Big Red and Sadie joined us on the farm as "started dogs" when our working dog stock was running low.

Big Red was called a Kelpie but I suspect he had a little cattle dog in his breeding. He was a red dog of solid build with yellow eyes. Sadie was a Border collie. Both were about two years old. Red was a good all round paddock, yard and truck dog able to work both sheep and cattle. Sadie was a paddock dog and would work sheep or cattle but excelled in wide work with sheep.

Until this time I had not been allowed to use the working dogs due to my inexperience on properties and because I was a female. The new dogs presented a perfect opportunity.

At the first chance when the men were off the property I took the dogs out to a far paddock were there were 200 or so sheep to practice. By this time I had seen the dogs working on many occasions and had heard them told "go way back" , "go behind"and "stay". I had also noticed the men whistled a lot, seemingly at random.

I gave the command "go way back" and they did. This is easy I thought, can't see what is so hard about using the dogs. Sadie was a wide worker and her version of way back was to cast out in a circle and come in behind the sheep from a reasonable distance. Red was a close worker and a much slower mover than Sadie. Sadies cast had got the whole mob moving slowly away from the far side of the paddock towards me. Piece of cake I thought. Then Red who was halfway across the paddock decided he was "way back" and circled in and split the mob. Sadie getting a little confused by this time left her position at the rear raced through the mob and joined Red in the middle. Sheep scattered everywhere. The dogs looked around for me for direction so I decided it might be time to try "go behind". By now I was a fair distance away and with the sheep bleating a voice call was useless. Whistling seemed a good alternative, however the best I could achieve was a small peep. Deciding it might be a good time to finish for the day and go home and revise my strategy I waved the dogs to me and walked to the gate. Suddenly the dogs had a purpose, clearly I wanted the sheep brought through the gate. Just as I shut the gate about half the sheep and the dogs arrived. The stay command seemed a sensible instruction, however all it achieved was the dogs staying slightly behind the mob and keeping it milled at the gate. Go way back relieved the pressure but in a few minutes the rest of the mob were also at the gate. The farm fences were in good order but with that number of sheep being pressed against it 20' of this one fell over, and the sheep were then in two paddocks. Finally I convinced the dogs we had finished work for the day by leading one home with a bit of fencing wire and carrying the other one for 2 kilometres back to the house. Of course I had to return later with the wire strainers and repair the fence. The men never did work out why the sheep were now in two paddocks.

A few days later when the opportunity arose off we set again. I had in the meantime been giving the two dogs small food rewards often so they had taken to gazing at me lovingly a good part of the time. Despite much practice I was still unable to whistle, but had found an old fox whistle which gained the dogs attention. This time by chance a small mob of 30 sheep were in a nearby paddock. Having learnt from last time I kept Red on a lead and sent Sadie "go way back". Once she had gathered up the mob and they were moving nicely I sent Red "go way back" and it worked. Back and forward we went, out of that paddock, around the next and back to the first paddock. A blast on the fox whistle got the dogs attention, arms in the air in a stop position stopped the dogs, waving motions got them moving again.

We practiced several times a week for quite a few months until we were ready to go public. During this time we had developed the fox whistle and hand signals pretty well. The big day arrived when visitors arrived to have a look at our new sheep yard. As they had arrived early and from a distance country hospitality bade they were given a cup of tea and a chat before viewing the yards. I took the opportunity of casually announcing that I would bring the sheep to the yard whilst everyone was having tea. My husband and father-in-law being country gentlemen were too polite in company to object but merely raised eyebrows and gave nasty little smirks.

All was going well initially. The sheep were only a few paddocks out from the yards and it was a pretty straight run. The dogs were working really well and only one or two blasts of the fox whistle were necessary followed by a few hand signals. The sheep were unusually co-operative and I had victory in sight. As we got closer I saw that the men and visitors had all positioned themselves in front of the last gate I had to go through. As I got closer and closer it became apparent they were going to stay there. Obviously I would not be able to get the sheep through to the yards and the men would have to take over and finish the job.

Red moved to the side of the mob and begin moving the sheep to the left despite my hand signals for the right. I was reluctant to use my dog whistle or yell within hearing of the visitors and decided the best course of action was to keep going in the direction Red was heading the mob and when out of sight behind the sheds I could slink off and lick my wounds privately. Red however had other ideas. A pedestrian gate which also led into the first holding pen of the new sheep yards was situated on the side of the shearing shed and this was where Red had headed the sheep. As we were now out of sight of the men and visitors I decided there was nothing to lose by opening this terribly narrow 3'6" gate and seeing what happened. So I opened the gate and stepped to the side. Red and Sadie were holding the mob in place calmly and quietly when I heard my father in law yell "you'll never get them through that gate".

That was all the instruction Red needed, he made a quick rush at the leading sheep and as soon as they had their heads through the gate joined Sadie at the rear and pushed them through. Victory was ours.

During the following months and years Red, Sadie and I became a good team. We worked sheep, cattle and goats in the paddocks and in the yards. But we never did take stock through that gate again.