The Formation of the WASDA
Article by Chris Wyhoon
The cliché that said that ‘all in good time’ certainly resonates with the formation of the Western Australian Working Stock Dog Association, which held WA’s first cattle dog trial recently. The idea for the new association was born nearly seven years ago. Passionate working dog owner and breeder Chris Wyhoon kicked the idea off, following several visits to NSW and being inspired at the Scone Working Dog Futurity. “I travel regularly to Tamworth (Chris is a Director of the Australian Bushmen’s Campdraft and Rodeo Association) and anywhere I can take an opportunity to visit a trial, I will” Chris said. Chris took great inspiration from the likes of Tony McCallum, who advocated the value of the stock dog challenges he had run. He has also spent a lot of time in the US and Canada in the past watching stock dog events. “I love the principles around making the competition as real and practical as possible and wanted to do something similar in Western Australia”. Chris kicked off a group with good friend Aticia Grey, of Pilbara Working Dogs fame, who invited a few others including stock managers Tim Bending, Lee Warrington, Darryn Browne and Courtney Robinson. A meeting was held, and all went on from there. The six in the group all agreed that trials alone were not their key ambition. They wanted to incorporate a range of events and practice sessions, ensuring they were
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AWSDM www.stockdogs.com.au
handling stock in a low-stress way and mimicking real working conditions. “That was eight or so years ago – then before we could get something happening, they pretty much all took off up north with various jobs, and the whole group sat in hiatus”. Unfortunately, with a 200-hectare livestock operation in the Avon Valley, a growing rural training business, a couple of part-time jobs, and several Boards, Chris just never could muster the time to keep it going by himself. “The sheepdog triallers over here laughed at me; they thought it was a great joke to think that we wanted to start another association that included all types of stock, but in a more practical, real-life working stock dog context’. Chris purchased a bitch called Craiglea Tess from Jamie Sturrock in 2014, a daughter of Beacons Rees. Tess would help with his cattle operation and be a decent trial dog. “The moment of clarity that I finally needed to do something about this ambition came after we tragically lost Tess to an accident a couple of years ago, without ever coming close to using her potential”. Whilst Chris has loads of passion, and was making room to make the time, it was time to bring in someone with youth and energy, and access to large volumes of cattle, as Chris
