SWAN SPUD (Deceased)

Spud was the all round package, and the benchmark for the type of working dog that I am trying to breed. I really can’t speak highly enough of this dog!

I retired Spud after weaning in 2018 just before he turned 11. Right up until that time, he was my top dog, and he hardly missed a day of work in his life.

Spud was the most sensible, practical worker I could hope to own, and his stock sense was second to none. He was calm, bold, versatile, and super reliable. He was equally talented working cattle, sheep or goats. Spud’s standout feature was his temperament, and ability to read a situation. He had an uncanny ability to understand what I was trying to do. He had loads of strength, with good presence on stock, and plenty of bite when necessary.

To me, Spud had the perfect mix of initiative and trainability. He was reliable in the paddock at large distances with no command, or happy to do exactly as he was told in a pressure situation, or at a dog trial. Spud was a fearless worker as a young dog, and could still dominate cattle in his old age.

Almost everything in our kennel goes back to Spud, apart from a few purchased outcrosses.

Aside from Spud’s value to us as a work dog and sire, he also had a very impressive trial career. He won or placed at nearly every trial he ever went to, on cattle and sheep! He became a Novice Cattle Dog at his second trial, and became an Open Cattle Dog at his third! He represented QLD three times in the State of Origin, and won the 2011 Australian Cattle Dog of the Year in our very first season of trialling! He won the Australian Working Cattle Dog of the Year again in 2015, and is the only dog to have ever won this award twice.