THE WAY WE WERE

Pip with his first ever Ribbon, and all those that followed!

PIP HUDSON Article and Photos by Lauren Vest

Pip Hudson was born into a family legacy of bushmen and dog handlers, so it’s no surprise that he went on to continue a legacy of his own within the sheepdog world. The Hudson family now boasts 5 generations of sheepdog handlers which is a feat not many could match. Pip himself was the third generation with his mother being a very well-known three sheep trial judge and his father a handler.

Pip always owned and worked dogs growing up and has owned several different breeds of working dog. As a bush kid, growing up on an isolated farm in central west NSW and being taught to be quiet and reserved, he found it very hard to talk to people. He worked and trialled his dogs from age 15 but gave it away for a time after he was married in 1964. He started up again in 1980, winning his first ribbon in the encourage trial at the Australian Championships in 1982 at Mudgee.

Pip remembers around the age of 17 or 18 he would travel to trials in the far west of NSW with some of the older blokes who came from out west. They would pick him up with his two kelpie dogs and cart him to the trials with them. On the way to Bourke one year, the old bloke asked him if he could kill and dress a sheep? They came across a mate’s mob of sheep on the road and the old bloke said that the dogs needed a feed so they would kill a sheep. They hung a gambrel over a tree and Pip dressed the sheep and did such a good job they asked him to do another one. Once that was done, they thought that once they got to the trial, the sisters at the convent wouldn’t have any meat – so better do one more. He still remembers arriving at the trial and presenting the meat to the sisters at the convent!

Another story Pip was told was about his grandfather. He was led to believe that one weekend he rode his horse 70 miles into Wilcannia with his dog following for a trial. He then won the trial, turned around and rode another 30 miles of the way home that night. He thinks he must have carted the dog on the horse, but that was not how the story was told!

Pip with some of his earlier dogs

Pips mother was a renowned judge and he remembers her judging the national trial at Canberra. He drove her there as she didn’t drive. Mrs Marshall, wife of Bill Marshall, would come and find Pip and say – off we go! Pip would drive his mother and the other ladies would follow in their motorcars on a tour around Canberra, visiting parliament house, government house and all the sights of Canberra. This was a great experience for a bush kid from out west.

The great handlers of those years were Geoff Jolly, Greg Prince, Don Smith from Queensland and Bill Marshall from Victoria. Bill actually died of a heart attack while working in a trial – they couldn’t get to him straight away as his dog was protecting him. Geoff Jolly was the biggest influence on Pip as a handler. Pip was at the Canberra dog trial one year and Geoff came and introduced himself and asked if he was Archie Hudson’s son. After replying yes, Geoff told Pip he had better come and sit in his car with him. Pip sat with him for three days at that trial – he had been around trials his whole life and thought he knew a bit, but he learnt a huge amount from Geoff. He was the first person Pip had ever seen who backed his dog off the sheep the whole way around the course and kept the sheep inside the corridors the whole way. A few months later he was working at home and had just yarded a couple of thousand sheep when he went home for some food. He found Geoff sitting at the table having tea with his father. Geoff asked if he had lights in the woolshed – when Pip replied yes, Geoff asked what he was doing here then? They headed down to the shed and worked dogs for half an hour. Pip says he learnt more in that half an hour than he’s learnt from anybody else in his whole life. If he had to thank anybody for the success he has found in trialling Although many would say he is biased, Pip says the best handler he has ever seen is his son, Mick. He is the best at handling stock and sheepdogs – every facet of working dogs and stock.

A huge display of ribbons and trophies show that Pip has found huge success dog trialling over the years. His favourite achievement was winning the brace competition when representing Australia in New Zealand. A brace is when you run two dogs – but it is very different to what we call a brace here in Australia. The dogs weren’t allowed to cross to each other’s side of the sheep. They had to split the mob and each dog take control of their half, with one dog holding his sheep in a pen while the other dog took his sheep away. The trial was shown on television. He has represented Australia against New Zealand a number of times and remembers winning the test in the parliamentary triangle in 1993. Tim Fisher presented the trophy that year.

