive marathons \u2013 and seized a narrow victory on the last day of the competition.<\/p>\n
During the Cobber Challenge, Boof ran over 630km at 10.62km\/h, even astounding owner Henry Lawrence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found out that Boof covers a lot more ground than I thought he would,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne morning when we were shifting a mob he covered around 40km, and then another time he clocked almost 70km for the day, so he really surprised me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoof\u2019s a pretty great dog \u2013 he can work a mob of sheep through a mob of cattle or vice versa, or go round them both if I want, he just seems to know what I\u2019m after so it\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Victorian dog\u2019s last-leg performance was one of many surprises in this year\u2019s competition which featured a last-minute dog substitution and daily leaderboard shuffles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think we\u2019d get the win because the first couple of weeks of the Challenge coincided with the quietest time on the farm for us.\u201d Henry explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen everything picked up and we were calving and moving them back and lamb marking, so it turned out okay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about this year\u2019s competition was just how close it was, we never knew who was going to win it, even until the last day.<\/p>\n
Cobber Brand Manager Marika O\u2019Leary said that even though this was the third year of the Cobber Challenge, we are still astounded by how much these dogs put in.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the end of the competition the 12 dogs had run over 3,600km, the distance of Perth to Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WINCHELSEA local Henry Lawrence and his loyal dog Boof, a six-year-old Kelpie, outclassed their competition to claim the title of Cobber Champion. Living on the cusp of Lake Mardeduke in Winchelsea, Victoria, Boof is one of 12 working dogs around the nation that competed in the 2018 Cobber Challenge. This three-week competition saw two dogs […]<\/p>\n