When visiting the beautiful and rugged landscape of New Zealand, we were lucky enough to sit down with a true expert in his field, Neil Wood, at the Wilderness Lodge Arthurs Pass. Neil is a farm manager and has spent his lifetime training and caring for working dogs, who assist him with his duties on the farm.

Continue reading to learn more about Neil’s role as farm manager, his current dogs, their roles, training rescheme, lifestyle and most importantly, their diet.

Introduction of the owner & dogs (Name, Location, main activity / profession, any fun facts).
My name is Neil Wood and we are at Cora Lynn station, which is part of the Wilderness Lodge group on the Canterbury side of the South Island, New Zealand.

Describe your different activities at the farm?
My role here is farm manager, we have been here for a little over 17 years and my job is pretty much anything to do with the farm. We also have a tourist operation at Wilderness Lodge Arthurs Pass, where I deal with the tourist every second night and give them a little demonstration of the dogs, sheep, and the wool.

When did you start working with dogs?
Meg who I bread is the oldest, she is around 12 or 13 years old. Fred is almost 2 and I got him at around 6 months old, and rose is 12 months and I got her when she was about 6 weeks old.

What are your working dogs main activities around the farm?
They are my right-hand man. Their job is to go and find the sheep, get the sheep and cattle, and work them around the yards, off the hill around the paddocks

Is it hard to work with 5 dogs? They must have different personality & needs, how do you manage the team everyday?

They do have different personalities and traits, thought its relatively easy because they must learn their place, so you tell them what you want them to do. Someone has to be the boss, which is me, and I can’t have them overruling me otherwise we will have chaos. I just have to tell them what to do and make sure they do it, so each dog has its own personality, and each dog has its own job.

When is a working dog ready to work at the farm? 
There is no specific age as far as I’m concerned. The dog will let you know when they are ready. When you let them loose and they find the first mob of sheep and they chase the living daylights out of it, the dog is ready to get going and do some work. Its wanting to go!

Does each dog have a specific role at the farm or do they work together as one team?
We work together as one team, though they do have specific roles. Meg being the oldest and is close to retirement, her job now is to teach other dogs what should be done. The Hunterways, which is the black and tanned one, their job is as it says Hunt Away. They hunt the sheep away from me, whereas the border collie, or heading dog, their job is to bring them back to me. So, they do have specific roles.

Can you describe a typical day with your working dogs?
Well, there is no typical day to be honest. The last couple of weeks we have been sheering, we bring the sheep into the shed, hunting them around the yards, hunting them through the shed, taking them away. We have also been mustering cattle, so the next day we will be doing cattle work through the scrub. We will be driving sheep down the road next week, which is a 15km drive on the road, so they will be working the sheep on the road. Over the next 6-8 week we will be lambing. The dog’s job will be to catch sheep that I need to assist. After that we will be back into mustering sheep off the hill again, so they will be chasing sheep through the scrub and off the hill. So, there is no specific job that they do, they do a bit everything, at different times of the year.

What do you do when a dog does not respond appropriately?

How long did you spend training your dogs to do what they do? Did you have any help?
No, I have not had any help, I have always trained my own dogs. As for the length of time, some dogs can be trained in 6 months, some dogs it takes years. It just depends on the nature of the dog and how much work they are getting.

How do you decide what each individual dog needs for training?
They will let you know what they need for training. Some dogs as I said, can be trained at 6 months old, they can go out there and do the job perfectly. Other dogs need a little more time, a little more re-enforcement and just on the odd thing they are doing wrong, they need a little more training. They will let you know what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.

What does playtime /fun looks like for a working dog?
Play time is the minute you let them loose, when they are having a run round before you put them on the truck or when you let them off the truck at the end of the day, when you are about to feed them, they have a bit of a run around. That is their playtime.

Do they require any special exercise/training outside of their daily work?
No, they don’t, because the exercise they get is their work.

Nutrition must be an important part of their routine to fuel their work?
It depends on what they are doing, if they are working really hard, we feed them extra. If they are not working quiet so hard, we feed them a wee bit less. But the dog must be looking in good condition, that’s most important. If they are looking in good condition, if their coasts are good, their gums are good, then they are getting the right nutrition.

Which diet are you currently feeding and why, how is this making a difference for your dogs?

I am actually feeding them the Eukanuba, because in my opinion, the dogs get allot more get up and go. It gives them allot more energy! I have in the past fed them other types of dog food, and I still do every now and then. We use to feed them sheep meat, but sheep are worth money these days. So, it is allot more affordable to buy the dog food and of course the Eukanuba biscuits have all the minerals that they need, so they don’t need anything else.

Where do you buy the food?

I usually buy it from the vet club, because they were the only ones who stock it in the bigger bags. However, the vet club told me they are now going out of it, so it can be purchased from our local store.

Would you recommend this diet to any other working dog owners and why?

I would! I most certainly would recommend the diet; it is really good stuff. I often talk about rocket fuel for lambs, which is better grass, Eukanuba is rocket fuel for dogs!

What advice could you share with someone who would like to start a similar activity with working dogs?

Working dogs need to be trained. They need regular work. They need regular exercise, and they need the best possible food that they can get.