“He's my mate”

Bill was looking for a new dog, after his previous working dog died.

“I had about 500 poll dorset ewes ready to lamb, so I needed a dog.”

He heard the Jerilderie working dog show was on, but he missed it by a day.

So Bill contacted the organisers to see if there were any promising young dogs that didn’t sell.

They referred him to one dog, who had apparently had stage fright and didn’t perform too well, but they figured he might be worth a try.

Bill took a punt and drove to St Arnaud, where breeder John Flanagan introduced him to Rip. This time, Rip went well through his paces and something impressed Bill about the big Kelpie.

“I wasn’t quite sure if the dog was well-trained or the sheep were!” Bill recalls with a laugh..

“I bought him back, and he’s my mate now”

“He paws me when he wants me, and he talks to me.

He demonstrates his intelligence in a number of ways.

“When my son calls him to tie him up; Rip runs to me and sits next to me. He knows I’m the boss.

Bill is full of praise for his mate.

“He’s turned out really well.”

While some dogs insist on always getting ahead of the sheep and pushing them back to their handler, Rip seems to understand that sometimes he needs to work in reverse. And on the Majella properties, dispersed around the Bungeet hills, Rip can direct the flock along the roads.

And when the sheep try to run off into the hillside boulders to hide, Rip can ferret them out.

The only fault Bill can name is that the big black and tan kelpie is a one-man dog.

“He doesn’t want to work for another man.”

Bill has sold the Majella stud to a neighbour as he is looking to ease back on work, and he whimsically reflects on how life has turned out for the two; Rip starting out his working job, and Bill winding down his flock.

But of course, Bill hints, he won't be giving up his interest in sheep completely: he plans to keep a hundred or so on his property, so Rip will have plenty to do.

“I couldn’t part with him,” Bill said.