Top dogs to take part in The Tasmanian Utility Championship

Jess Russell from Sidmouth will take four of her nine dogs, including one border collie, to the Tasmanian Utility Championships at Connorville, Cressy this weekend with the hope of finally cracking a working dog competition podium finish.

The Tasmanian Utility Championships at Connorville, Cressy this weekend is the ultimate test of versatility where Jess's working dogs Baz, Jedda, Zeva and Eve will need to work sheep in both the paddock and the yard.

There’s one less Kelpie in Jess’s pack, having sold Pandara Holly for $8500 at Casterton last weekend, but there’s still plenty of talent left for this weekend’s championships.

From the remaining eight dogs that live with Jess at her Sidmouth property, three Kelpies and one Border Collie will line up in the contest that tests dogs and handlers on their ability to control sheep in both the paddock and the yard.

The championships last year saw Jess sitting on the sidelines with a broken wrist, doing her bit as designated timekeeper, scorer and cheerleader.

Now she’s ready to put what she’s practised in recent years while working her dogs for Rob and Jo Bradley across Warrington Ag properties at Longford, Nile and Perth and competing in three-sheep and yard dog trials around the state.

She said some of her dogs are better in the paddock and some are better in the yards, but all are versatile and her Collie, in particular, can hold her own against some of the more experienced competitors.

“All of my dogs work with me, rotating across five properties when needed to help with the drenching, crutching and scanning,” Jess said.

“I have a habit of taking any pups that are leftover in a litter or need a home when someone finishes up with farming and I enjoy training them to see how far they can go.”

Jess has worked at Exeter Farm and Feed for the past 17 years and combines that part-time role with her sheep work as well as all three forms of dog trialling.

“I had two working dogs on the farm where I used to live before a long-term relationship ended and I had to take them to a rental property,’’ Jess said.

“That’s when I took up trialling to keep them active and working and it’s something that I really took to.

“When I later told a friend that I’d love to be back on a farm and see how they go on the big jobs her partner, who worked at Warrington Ag, walked in and said “when can you start?”.

Consistently finishing just out of the placings in yard dog trials and with two wins in three-sheep competitions in 

Encourager, Jess is hoping to make it onto the winner’s podium soon.

At the Utility Championships she is putting her faith in:

Baz, her oldest and main working dog - a yardy type who gets pulled out when things get tough; 

Jedda, secretly Jess’s favourite because he’s so easy to get along with and is a true farm dog who acts like a Labrador at home;

Ziva, the little pocket rocket who is still learning the ropes and a bit hard to hold out in the open but proving handy at work and likes to get into the tight spots; and

Eve, the Border Collie who does well in three-sheep competition and won one of her first novice classes but is still a bit unpredictable.

In the utility trials competitors have to start off by casting their dog 150m to collect three or five sheep, put them in a pen, then go into a yard where there are another 10-15 sheep waiting to put through a simplified yard course, before collecting the original mob of sheep to put through an obstacle course out in the open - all in under 15 minutes.

Starting with 100 points the aim is to work them as described by the judge at the start of the day and keep the mob together and moving calmly through the preferred corridors and through each obstacle without losing points.

“You’ve got your own brain to deal with, your dog’s brain and then the sheep’s brain - it’s about constantly adjusting your dog accordingly and having lots of patience,” Jess said.

The championships will be held over both Saturday and Sunday and onlookers are welcome.

Tasmanian Yard and Utility Dog Association president Adrian Carpenter said that the winners will represent the state at the Nationals in Nyngan, NSW in the first week of August.

Going in as favourite is Simon Bowden, who won the most recent utility trial at Melton Mowbray, one of only two trials this season due to bad weather.