Pets and animalsOn thedog’s back?“Everyone thinks they have the best dog.None of them are wrong.”swapping it for a stock horse. Gleeson named it Kelpie, aScottish name for a water sprite, and mated Kelpie with acollie called Moss. The resulting pups were highly prized andbegan the Kelpie bloodline. This provided working dogs bettersuited to hot and rugged outback environments than thosebrought in from cooler climates.By Susan HazelShould we think about South Australia being founded on thesheep’s back or the dog’s back?By 1874 when the University of Adelaide was created,warehouses storing wool for export in Port Adelaide werebooming. Farmers needed working dogs to help them managethe increasing numbers of sheep. The benefits of workingdogs were being recognised at this time. In Australia the firstrecorded sheepdog trial was on 5 September 1868, at theWangaratta Spring Show.Other working dogs have also played their part. BorderCollies are not an Australian breed but have been used herefor herding livestock for longer than any other country outsidethe UK.Australia’s cattle dog, the Blue Heeler, was the firstsuccessful Australian dog breed, when Thomas Simpson Hallcrossed an English drover’s cur (cross bred dog) with a dingoin 1825. Hall had a team of drovers and provided them withhis new breed of dogs (Hall’s heelers) and by 1832 theywere a very useful cattle dog. It was believed they had thetoughness and stamina of the dingo.Working dogs were highly valued, and the prize for the bestsheepdog in the yard was 20 pounds (around $3,250 today).But working dogs from other countries were not well suited totougher Australian conditions. Enter stage left the Kelpie.In 1864, George and Mary Ann Robertson importedtwo Sutherland or Highland Smooth collies from Scotland.A female, who became the foundation female for the Kelpiebreed, was given to Robertson’s 18-year-old nephew.More recent scientific research has expanded ourknowledge. To find out what makes a working Kelpie tick,scientists performed genetic analysis of the Australian Kelpie(a non-working dog) versus the Australian Working Kelpie.Although he initially missed the dog’s potential, JackGleeson, an Irish-born stockman later recognised anopportunity when he saw it and acquired the pup by40
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