Karmala Merino and Working Kelpie Studs: Dogs

Glide is a versatile dog working cattle (and previously deer) for his owner David Hart, ‘Oakwood’, Gympie, who describes him :

‘Glide has a clever natural common sense cast, a calm strong presence on stock and true heading ability. He can vary his work rate to easily lift stock, and then gently guide them.
Glide has an effective search in wild country and assists thoughtfully in the yards. Glide’s temperament is as good as they come – he is a real mate in the camp. He is breeding on well with both linebred and outcross bitches.’

Glide is proving himself a sire of useful, versatile dogs. David is very pleased with a son of Glide’s, Tracker The Chief, who has proved himself a good sire.

Riana Glide prepares to block a breakaway.

Riana Glide shows power without the need to bite.

Riana Glide at work in late 2009.

A very good dog in the Riana mould; I saw his mother work as a young bitch and was most impressed. I bought Finch as a sire in December 2008 from Jason Wright. It’s not often a proven sire becomes available, and I consider myself very lucky to have him. He has a great nature and is extremely loyal.

Finch is proving a dominant sire, stamping his class on his pups from any bitch he has served.

Riana Finch(Riana LoteXRiana Spin) in 2009.

Riana Finch(Riana LohtiXRiana Spin). A class act.

Karmala Rook(Riana FinchXWoorivale Spice) on the banks of the Darling River.

Riana Finch, ready for action.

Three very nice pups by Finch from Whitehead's Bell the morning they first saw sheep. Their owner Chris Rickert has given them time to mature and they started calmly and with purpose. I particularly liked the bottom pup, Digger, who showed a lot of class and concentration.

BARRU MERLIN
Sire: Barru Bing(Karrawarra RoyIVXKarrawarra MinnieII)
Dam: Buckaroo Maisie(Capree DoohanxKywarra Glean)

Merlin is an impressive dog with the runs on the board, his progeny have proven him a dominant sire over varied bitches. A strong dog on cattle and experienced in trials, Merlin also enjoys arena trials on three sheep and has done well in both.
Merlin pups show class and strength with calmness and generally cooperative natures.
His dam is out of a Riana blood bitch and I look forward to getting a litter by him from Delta.

Barru Merlin(Barru BingXBuckaroo Maisie) a proven sire and a consistent performer in Cattle and Arena Sheep Trials.

A nice dog with beautiful footwork and lateral movement. Has the natural distance off his stock that is typical of Riana bred dogs.

One of his daughters, Karmala Qing(Pride)XRiana QuillII, is with Stewart Oates at Menindee, pic. below. Clyde is a dog who needs a lot of work, and he seems to have eventually found just that. He was sold by Adam Wheeler to Peter Whiteman who is now managing a large property at Quilpie. Clyde is impressing with his work in these wide open spaces, in fact the term used to describe him was ‘awesome’!

Clyde has proven a useful sire and has been used by Peter Austin(Kirkaldy), Pat Murphy(Karrawarra) and Bill Scott(Stockman’s). Peter has a nice cream dog by him from Karrwarra Nessie and Bill Scott is pleased with a nice blue dog by Clyde called Stockman’s Steel. No doubt he will also be used as a sire by the Whitemans.

Karmala Qing(Pride) out at Menindee. A strong bitch.

Karmala Clyde and his daughter out of Riana Quill, K. Qing(aka Pride).

The Chief is a young dog bred by David Hart by Riana Glide from his bitch Pud’s Sookie who was by Richard Puddicombe’s great old dog Pud’s Signature. This is how David described her shortly after she died:

Sookie wasn’t too much of anything other than straight common sense. On cattle she would cast to where she had to be with minimum effort, whether that was 50 meters on a flat or 3 kms through a gorge, but she would get there and control stock. Chief has a much nicer more classic “Riana” style cast and is not at all short.

Chief has nice walk up strength and is a calm dog. when he was only a year old I watched him get a huge lantana wrapped bull out of a creek bed and was most impressed. As he’s matured Chief has developed into a very clever dog with excellent stock sense. He’s breeding on well and has left good pups from Riana Delta Dawn, Capree Lara and Karrawarra Ruby.

Sean Barrett recently described The Chief as one of the best dogs he’s seen. Sean has helped David muster cattle on Oakwood and has seen him working in almost inaccessible country.

Tracker 'The Chief'(Riana GlideXPud's Sooki) has a win.

Cap is a nice dog in the Riana tradition and has been used there in the stud. Bred from generations of tough workers that have needed to use their initiative to do the job, Cap is a classy, light running type.

Spice had a litter of 9 to Cap in 2004 which included Karmala Akubra and Karmala Spike.
This mating was repeated but there were only two surviving pups including Karmala Lyddy.

Shadow has been used extensively as a sire at Karrawarra and has left some very good bitches. Karrawarra Sybil III appears three times as a g. g. dam in his pedigree.
Pat Murphy says Shadow was a very reliable mustering dog and could be left on his own with stock; his dam was a big red/tan bitch by Riana Don who appeared on the Bourke’s Back Yard segment on the Working Kelpie which was re released last year.
Pat lost her on a droving trip, a big loss.
Shadow has retired to Karrawarra where he is living the life of Riley!
His influence at Karmala continues through Telford’s Tally, a grand daughter, and Karrawarra Quince, a daughter out of Karmala Quizz(Karmala ClydeXRiana QuillII).

