Koolie Club of Australia
The Koolie Club of Australia is an Australian independent breed club dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the Koolie dog breed as a working breed. It differs from mainstream breed clubs in that a Koolie's talent as a working dog is more important than it's colour, size and shape; the breed is not "recognized" for showing.
It is also a non-competitive and non-profit club, with all activities geared towards breed promotion, understanding and fellowship. Koolies are renowned for their ability to work all types of STOCK with many working multiples such as sheep, beef cattle and goats regularly.
History
The Club was founded in April 2000 by a group of enthusiasts of this little known Australian working breed, called the Koolie, the Coolie, the German Koolie or the German Collie. It was decided to use the spelling "Koolie" at the inaugural meeting while formalising the club, to avoid unpleasant connotations of "Coolie" and the word "German" was avoided as this is an Australian breed and the use of the word "German" can create some confusion, particularly when there is no such breed in Germany.
First meeting
More owners and dogs attended the first meeting, which was located in Inglewood in Central Victoria. Also present at the inaugural meeting were two group five breed judges of the Australian National Kennel Council to chair the meeting, take the minutes and advise the inaugural committee on how the formation of the club could proceed. Also in attendance was a film crew from Burke's Backyard, an Australian television program, to record the event and film for their Road Test Segment. This segment has led many new members to the club and is still viewed regularly on Burkes Backyard Archives and on the Koolie Club of Australia website.
At the first meeting thirteen people signed as members and paid their dues. In following weeks and months, many more who had been present also joined, resulting in over 50 ACTIVE members. Word of mouth spread, and enquiry came from interstate and eventually overseas. As of June 2006, there are 165 members and 470 koolies registered.
Committee
The inaugural committee of eight immediately took out insurance to cover all members that attended any club function. They then proceeded with the task of incorporation, which included adopting fair and legal rules and constitution. The club has a current committee of twelve members.
Meetings
The Club now meets bi-monthly at Neilborough, Victoria, near Bendigo. Activities common at these meetings include having some sheep in yards for young dogs to test their instincts, or giving the dogs agility equipment to try. This allows members to try some of these disciplines. If they and their dog enjoy the activities, they are able to pursue them in mainstream clubs and associations. If not, they can occasionally undertake them in a friendly non competitive environment.
Breed Registry
The Koolie Club of Australia began the first registry for the breed. The register is divided into sections which indicate which stage each dog is, ie. Section A dogs have both Sire and Dam registered, Section B only one parent is already on the register or neither is registered but are known to be Koolies. Section C is for Koolies with one parent of another herding breed or a koolie cross. Section P is for those dogs a breeder does not consider suitable to breed on from but are acceptable as pets or sporting dogs etc. No section is given higher priority than any other and are simply in place to allow for a time when the club may decide that enough dogs are present in the gene pool to start controlling access to the register.
It is anticipated that it will be a long time before this step is taken, as the club would prefer any koolie with good working instincts be available to the gene pool. It is each members' own decision as to what their preference is when selecting a dog, whether to look for a long pedigree of registered dogs as their priority, or to select for working ability over generations, or whether to use the Section C to be able to bring their good working lines back to registered koolies.
Each registration records such things as colour, coat pattern, coat length, ear set, eye colour and percentage of white on the dog, on its registration certificate. The same details are recorded for its parents and with as much information that can fit for further generations. A five generation pedigree is supplied giving what is a genetic snapshot of the dog registered to assist in future breeding decisions.
Breed standard
At this time there is no standard laid down by the club. The club does not want to dictate to people who have bred these dogs for four or five decades in some cases, what does or does not constitute a koolie type. They all have their own preferences and because they are also working in many varied Situations, such as farm, station, saleyards, transport, scrub country, high country, tropics to arid inland each one has a style of koolie most suited to their own situation.
Some koolie owners do have a preference for the colour and patterns of their dogs but all are accepted. It is GeneRally agreed that the common denominator in koolies is their ability to work, their bidability, their enthusiasm, their flexibility and the ability to switch them off when the job is done.
It was the intention of those inaugural members to create a way of people with a common interest in koolies to interact, to be able to contact other breeders, use their dogs to Contribute to a gene pool and to record matings and offspring for the betterment of the breed as a working dog.
Training and research
The club holds regular training days for sheep dogs, which have been exceptionally well attended. This has also allowed those trainers that attend to also learn more AbOUT koolies and helps them develop training methods more suitable than those used for other breeds.
The club is involved with research on the origins of the breed. It has undertaken to implement a pedigree assurance program by using DNA for parent verification and health testing. It is also hoped that this will lead to information on the ancestors and heritage of the modern Koolie.