TV Show Sparks Surge in Working Dog Demand Down Under

Working dogs are having a moment in Australia, and a beloved TV show is helping drive the comeback.

Gary White has spent his entire life training working dogs on the land between Nyngan and Cobar in western New South Wales. But he'll be the first to tell you his real job is training humans.

White travels across Australia and internationally, hosting workshops where handlers learn to work as true partners with their dogs. He's taken his expertise to America, Canada, Scandinavia, and throughout Europe eight times over the past two decades.

"It's more about teaching the handler where they've got to be and what they've got to do," White explains. "And when they know, they can actually teach their dog."

The demand for these furry farmhands has jumped significantly over the past decade. White credits ABC's hit series Muster Dogs with introducing a new generation to the value of working dogs, creating a surge in interest just as Australia's agricultural workforce faces ongoing strain.

The numbers tell the story. At a recent dog auction in Forbes, the highest price paid reached $28,500, with many dogs regularly selling between $20,000 and $30,000. Some exceptional animals command up to $50,000.

Those prices might sound steep, but the math works out. White remembers his contracting days when property owners would hire him and his team of dogs instead of employing two additional people.

"If someone pays $10,000 for a dog, and they go out and muster in that first week $10,000 worth of goats, that's a cheap dog," White notes.

Sunny's Take

John Lawrence has worked Nine Mile Station for more than six decades and has never gone without working dogs. Despite improvements in motorbikes, autogyros, and drones, he sees young people flocking to training workshops in record numbers.

"I think young people are realizing how important it is to have dogs," Lawrence says. "That's why I see so many turn up to these schools, because people are using dogs a lot more than what they did."

For White, the value extends far beyond rounding up livestock. Growing up working the land alone, his dogs were his right-hand companions through lonely days and difficult seasons.

"Some people just love their dogs to bits, and they're widely called their best mate," White says. "Their dogs helped them get through sticky situations. I know people that say their dogs actually helped them through the drought."

Peter Leigo, a station hand at Netley Station south of Broken Hill, has attended three of White's workshops and wouldn't work without his dogs Ruger and Cash by his side.

Even as technology advances, these loyal workers are proving they still have an irreplaceable role on the land.