Paddy's Shadow as a young dog in 2002.

Paddy's Shadow(Karrawarra BoogsXPaddy's Loo) in 2010.

‘Kuba’ is a beautiful Kelpie type with a great temperament. Has that extra bit of class that stamps him with sire potential, according to Arthur Hazlett of Riana. He has nice distance off his stock and is calm and willing to please. Spent some months at Milburn Creek in 2007 where he did some real work, helping muster difficult hill country.

Akubra has been used at Karrawarra and Karrwarra Coster has been retained. Coster has been used a sire at Karrawarra and has left some very promising progeny, Pat Murphy and Tony Parsons consider him an outstanding young dog and progeny have been exported.

Riana Delta Dawn has had a litter to Akubra with good results workwise, but unfortunately half the litter had longer coats. Breeding Kelpies from old bloodlines is full of surprises due to the collie origins.

Karmala Akubra(Riana CapXWoorivale Spice) at 5 years.

Akubra in a series of photos taken for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show Comp. for the 'Best Working Dog/Dog Working Photo'. The top RH photo was the winner.

I mated Delta to Spike in preference to Akubra because of his proven work record at that time. A son of Spike’s from that litter, Karmala Swagman, is being worked by Queensland Kelpie legend Arthur Crumblin. He does a lot of contract mustering in the Traprock country and around Glen Innes, and reports that Swaggy’s now a useful member of his team and prospective sire material.

Last year Arthur used Swaggy to muster a mob of 200+ pregnant Merino ewes who were being brought in to be drenched for Barber’s Pole worm. He was surprised and pleased that they managed to walk in every ewe; he said Swags was patient with the slower ones, and smart enough to go forward and check the head of the mob.

Arthur said this ‘stock sense’ reminds him of Riana Ace, and is remarkable in a dog not yet a year old. Another point Arthur mentioned was Swag’s ‘light footedness’ in stony country, where many dogs tear their pads. Swags has competed in 3 sheep trials and during 2009-10 he penned about 5 times consecutively with scores in the high 80’s. Arthur doesn’t train his dogs for trials, so this was even more noteworthy.

Karmala Spike, June 2007.

Karmala Swaggy, 4 months.

Arthur Crumblin working Karmala Swaggy at Karara, Oct 09.

BARRU ZAC
Sire: Barru Merlin(Barru BingXBuckaroo Maisie)
Dam:Karrawarra Tess(Karrawarra BoogsXKarrawarra Sheba)

Zac is a young dog full of potential, classy, strong and calm. I have seen most of the dogs close up in his pedigree and had Sheba here for a litter a few years ago.
When Spice was mated to Zac he had only been back at Scott’s a week or so, but it looked as though he’d spent his life there, not left at 6 weeks of age, the way he was responding to him. I am really looking forward to a litter by him from Spice, who has produced many good pups.

Barru Zac(Barru MerlinXKarrawarra Tess) who apparently looks like a reincarnation of Porter's Don, according to Tom Scanlon. A very nice young dog with a great attitude.

Karmala Glen is one of the best young dogs I have bred to date. He has a beautiful temperament and is a lovely dog to have around, very loyal without being all over you. Glen can turn on enough power to shift anything, then drop back to calm control of his stock like his sire Riana Glide.
I was confident enough of his potential to mate him to a couple of bitches as insurance, before letting him go out for work. He has litters from Karmala Lyddy and Riana Delta Dawn born in April,09. Glen is at present down near Sydney with my friend Serafino Gallina who also has K.Lyddy. He plans on breeding some pups from them as the first litter was a success. Serafino has been pleased with the reaction he has had when local Kelpie owners see Glen and has received enquiries re services.

Karmala Peggy Sue(GlenXDelta) has been retained in the stud, the remainder of that litter are working well. Below is a pic of K.Lyndy(GlenXLyddy) who is owned by Lisha Bennett, they are at Longreach Ag. College where Lyndy and Lisha were recently filmed by a German TV crew!

Karmala Glen(Riana GlideXKarra. Gift) aged 1 year.

Glen, Feb.2009.

Karmala Lyndy and Lisha Bennett at Longreach Ag. College.

I was fortunate to get a litter from Spice by Clyde. He was 12 years old and has since been put down with a tumour.

Driftwood Clyde

Driftwood Clyde shortly before he died, and his son Karmala Clyde.

The Driftwood ClydeXWoorivale Spice litter from left: Karmala Clyde: Karmala Macallister,'Al', Outlaw Kelpies: Karmala Condamine, Kirkaldy Kelpies: Karmala Swan, Simon Leaning.

Karrawarra Rip III was the sire of Karrawarra Gift and litter brother to Karrawarra Sugar, dam of Woorivale Spice. He has had a lot of influence in the stud.

Karrawarra Rip III, sire of Karrawarra Gift IV