More than 200 working sheep dogs to take over Northam for Dogpro Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championship

More than 200 working sheep dogs and their handlers will flock to Northam in August to compete for the top honour at one of Australia’s largest sheep dog trials.

The top four competitors at the 2025 Dogpro Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championship will be chosen to compete against New Zealand at October’s Wayleggo Cup in Ashburton in New Zealand’s South Island.

It has been nine years since the last competition was held in WA, when Malcolm Taylor and Somerville Nell took out the top prize.

Bill Davidson from Tamworth, New South Wales, was crowned open champion at last year’s competition with Grassvalley Flake.

The trials will take place at Northam Recreation Centre from August 23 to August 31.

About 220 working sheep dogs and their handlers are expected to take part in the free nine-day event.

WA Working Sheep Dog Association president Grant Cooke has been competing for about 30 years and described the competition as “pretty full-on”.

“We’ll be running from daylight to dusk, and the sheep will come in and out every day,” he said.

“It’s got two sections of driving, where the man, the dog and the sheep — you become more of a team and are able to influence the sheep help the dog.”

While unsure if he is competing this year, Mr Cooke said he would take his nine-year-old border collie Bluey, a half-sister to Grassvalley Flake, to the trials.

Bluey has competed against New Zealand twice in the Trans Tasman Test.

Mr Cooke said the championships would involve about 1200 sheep, with no sheep used twice for the competitions, and include novice, improver and open classes.

He described the competition is an “adrenaline rush” for the competing dogs, mostly kelpies and border collies.

WAWSDA began the first annual championship trials, held in Deloraine, Tasmania, in 1990.