Two of Australia’s gun utility dog trial superstars – Adam James and Gary White – will be the headline acts at the 2023 Victorian Utility Dog Championships at Manangatang next month.
And Adam is coming to town off a victory in the Australian championships at Nyngan in NSW earlier this month and Gary is a past champion.
Adam and his dog Myamba Boss came out on top in the championship race to claim the top title and it wasn’t the only crown for him – he also tasted success in the interstate challenge, which was run for the first time at this year’s event.
In which he partnered Aoidh Doyle for Victoria to win the challenge, with Tasmania coming in second.
Between them, Adam and Gary have won 10 titles in the past 14 years, with Adam taking out the two most recent events, along with four others.
The championships at the Manangatang sportsground are from September 1-3, followed by a Gary White two-day dog school at the same venue.
Championship convenor Noel Templeton says he is expecting more than 100 dogs at the event, with entries from Victoria and also NSW and South Australia.
Noel says a utility competition requires three sheep put out about 100m, with the dog expected to go round and bring them back to a yard, put them in and complete two disciplines with the penned animals.
The dog must then take them out again, work them through three obstacles across the oval and pen them in a yard at the opposite end of the oval.
“Competitors get 15 minutes to complete the course and start with 100 points, with demerits for every mistake by handler or dog, and so long as they finish within the time, the paid with the most points left will win,” Noel explains. “If a pair go past the 15 minutes, they have to retire.
“We will have two sections for the event, open and novice and the first dog will start at 7.30am on the Friday and we will still be going on the Sunday, depending on how many dogs we have when entries close,” he says.
The Victorian Yard and Utility Farm Dog Association has the state divided into four sections and 2023 is the turn of the North West group to host the championships.
Noel says with two Australian champions in the line-up, it will be a tough three days of competition, but he is hopeful there might be three other champions in the entries when he goes through them this weekend.
He says two of them have indicated they are coming and he has just heard a third one is also considering the trip.
“Lyndon Copper from Victor Harbor in South Australia will be judging the open title and Gary White will be handling the novice class – along with a few helpers,” Noel added.
The weekend will also be a first for Noel. He has been a regular in dog trials (and won a few) but September will be his first try at a utility event, so he has entered his dogs Eureka Lily and Eureka Diesel (also known as Bart) in the novice class.
He also runs the yard dog trials in his spare time at the Swan Hill Show.
“The weekend is being catered by the Manangatang P-12 and there will also be a bar,” Noel says.
