THE KELPIE KID'S STORY
We all know the movie “Babe”, the children’s story about a pig who becomes a champion sheep-herder. I watched the movie as a kid, but only began to appreciate some of the themes when I re-watched it as an adult.
I grew up in the suburbs, but as I grew older, I yearned for the serenity of country life. The lush green fields and miles of acreage, all yours; the crisp mornings and nights, the smell of wood fires, farm animals roaming without a care in the world. “Babe” displayed all of this, and it was the Border Collies: Sky, Rex and their gorgeous little black and white pups that had me. Ever since, I wanted some of my own.
In 2018, I became the proud owner of my first dog, “Dora”, an “aDORAble two and a half year-old Collie X Kelpie. I first saw her on the Animal Welfare League of South Australia's website and didn’t hesitate to go and get her. It was love at first sight I believe. Since then, we’ve been on many adventures.
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Not long after, I adopted my second dog “Boss”, a stunning one and a half year old Kelpie who also tagged along on the adventures.
I always knew I would be able to form a good bond with any dog I owned, however, I didn’t get into training my dogs until a bit later.
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In the winter of 2020, I decided to move to a country town on the border of SA and VIC fittingly called Bordertown. I lived on a few acres in a caravan in exchange for work. What sold me was that the property had a collection of working dogs! I was fortunate to meet an award winning working dog trainer and independent breeder. I watched him train his and the property owner's dogs. Dora also had her first herding experience with sheep. I spent a short time on a sheep station and enjoyed the experience of seeing working dogs in action. In the winter of 2021, Dora and I moved to the Sunshine Coast in search of warmer weather, surf, and sand.
Once settled, I furthered my passion and knowledge for sheep-herding spending every day at Sheep Herding for City Dogs with John Borg. I became an apprentice and was going to be his second trainer, yet, it didn’t follow through.
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After a break, I decided to put my passion for working dogs into action with the commencement of The Kelpie Kid - I am a kid at heart and it has a good ring to it.
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I began my business with general dog training, addressing common problems dog owners face with their dogs such as pulling on the lead, barking and jumping. I still wanted to incorporate sheep-herding into my training but I needed land...
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I teamed-up with Neil MacLeod, owner of DogsinOz Australia, who is a very experienced working dog trainer (specialising in Kelpies) and sought land to lease. After a few trials and errors, I've landed an amazing 200+ acre property just outside of Eumundi and have began an amazing training arena.
