Top working dog trainer passes on knowledge, skills at Shelford

WORKING dogs on as many as 10 district agricultural properties will now be even better at their jobs after taking part in a formal training program at Shelford last weekend.

The school took place at the historic Warrambeen Station and was organised by She Oaks sheep and cattle farmer Jo Stray.

 

Ms Stray, who also works at Warrambeen, asked well-known breeder and trainer Joe Spicer of the GoGetta Kelpie Stud in Glenthompson to conduct the school after attending a class of his in the past.

“I just really like his method,” she said. “He’s just so gentle, so calm, so effective – he doesn’t do much and gets incredible outcomes.”

Mr Spicer has been training dogs for 30 years and has won six Australian Working Yard dog titles and more than 100 trial dog events.

 

He is regarded as one of Australia’s best Kelpie trainers and breeders; his bloodline is so successful that GoGetta Kelpie pups were featured in the Netflix hit series Muster Dogs.

Ten participants and their dogs went through a 10-step process under Mr Spicer’s tutelage, watched by four “fence-sitters” who took in tips from the sidelines.

 

“We’re learning how to work with the dogs’ instincts,” Ms Stray said of the clinic. “Joe teaches us how to work with that instinct; how to get the best out of it.

“The better trained your dogs are the less stress there is on your livestock and the easier it is to do animal husbandry, care and maintenance.

 

“But you’ve got to do work on your dogs to get there.”

Mr Spicer explains how to train dogs to work better and then takes dogs and their owners into an enclosure to demonstrate.

 

Ms Stray said participants included people who worked in feedlots, sheep and cattle farmers, and even a labrador breeder who had just got her own working dog.

They came from throughout the region – Moriac, Maryborough, Willaura, Dunolly and beyond – and Ms Stray said some drove for two-and-a-half hours to get there.

 

“Two of the stockmen at Warrambeen did the course as well, so it was kind of win-win for everyone,” she said.

She said one of the participants had commented about how little needed to be done to properly train a dog but how effective it could be.

 

“It was very well received,” Ms Stray said.

Ms Stray is already planning further schools with Mr Spicer ­– one on 18 and 19 April and another sometime in June for more advanced training.

Both will also take place at Warrambeen.