Eight-year-old Tommy Lee is off to a flying start as a dog trainer after one of his canine students recently sold for $5,500.
Tommy was the youngest vendor at last weekend's renowned Jerilderie Working Dog Auction, matching it with men and women many times his age.
Forty dogs sold for an average price of $7,725 at the auction, and the top price paid was $22,500.
The Lee family name is synonymous with working dogs, and in 2021, Tommy's parents, David and Sarah, sold a dog for what was then a national record of $35,200, giving Tommy plenty of inspiration to give it a crack.
Keen to try his hand
"My parents train dogs, and I wanted to have a go at trying to train one," Tommy said.
"You get money from it, and the dogs are really playful when they're puppies, and when they're older, you can do things like when you're going to get some sheep in so you can shear them, you can use your dog to go get the sheep."
As for Echo, the dog he sold at Jerilderie, Tommy said he thought he would be a big help to his new owner.
"He's very natural, he's pretty good on stock, quiet too," he said.
"We bred him by my dog called Jazz, who I do trials with. He has a very skinny head and he's tan and black."
Tommy, who lives near Edenhope in western Victoria, said he wasn't too sad to say goodbye to Echo because he was only heading an hour and a half away into South Australia.
"I'm not really sad because we sold him to a friend whose name is Jimmy, and he has a farm at Mount Gambier and in New South Wales.
So, what's involved in training a working dog?
"You get a collar on them when they're pups, and when they get older, and they start doing rings around the sheep, we stop them from doing that, so they just stay behind the sheep," Tommy said.
"And we teach them to go back and bark. They go up on top of the sheep, and then they start barking."
Tommy said he had to be patient and keep his cool when he was training dogs.
"Don't get too angry because then they probably won't listen to you," he said.
Tommy said he planned to keep training dogs, including Echo's brother, Charlie, and already had something in mind for the proceeds from the sale of Echo.
"We have a one-tonne ute, and I want to get it fixed and probably do burnouts in the paddocks."
Story By: ABC Rural / By Angus Verley
Original Story Link:https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-03-06/eight-year-old-tommy-lee-trains-working-dogs/102048350
