The tribulations of the trial dog

THE success of Winton couple Jim and Rhonda O’Connell in attracting top flight competitors to the Central West’s round of the Tasman team trails could well herald the return of the event in years to come.


A member of the first ever Australian team to defeat New Zealand on their home soil and to bring home the Waylego Cup in 2005, Mr O’Connell decided to see whether he could get his
Queensland and country team-mates to come to Winton for a special four-day event.

To truly test the competitors a unique course was trialled for the first time in Australia.

"The combination of half-Australian and half-New Zealand rules has worked so well I hope it will be adopted as a standard for the future.

"Unlike here, under NZ rules you can move in the middle two sections.
"Winton really is a bit like travelling to the end of the world for handlers travelling from Victoria and New South Wales, so it was great to see 22 handlers and 91 dogs out here for the four days of competition."

Mr O’Connell started trialling in 1990, while his wife took to the sport a couple of years ago after travelling the circuit as the support crew.

"We started out just having a go at the Longreach trials," she said.

"Everyone was so helpful. You can learn a lot from watching the good handlers and that is something we have tried to nurture out here in the Encouragement class.
"While we have always had good station dogs they didn’t have the finesse needed at the top end of competition, so Jim started to buy Border Collies bred specifically for trialling.
"We had no idea it would result in travel around the country let alone travel off-shore to represent Australia."

While the common perception is that trialling is about the speed of herding temperamental sheep around the course, Mrs O’Connell was quick to dispel the myth.

"At this level it is not about how quickly you finish but how many penalties you incur.

"We have 15 minutes to complete the course and at the start you have 100 points.
"If errors are made points are then deducted from the total.
"It’s about the challenge of getting five minds all working in sync.
"You could get sheep that are completely unworkable.
"It’s you and the dog against the sheep.
"Trialling is a very friendly sport; you’re not out to beat the other competitors just your last score."