Birthday girls: Litter-mate sisters Annie and Spice eyeball each other.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
In this age of puppy schools, YouTube dog gurus and a million books preaching a million things, Muster Dogs on the ABC offers a nice, even-keeled look into proper dog training.
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Speaking of books, did you know there is a companion book to the series?
Aticia (the Pilbara one) writes about finding her feet on the land and making it through tough times with her dogs in the book Muster Dogs.
So what else have we learnt from this four-part Joe Spicer ad?
We were introduced to the word ’tude (attitude), as in: “Geez, he’s got some ’tude.”
We also got the saying “they might start with kissin’ and finish with a near missin’” when introducing strange dogs to each other.
There was also this piece of advice from Neil McDonald: “Sometimes you’ve got to be nice and sweet and encouraging, other times you need to roar like a lion.”
I think the show was perfectly summed up when the producers forced the poor pastoralists to drive to the NT, put party hats on their dogs and feed them cake.
Something most working dog owners would not be caught dead doing. A real meeting of city and country. So patriotic.
Working hard or hardly working?: All the wide, open space he could want and Chet still manges to get under the feet of his owner.
Photo by
Daneka Hill
Now I’m going to start talking spoilers, so stop reading if you haven’t seen the last episode.
A fan reached out to me directly recently and said you could “tell from the start” who would have the best dog by the end.
“The Queenslander just had the time to spend with the dog,” they said.
So yes, Frank and Annie (aka Frankie) blitz the test, to the surprise of no-one.
“And good on him for taking on the second dog,” the fan said.
The “second dog” is Lucifer.
This reveal was left right until the end for viewers, despite there being a few hints if you knew what to look for in the middle of the episode.
Sheep farmer Rob decided to offer his dog Lucifer up to a good home.
Rob said he knew from the six-month mark his kelpie was not cut out for sheep.
He was too pushy and bitey.
Great for stubborn cattle, but terrible for stressed-out sheep.
“He really needs a large mob of cattle and big work somewhere, that’s what he needs,” Rob accurately observed.
The dog-whispering Frank — who had preciously stated he would not mind getting a Joe Spicer dog every year — agreed to take Lucifer on.
Overall, my favourite moment was when Chet fell off the truck steps.
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