Esperance and Districts Working Sheep Dog Club to host State Championship in Pingelly

The State sheep dog trails championship will be held in Pingelly for the first time in the event’s history, says host Esperance and Districts Working Sheep Dog Club. “This one will be the State Championship, it’s a lot of kudos if you win,” club president Steve Wallace said. A highlight of the trials, which take place over four days in October, will be the opportunity to watch Ivan Solomon working with WA dog of the year Perengary Trish. “Ivan’s just got back from Adelaide, he’s one of the four State reps that competed in the Trans-Tasman against the New Zealanders,” Mr Wallace said. “Unfortunately in the first round Ivan had terrible, terrible sheep but in the next two he scored extremely well — it’s the best of three rounds but sometimes things don’t go to plan. “You’ve got five out there in trials, three sheep, the dog and you, and it only takes one to be out of sorts and you’re in trouble.” The sheep for the State championships have been locally sourced by Chris Turton and Peter Warby. “They come up with the goods every time and we’re very grateful to them,” Mr Wallace said. “Good sheep make good trials.” With the State Caravan Rally and the Pingelly Flowers, Art and Music Festival also taking place Mr Wallace is looking forward to an action-packed weekend. “It’s worked out well and kudos to Pingelly that they can organise a weekend like this,” he said. “Everybody puts in, they’ve got the best ground there by a country mile which is down to the Shire and the Pingelly community.” The championships will provide a good opportunity for newcomers to experience the energy of working dog trials. “If you go to the Royal Show, which was on recently, as soon as the sheepdogs come into the arena, it fills up, it’s amazing to watch,” Mr Wallace said. “They are so, so intelligent, border collies are rated the most intelligent of all dogs though the kelpie owners might not agree. “Tests have been done that show that the border collie can respond to 1000 words which is bloody amazing.” Grant Cooke with Grassvalley Bluey, who represented Australia in 2022 at the Trans-Tasman, will also be at the Pingelly trials as well as Ken Atherton with Ramulam Charlie. Mr Atherton has just returned from South Australia where he finished 6th in the Australian Supreme Championships. The four-day championship will get underway at 8am on October 12 and Mr Wallace said that spectators were more than welcome to attend the free event.