SA Yard Dog competitor shares love of Kelpies

Thirteen years later, she's still riding the wave.

In 2010, Kapunda's Angie Grant lived on a 40 hectare property with a handful of sheep her family kept for personal use. With minimal land to navigate, the family's small flock were easily rounded up with the help of her children and their pony.

"We lived on what I'd call goat country," she said.

"The kids had a little Shetland that was basically a mountain goat, so they'd go around bringing the sheep in for shearing or whatever else they needed.

"As the kids got older, they weren't so keen on doing it anymore, but the sheep still needed to come in every now and then, so we had to find another way."

Not long after, Angie was travelling home from the Tamworth Country Music Festival, where she had found herself enamoured with working dogs on show, and, as fate would have it, she then noticed a classified in The Land for Kelpie puppies.

Angie knew immediately she had to have one.

Detouring to a property near Wee Waa, NSW, she was greeted with a litter of puppies and quickly picked a female black and tan pup to take home, but realised she didn't have any cash on her.

This meant another detour to nearby Pilliga, NSW, to get the cash she needed and then back to pick up her new family member.

"It was a rather big detour going back and forth and out of the way to pick her up, but we knew she was meant for us," she said.

"She was from Brooklea stud, owned by Derreck and Anna (Williams).

"Because of that detour, our pup got her name - Pilliga."

Pilliga was a star from the start, according to Angie, who believes her dog was almost too good to be true.

"I was very spoiled with her - she was just brilliant and knew what to do without me telling her," she said.

"I don't come from a true farming background and don't always understand how to read stock, but Pilliga did and she could read me like a book."

Unfortunately, Pilliga passed away at eight-year old, which left Angie devastated.

"She was my heart dog," Angie said.

"You don't always get that connection with a dog like I had with Pilliga and you'd be lucky to get it twice.

"I knew we had a special bond from very early on, so losing her was one of the hardest moments I've gone through."

Before Pilliga died, Angie started to get the dog trial bug, taking Pilliga to a handful of events, including a three-sheep trial in 2013 and another in 2014, before starting working dog schools and eventually moving to the yard dog trials in 2016, where she has been competing ever since.

Her team now consists of Kelpies Louie, Minky and Leroy, with Louie the main trialler and Leroy learning the ropes, while Minky watches from the sidelines.

"Louie is out of Pilliga - I knew early on I wanted her to have pups and he was one so he was an obvious choice for us," she said.

"Minky is GoGetta Minky from Joe Spicer, my husband got a little bit overexcited at an auction so that's how we ended up with her.

"Leroy was a bit of a mistake. My son-in-law had a dog named Ted, which was one of Pilliga's sons as well, and he got in with Pandara Bess, one of Matthew Johnson's Kelpies, and from that litter came Leroy.

"I knew I wanted a pup from that litter because they were Pilliga's grandchildren, which is a decision made with my heart rather than my head, but Leroy actually has great bloodlines so I'm looking forward to seeing him work when he's old enough."

Due to her small property size, Angie has had to adapt the training some other triallers might have at their fingertips.

"I can do what I need to do at home in about five minutes flat with my dogs," she said.

"We live on an even smaller property now and without them it's almost impossible, but they do need the exposure and discipline those dogs who do more work get, so I have to find ways to give them that.

"The obviously get that with competitions and schools, but when we travel we try to take them to friends properties and I also work on teaching them good habits at home."

Angie said she has put a big focus on discipline when training Leroy, with her more aware of what to do and in a better position to train than before.

"So he has simple commands like not leaving his kennel until I say, or waiting for his food until I OK him to eat," she said.

"It might not seem like a lot but it's fundamental stuff that will help when he starts competing in the next few years."

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Angie said exposure to other people in the competition world had helped her progress during the years.

"It's great to learn from people who have really grown up in agriculture unlike me and they can teach you things you'd never otherwise learn," she said.

"For most people who grew up on a farm, stock handling and dogs and the tools they use to do their work is like second nature to them. There's things they know that they don't even realise they know, so I'm able to soak up all that knowledge just by being around them and watching them trial.

"One of the best aspects of the competition isn't actually the competition itself, it's travelling, camping and meeting new people."

Competing at the Karoonda Farm Fair and Show last week with Louie in the novice class, Angie said she felt like the penny had dropped for her.

"Our first run wasn't great because our gate came undone and we didn't complete it, but our second run was really good," she said.

"I'm really happy with it because I think I played to both of our strengths and weaknesses and overcame obstacles that we hadn't before.

"When I came off the course feeling accomplished and I was told I handled things really well and made the right decisions at the right time, which was a great feeling.

"I've spent a long time having a go and it felt like we'd accomplished something better than winning."