Ducks and dogs?

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 10

Ducks and dogs?

One act sure to raise a few eyebrows this Sunday at the Tip Top Blue Bird Country Fair Day in North Hagley Park are Mr Dick Carmichael’s ducks and dogs from Scargill. For entertainment Mr Carmichael instructs his somewhat versatile sheep dogs to round up and head a paddling of ducks into pens. “Instead of sheep, it’s done with ducks,” Mr Carmichael said. Asked whether much training was involved, Mr Carmichael said, “If I overtrained the act, I’d take all the fun out of it.

“A duck shooting off in the middle of the act is amusing to the crowd, but it also makes them appreciate just how difficult it is for the dogs.

“Besides, I still haven’t got round to getting any ducks out of my pond yet for the act,” Mr Carmichael said. The real stars of the show are the dogs whose ability the whole act hinges on. Mr Carmichael will have two heading dogs, and a huntaway dog at the fair. The huntaway dog is a special New Zealand-bred dog, ideal for New Zealand sheep farming conditions. It is the "power drive” of the whole operation — the working dog — according to Mr Carmichael. The huntaway barks every step of the way to clear the country rounding up the sheep. “He’s a big powerful dog and works hard on farms. But he’s adaptable as a pet,

a guard dog and a friend to the farmer who’s out on the fields for long stretches at a time,” said Mr Carmichael. The heading dog, a breed imported from England, cleans up behind the huntaway dog, making right any of the huntaway’s mistake. The heading dog does not bark. If one sheep goes astray, it is the heading dog’s job to sneak up on it and quickly guide it back to the flock. He does the tricky work. What kind of dog is Dog from Footrot Flats? “He’s a heading dog,,” Mr Carmichael said. Mr Carmichael will be at the Tip Top-Blue Bird Country Fair Day this Sunday with his ducks and dogs as one of the many features of entertainment organised by the Summer Times people.