A DOGS LIFE Article by Daniel Camilleri
Woodford Jack
Now a semi-retired mate, the ever-reliable Woodford Jack, a tri-coloured collie, bred and trained by Mitchum Davis, was born on the 1st of February 2010. These days only used for smaller jobs in those tricky situations where reliability is a must, he is a proven popular sire within the cattle trial circuit, leaving his stamp on his offspring. A product of Crowsdale Rip and Woodford Lucy, Jack started on ducks at 10 weeks of age, showing it was obvious he had the desired traits Mitchum was breeding for early on. Those being strength and style, together with the aim of creating a consistent gene pool. Mitchum quickly realised Jack was too strong for ducks and moved onto sheep in a round yard, followed by weaner calves. As time went by and he matured, Jack proved to be a natural type and extremely easy to train, so Mitchum put him in the ute at 10 months of age, and off he went mustering as Mitchum’s main work dog. Jack could always be relied upon, consistently showing his strength on cattle, blocking up and standing his ground, with the ability to easily pull up a single runaway beast whenever required. With some age and experience, Mitchum identified that he had something special with his now two-year-old dog, and took an interest to cattle trialling. The pair went on to make an early impression, with Jack becoming an open cattle trial dog after winning the maiden and novice at Tenterfield, also placing third in the open that weekend, followed by going on to win the novice at the NSW championship at McClean in 2014. Being so easy to handle at work and in the trial ring, Mitchum had no hesitation to lend Jack to those who were close to him. His son, Ethan competed with Jack and won the open at the Grafton in 2017. Jack also went on to win an open trial at Bonalbo with 28
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Ben Gould as his handler, and continued to be successful in countless other open events in the years to follow, with alternating handlers. Mitchum strongly believes that throughout their partnership, Jack trained him as a handler just as much. He also wondered if a more advanced or experienced handler held the reins, Jack may have a longer list of achievements to his name, and that he himself may have even held his exceptional dog back just a little. Having a reputation for breeding-on strength, brains and temperament, many people have used Jack as a sire in the hope to breed themselves a solid station or trial dog. Many of his progeny continue to carry his class and ability, proving themselves on farm and winning trials across Eastern Australia. Mitchum’s son, Ethan won the Australian Novice Championship at Grafton in 2018 with a bitch called Jess, who is sired by Jack, which he bred and trained himself. Ben Gould successfully utilises Jack’s progeny in his camp, with Cabra Glebe Sky winning NSW maiden dog of the year in 2018-2019. Another handy open bitch by Jack, owned by Phil Brown and called Magpie trialled by his eight year old sister Ellisa, has won 8 of 11 trials over the last 18 months. His line has proven to be so successful that in a trial at Ulmarra in 2018, thirteen of the dogs in the maiden, novice and open finals were all from Jack’s lineage. This alone is a testament to the extraordinary dog that he has been. It is true what they say, that every man has ‘that one dog’ in a life time. Woodford Jack is this dog to Mitchum.
