AFTER years breeding Labradors, Beth Sandral wanted a change.
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Sandral and her husband Peter had just moved their young family into a new property – about 250 hectares between Springhurst and Boorhaman – it was a shift of just a few miles but big enough to put the pet dog breeding operation on the shelf.
“When we moved here I thought I didn't want that big set-up again and what I really would like to do was just train a kelpie,” she said.
“I started with one and it went from there.”
The plan of training one kelpie to be a working dog was a decade ago.
Now, as Sandstock Working Kelpies, the Sandrals have six bitches in service, with two young ones coming through, and breed once a year to focus on quality over quantity.
“A lot of dog skill is instinct. I’m very picky in what dogs we use for breeding,” Ms Sandral said.
“Good breeding makes the training 100 times easier.
“You can get two dogs that can do this or that very well but when you put them together the pups could be useless, we’ve had that happen from two exceptional dogs.”
When selecting dogs for their stud program, the Sandrals – who have a livestock transport business and run about 600 second-cross ewes – look for what they call “old-time’ working dogs that were equally successful in yards as well as paddocks.
“We look five generations back and I have a list of old-time fantastic dogs I like to see,” Ms Sandral said.
“It has got to be four or five generations back, no further and no closer, and it’s got to be those old time all-round dogs because the general consensus is the reason those dogs were so good because in those days the breading was limited and good traits were built up and poor performing dogs weren't used for breeding.
“It’s that good old stuff we’re trying to keep in our lines.”
Well bred, trained working dogs attract more than $10,000 at auction.
The Sandrals paid $9000 for their top dog, Casterton working dog winner Akennedy Choker, who was an outstanding paddock dog, capable of casting a 65-hectare paddock alone.
“Choker’s brothers and uncles are regular auction top price dogs, probably six of them have been,” Ms Sandral said.
“We bought Choker at auction but he didn’t top it, he should have, he’s just a freak.”