Wildfire jets off to America - Avenpart exports another locally bred Kelpie to the USA

Locally bred Avenpart Wildfire (pictured), at 12 weeks old, is jet setting across the globe, landing in Los Angeles, USA to meet her devoted new owners, and then off to Virginia. Wildfire’s owners already have a bitch from Avenpart that they cherish, by the name of Mirage.

Mirage is one of the premier kelpie agility dogs in America, and is also adept at herding sheep. Another pup travelled with Wildfire, to head off to Brisbane, and another five pups will be transported to locations across NSW.

Mary McCrabb is the principal of Avenpart Kelpie Stud, Wanganella and has been breeding and training Kelpies since 1962, winning many sheep, yard and utility trials, culminating in winning the Victorian Utility Trial Championships in 2000. In 1982, Mary McCrabb was contracted to train all dogs and Dingoes for the movie Dusty. She worked with 15 dogs and two Dingoes, including the title character, a purebred Avenpart Kelpie.

Since 1962, Avenpart dogs have been used for mustering, yard work, and shed work all around the globe, with persistent demand for these hard working and talented dogs. Within the Avenpart bloodline, precise emphasis is placed on natural working ability from an early age, as well as temperament and conformation. Given that Avenpart Kelpies are used all around the world, certain strains within the Stud focus on different traits to meet the client’s needs, be it “eye”, bark or aptitude for cattle work. Avenpart Kelpies have experienced great success in countries where climatic conditions vary greatly to their native Australia. These hardy dogs have adapted well to their working environments and can be found mustering reindeer in the ice-capped fields of Norway, to unloading export wethers off the boats in Saudi Arabia.

There are many locations in the world to which Avenpart dogs have been exported. These include America, Kuwait, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, Mexico, Iran, England, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Canada, Holland, Argentina, New Zealand, Japan, Finland, Denmark, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, and every state of Australia.

In 1996, Avenpart was the first stud to pioneer the export of Kelpie semen, in response to strict UK import laws. At the time, all dogs for export had to remain in rabies quarantine for six months before they could enter the UK.

“I was worried that working dogs would be going mad in quarantine; staying in cages for six months,” Mary said. “To speed up the process and avoid traumatising the dogs, we started exporting their semen instead.” Today, semen is still exported to clients around the world, resulting in the most recent litter of pups in Holland, and another soon to be born in Canada.

Mary does train the dogs before they depart in certain cases, having trained and then sent two to South Korea, and started off 10 dogs before they flew off to Russia. But owners these days prefer to train, break and bond with the dogs themselves.

“Most orders for dogs are from repeat clients who will contact us when their dogs are advancing in age, and put their names down for another.

“It fosters a long-term relationship with clients, which we truly value,” Mary said.

Avenpart Kelpie Stud was founded in 1962, and is based on the famous Scanlon, Glenville, and Karrawarra bloodlines. Both the superlative reviews on their Avenpart website and repeat business from delighted clients speak volumes as to the pedigree and quality of the lines.

“Ken and I would not have progressed so far with our Avenel Merino Stud without our dogs. They are invaluable for their labour and hard work; we have been very lucky.”

Luck appears to have very little to do with it, with hard work and immense skill playing the primary role.