Cattle dogs of all descriptions, and their handlers, are doing battle at St George this weekend, which is hosting the Australian working cattle dog championships at the local showgrounds.
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Four full days of competition were expected, beginning on Thursday, after 51 handlers from Queensland and NSW arrived with a total of 194 dogs to compete in the open competition, and another 181 going around the course in the maiden novice contests.
Dogs in the latter category were going through their paces in the sun on Friday afternoon, trying to take three head of cattle through four obstacles in a time of six minutes.
Each contestant had 70 handling points and 30 obstacle points to start with, with the aim of losing as few as possible.
Carrigan Ag, managed by Scott Hicks and Sophie Cooke, donated the 320 head of cattle being used for the long weekend.
Everyone was keenly anticipating the State of Origin challenge on Saturday night, getting maroon or blue shirts, jackets and ties all ready for a hotly contested event.
![The 2023 NSW State of Origin team celebrating its win at Scone, NSW. Picture: Supplied The 2023 NSW State of Origin team celebrating its win at Scone, NSW. Picture: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/29029ca2-c3aa-4de2-a94f-24eafc0875ed.jpg/r0_0_3000_1687_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
There are six in each team, five picked on points through the year plus a wild card of the person with the highest points after the open rounds on the weekend.
NSW will be defending their title on Queensland soil.
While the crowd gets pretty vocal, the dogs are old hands and their handlers expect them to be pretty focused on getting the job done for their state.