He’s eight. Or seven. I think seven.
How did you get him?
We got him from the Campaspe Animal Shelter in Echuca when he was about five months old. I’d been in once or twice and I liked him. He’s a real calm guy and didn’t jump up at all. Some dogs in there go crazy when you walk past.
What breed is he?
The shelter said Bull Arab mix, which basically makes it a mystery. I reckon he has a bit of Staffy in him because he likes to lay down with his back legs spread out behind him and that’s a Staffy thing to do. He lays like that a lot and will drag himself along with his front arms.
What’s his role on the farm?
He’s not a working dog in any sense, he’s just my dog. He does play clean-up crew, however. I don’t feed him too much around calving time because he gets too fat, he gets into the afterbirth and everything.
What does he eat?
Dead things. I don’t get too close to his face this time of year.
What do you like about him?
He’s a really good and sensible dog. He’s fine with kids, they can tug on his ear and poke him. He doesn’t wander off at all. Even when we drive off he’ll just sit there and wait for you to come back.
We have a cattle dog who’s always penned up because he doesn’t have the sense Selwood has and will run onto the road.
What’s the funniest thing about him?
Probably that he’s a $10,000 pound dog. He’s had two knee reconstructions and a mystery illness which had him on antibiotics for three months.
There was no big cause for any of the injuries, he just started limping one day so I took him into the vet who said he’d torn his ACL. The first thing the vet said was “he’s just like a footy player”. Once the first knee was fixed he threw out his other one.
Where does he sleep?
At my parents’ house. At first he lived with me on the other side of the farm but I went on holidays once and they looked after him. When I came home he kept disappearing and I’d find him at their house beside the dairy yard. After awhile I just said ‘okay’. Obviously, he knows where the food is.
