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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schwartz, Charlotte.
Australian kelpie / by Charlotte Schwartz.
p. cm. 1593783698
1. Australian kelpie. I. Title.
SF429.A78S39 2007
636.737--dc22
2006016294
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Photography by Michael Trafford
with additional photographs contributed by:
Paulette Braun, Alan and Sandy Carey, Tony Dixon, Donna Dunham, W. P. Fleming/Viesti Associates, Isabelle Français, Carol Ann Johnson, Bill Jonas, Sven Karlsson, Judith Selby, Diane Stark, Roger Urricelquis and Alice van Kempen.
Illustrations by Patricia Peters.
The Australian Kelpie is a medium-sized, hardy and alert working dog whose intelligence and skills have won him the admiration of stockmen around the world.
It was early morning and the horizon barely hinted at the coming dawn. Two small children, still dressed in pajamas, sat on the floor playing with a set of wooden blocks. Nearby, their mother made a pot of coffee and prepared bowls of breakfast cereal.
On an oval rug near the children, a dark brown dog, medium in size with a pointed muzzle and a bushy tail, watched the children at play. Looking very much like an oversized fox, the dog rested his chin on his front paws as if studying the formation of the children’s blocks.
Suddenly, a tall, mustached man with chestnut hair entered the room. Immediately, the dog got up, wagged his tail and went to his master. The children looked up at the man as he stood admiring the block structure.
“G’day, children. Look, Mum’s got your brekkie on the table. Come. Get into your chairs.”
After breakfast, the man glanced down at the dog sleeping beside him and said, “Come on, Hank. We’ve got to move those sheep to the upper hill pasture. And those cows need to be brought up to the barn for dusting.”
A short time later, Hank, his tail wagging and a bright gleam of anticipation in his eyes, jumped into the utility truck alongside the man. They would spend the next eight to ten hours together, moving animal stock, patrolling the large property of the Goolong Ranch and working to maintain their part of Australia’s sheep industry.
At day’s end, Hank would return to the house with his master, eat his dinner, check out the children and sleep on a blanket next to his master’s bed. If a stranger should approach the house, the dog, with his exceptional hearing, would alert his master and run to the children’s room to make sure they were safe.
A typical Australian Kelpie, Hank would spend his life working with his owner, protecting his home and family and serving as a well-loved companion to the entire family. This is the life that makes the Kelpie content. Hank is a happy dog.
The Kelpie is a medium-sized dog with a short, coarse, weather-resistant outer coat and a broad head that tapers to a pointed, fox-like muzzle. A a soft undercoat helps to keep him cool in the Australian summer and warm in the winter. His color can range from black—these Kelpies are known as “Barbs”—to black and tan, red, chestnut brown or bluish gray.
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| PHOTO COURTESY OF W. P. FLEMING/VIESTI ASSOCIATES. |
Commonly referred to as Australia’s wild dog, the Dingo played a part in the Kelpie’s establishment The resemblence between the two is evident
Kelpies in North America stand somewhere between 17–23 inches at the shoulder on the average, with females at the smaller end of the spectrum and males at the larger. Average weight is 26–36 pounds for females and 35–45 pounds for males, although both height and weight can vary considerably, as Kelpies larger than this do exist. However, many breeders feel that height and weight are minor concerns if the dog is sound, in good shape and skilled at his work.
The Kelpie ideally has upright prick ears and a long, full, bushy tail. The Kelpie is a dog that looks a lot like a number of other breeds of dog. For example, he resembles the Dingo, the wild dog of Australia, the Border Collie and the larger Smooth Collie. The reason? All of these breeds were used in the creation of the Kelpie. There may also by other breeds whose contributions to the Kelpie have been lost in antiquity.
The breed’s history began back in the mid-1800s when two dogs were imported to Australia from Scotland. The dogs were Smooth Collies and were intended to be used as herders in the fast-growing Australian sheep industry. Back in those early times, when the outback was opening up to sheep-raising and ranch properties were often thousands of acres in size, it became apparent that men alone could not do the job of droving thousands of sheep. They needed dogs to help herd the stock.
Local dogs didn’t have the stamina or physical ability to cope with the heat of the outback or the long hours and great distances necessary to manage these large flocks. Thus stockmen looked to Scotland, where rough mountainous terrain and severe weather conditions didn’t bother the Collies that herded Scottish goats and sheep.
The two imported Collies were black and tan, with prick ears. They were imported into New South Wales around 1870 by George Robertson. One was a female named Jennie, the other a male called Brutus. A mating of the two dogs produced a dog named Caesar.
About the same time, a Mr. Jack Gleeson acquired a black and tan female pup bred by Mr. Robertson. He named her Kelpie, a Gaelic word meaning “watersprite.” Gleeson also acquired a black, prick-eared male named Moss from his friend, Mark Tully.
Eventually, Caesar was bred to Kelpie. One of the puppies from that union produced a black and tan female named King’s Kelpie by her owner Mr. Charles King. The word “kelpie” seemed to be catching on, and henceforth all of the good herding dogs from subsequent litters were known as Kelpies.
One of Caesar’s littermates, a dog named Laddie, was eventually bred to King’s Kelpie. That mating produced a female named Sallie who was later bred to Moss. One of the puppies in that litter was a solid black dog that was called Barb, named after a black horse that won the prestigious Melbourne Cup in 1869. From that time on, all black Kelpies were known as Barbs.
Kelpie, Jack Gleeson’s female, also became a famous sheepdog-trial winner. At just one year of age, she ran in her first trial and won easily. Her sensational win brought her fame and Gleeson a great demand for Kelpie’s puppies. Everyone, it seemed, wanted a “Kelpie” pup; so from the late 1870s, the breed officially became known as the Australian Kelpie.
Sheep farmers and drovers alike admired Kelpies right from those early days of the Australian sheep industry’s expansion. Kelpies were recognized for their working ability both