Braegem Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs

06/10/2026

Last night Meg and I went to a Trick trial at Durack held by The Yuggera Canine Club. We had great fun and it's always enjoyable watching all the dogs do their tricks. Or not. 😆
Meg did really well and gained a qually, and missed out on third place by 0.5 of a mark.

There is 4 levels for Trick trials in Australia.
Starters.
Novice
Intermediate
Advanced.
As you move up into higher levels, the dog needs to learn more complex tricks and do more tricks. There will be a Trick Dog Championship title available from next year.

Meg is competing in the Intermediate level, so needs to do 8 tricks. Because she can't see, I have to select suitable tricks from the list of options we can choose from in the rules.

See link to rules here:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:AP:38ccafb0-9905-4fb6-becc-7bbb4010383b

A dog can only have a food reward given a maximum of 4 times in Intermediate level. You can see Meg take herself towards the rewards table for her treats, even when she wasn't due to be "paid" 😅
I use a smelly fish treat, so she knows exactly where they are. You will also see in the video Meg can still do a 6 metre sendaway to a place mat. I do this last so she can smell where her purple blanket is on top of the mat while we do our other tricks. And then she has no trouble finding it. 👏👏👏

You will hear in the video I use a lot of clapping noise to keep Meg near me, and I use a lot of touching to position her and for tactile cues (without grabbing her collar, as thats against the rules). So, it looks messy and unpolished, but we get there. And most importantly, Meggy has fun. 😊

Thanks Kirstie Kettleton for filming us.

28/09/2026

Teddykins did his favourite thing on the weekend and went SprintDogging. He got the final Q he needed to earn his SprintDog Excellent title. And had a blast as usual.
He is now just over halfway to his SprintDog Championship. We will get there eventually.

Meggy stayed home to convalesce after being speyed last week. She is recovering nicely. 😊

17/09/2026

Meg competed in both SprintDog and a Trick trial at Durack on Wednesday night. She gained a nice Qually for SprintDog (see separate post) And did her first Intermediate level Trick trial. We had a busy night running between the two trials on the grounds. 😅
Meg was awesome doing her tricks and with a very nice score of 78/80, she got her first Intermediate Qually and also managed 2nd place. Meggy enjoys doing tricks and tried her heart out last night. ❤️
No photos of Meg being tricky, I forgot. 😊

17/09/2026

This little red legend did her first SprintDog trial last night after losing her sight. She has learned to chase the squawker and in this video you can see it bouncing along and hear the noise it makes.
Meg completed her two runs with no issues. Her time was slower, as you would expect. But she had great fun and made me very proud of her.

Thanks so much Deb Raeburn for releasing Meg and making sure she was safe at the starting end. And thanks also to our Lure Operator last night, Ben Samuels for driving the lure with care. Also thanks to Penny Parker as always for the great footage.

07/09/2026

Meg has been working with me to learn 8 new Intermediate level tricks.
One of them is called paws up and push.
Finding a prop the right size that meets the rules and safety requirements can be difficult when you live in the sticks.

So, Meg has a bus. 🤣
And she is learning to drive it. 😆

30/08/2026

One of the FB groups I'm in has put up an old photo of Ted and I at our first ever Rally Obedience trial, as their cover photo.
That's so nice of them.
And also very funny.
We failed miserably.
Ted had his nose on the ground the whole time. I did one of the stations incorrectly, amongst other things.
Back then, the only way to get trial experience was to trial. So we did.
I learned a LOT that day.

The poor judge. 🤣🤣

30/08/2026

Today we all went to Weight Pull. It was the last event for the year as its a winter sport in Qld.
I entered the dogs many weeks ago, then refunded Meg's entry when she lost her sight. But last week I decided to re enter her, and give her a go with no expectations. I just wanted to see what she could do.

Well.

I was amazed. Both the dogs did PBs with pulls of 410kg!!

Meg was so good. Once she realised what we were doing, she was all in. With the help of the great team running the trial, we worked out if I called her continuously and clapped the whole time, she could pin point what direction to go. And she came to me every time. And pulled her heart out with a qualifying pull 23 x her body weight. That's a Working Weight Pull Dog Excellent pass. I pulled her out at 410KG, that was enough.

Ted was also the goodest boi. He pulled the best he ever has, and we have worked out a strategy to minimise his silly shenanigans and barking until he times out.
Kind of. 😆
He also pulled 410GK for a Working Weight Pull Dog Advanced qualification. His first one. I tried him at 435KG, but he noped out. And that's fine.

Ted came third in the 15-27kg category, and Meg came second in the same category. Her weight to weight ratio was higher.
It was a great fun day with plenty of laughs and good people. Thanks as always to the clubs and fabulous volunteers who run trials for us all to enjoy.

Now. What will I do with the dogs next....
🤔 😆

29/08/2026

Well. Meggy blew me away today.
We went to a double trick trial hosted by Ipswich Dog Obedience Club. It was a fun, relaxed trial in beautiful winter sun.

And Meg smashed it. She was awesome for a dog that can't see. I was so proud of her. 😊

She earned the final two qualifications she needed to upgrade fom her Trick Starter to a Trick Novice title and can now move up into Intermediate. Meg did "fall" off her perch when she did the step up and pivot at side (its not high), but she put her feet back on and we got it done.

Meg also earned 2 second placings and won some lovely, useful prizes.

We are waiting on one of our Q certificates, so only one of them in the photo.

We have 2 weeks to learn and/or polish 10 Intermediate level tricks. We are halfway there. 🤞🤞🤞

28/08/2026

Any one looking for a nice pup?
I'm told he is pretty chill.
If you're interested please contact the breeder. Kerimarlo Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dogs

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bmmn9RXcG/

3 month old red male

26/08/2026

Meggy had also learned "Bow"