Pip representing Australia in New Zealand

The best dog he has had would have to be Windeyer Pippie (Leerose Benjie/Windeyer Missie), bred by Ronnie Cover from Mudgee. She represented Australia 4 times and was part of the winning brace team. Part of the reason she is the best is that she has bred on consistently and her daughters and grand daughters are still breeding very good sheepdogs. Another great dog he had was Kiwi Gold (Don Calders Steve/Lyster Mary) she won a lot of trials and her progeny are also still winning.

As he got older and bought a few properties he realised his lack of social skills was impacting his business and his life, so he went and joined a club to practice. This, along with sheepdog trialling, really changed how he interacted with people and led him to some great achievements. He looked after the NSW Premier when he attended the NSW championships, he dressed the governor general when he

presented the Gloucester sash at the national trial and in New Zealand the Governor requested to speak with Pip. In Perth and the royal show he was asked to put on a demonstration of sheep work – however he wasn’t to use a dog, but a pig! Babe had just been released and a TV company approached him for the stunt. They provided him with some pigs and he trained them to successfully work sheep and put on his demo in front of the governor of WA. Dog trialling has taken him to places he would never have believed and he owes it a great deal of gratitude. He never would have gone to any of these places if it weren’t for dog trialling and he was lucky to realise that it wasn’t about the winning or the losing – It was going out to compete to the best level one could reach and playing the game straight.

Yard trialling with one of his Border Collies

People have come up to him when he is judging and asked him about faults he may have missed. His reply? That is the workers problem. They know if they didn’t play the game straight. If they can go and accept a ribbon they didn’t deserve then they know.

His advice to those starting out with sheepdogs is that you won’t win the Melbourne cup with the bakers cart horse. Make sure when you are selecting a pup you go to a reputable breeder of working dogs and see the parents work. Don’t answer the ad in the newspaper for dogs that will do this and do that – see them for yourself.

Pip started teaching clinics throughout Australia to help people with their working dogs. Many people believed trial dogs couldn’t work on the farm and were mechanical and he wanted to help them realise this wasn’t true. He remembers starting a Lassie Collie at Condobolin, a Labradoodle at another school and teaching a Fox Terrier to back sheep and fill the jetting race. He is a believer that dogs are more intelligent than they get credit for and they know what we are thinking. He had a Kelpie dog who knew when they were going to a trial and when let out would go and sit by the passenger door of the ute. Pip remembers setting it up one day and making sure he didn’t do anything different to a regular work day – the dog still knew they were going trialling and went and sat by the ute. If you can teach a dog to lead a blind person through Sydney, or sniff out drugs, or track a child through the wilderness – you can teach them anything. You can see when watching the great handlers with their dogs that the dog knows what they are thinking and the handler knows it as well. All people who have dogs have something in common – pet dog, seeing eye dog, show dog, working dog – they all have that common factor - love of the dog.

The Australian team in New Zealand - George Noble, Ron Seabrook, Pip Hudson

Every constitution of the trialling associations in each state of Australia reads ‘to breed and promote a better working dog for Australian conditions’. The great CEW Bean wrote the book ‘On The Wool Track’ - in that book he states that Australia was built on the sheep’s back and that of the working dog. There are a lot of people still in Australia with that aim still in the forefront of their minds, breeding a better working dog. Once upon a time the dogs were not respected as much as maybe they should have been. With a closer population or more caring people as the years go by, people on farms now have better housing, are mindful of their dogs capabilities, they care more, and look after them and care for them to a higher standard which is really wonderful. The working dog or any other dog does not ask for much - a nice meal, love, proper housing to the conditions in which they live, and proper veterinary care. They ask for nothing more. No superannuation, no overtime, and you don’t have to pay GST. As time goes on, as long as we keep running stock in Australia, the dog will still play a great part. Stock handle much better off dogs than they do off humans – get a bag or a rattle and the sheep generally don’t take much notice. It’s hard work to draft 3000 sheep without good dogs. Sheep and cattle all respond better to the working dog.