Taking your mutt to work.

John Gryphon

Well-Known Member
Sent to me this arvo.

G'day ,
Thinking of taking your dog with you to a cattle station?

Below is a succinctly and well written piece by cattle station manager, Sarah Craig Cook, telling us why some properties won’t allow you to bring your dogs with you when going to work on a station. Since she wrote the piece below back in 2018, they've had to soften on this position - but the concerns are the same...

"Let's talk about dogs. Everyone loves them, and so do we. The 'no dogs' condition is very common on cattle stations and every time we advertise a position vacant, we come up against the old dilemma...

"No dogs? But I have a dog, can I bring him, he's a good dog..."

No, you cant.

But why - isn't that a little unfair? Doesn't every man have a dog? Every family has a dog?

Well, here's some of our reason's why...

1. We'll start with barking: because that's the one that ****es everyone off the most. I know your dog hardly barks, that's what we all think. But full moon, dark moon, half moon, full shadow, little shadow, windy night, still night, dogs bark at things. Sometimes the owners sleep right through, sometimes the owners have to get up and stop their dog from barking. Either way, someone is ****ed off.

2. Chooks, poddy calves, horses, other peoples dogs. Read: dead chooks, bitten calves, chasing horses, fighting with other peoples dogs.

3. Dingoes. Them on heat. Your female dog on heat. Them prowling around, making your dog bark (see # 1).

4. 1080 baits. No, you cant take your dog to work all day everyday, this is why. We have a wild dog problem, and we treat that problem. And no, you are not leaving your dog at the homestead all day for someone else to look after (see #1 & 2).

5. Cages, chains & crap. Yes, dogs crap. Every station has seen a lot of dogs live in their own crap because their loving owner couldn't give a crap about the crap. And yes, dogs on the property will be chained or caged (see #2 & 3 & 4).

6. Exercise. (See #5). Yes, your dogs need exercise. Some people do exercise their dogs, some people don't. We don't allow 'dont's' because 'dont's' dogs bark & crap (see #1 & 5), but you'll be offended if I tell you when you need to exercise your dog because guess what - its your dog. See #8.

7. Dogs at work. Chasing cattle. Being tied up on a hot Toyota in the sun (or taking up a front seat where staff are meant to sit?).

8. Arguments. We all live here. Sometimes people don't love dogs or your dog as much as you do.

Yes, we do have dogs here. They live in cages and are let out for exercise morning & night. Some of them have their very own job, and they are all educated to living here - and they all follow the rules.

We have staff who have lived on the property for a long time, who have bought a dog here - those staff have our blessing. Until you know us, know the job, know the environment, know the responsibilities of living on our property, you can not bring a dog. I know your dog is amazing. Bring them later, when we know you are amazing".(Full blog)


BTW those two pictured above are Sarah's much loved 3-legged dogs, Rocky & Benny...

In a nutshell, before you apply for a job, check with the station if they accept dogs... some do, some don't...

LATEST JOBS

Hooroo for now,

Simon
 
I used to take my dog to work everyday but he’s to old now ,he’s a jack russel and I took him on the boat from a pup he sleeps pretty much all day and knows to stay put when we’re working the only time he comes out on deck is when we come in the harbour.
a while back a crewman asked if he could bring his “well behaved no troubles ”dog along . Well I the big dog a Weimaraner out in the way all the time and we had to lock it in the wheelhouses then a fight broke out and it lost the end of its ear ,and somehow it was my fault!! Needless to say that was the last time any other dog came on my boat.
 
I have seen it repeatedly over the years when "people" bring their dogs with them.
The best line from an old mate that arrived with his new dog was in answer to my "is the **** stock broken to sheep/cattle?"

'She should be'
THATS a giant wtf!
Has she ever been among sheep or cattle?

' No but she should be ok'
First thing the **** did was to try and kill one of my chooks.

One of my daughters thought that having a pair of English Foxhound bitches would be 'cool' to bring up to the farm, I have a tale about that also.....errrrggghhh!
 
😆. One of the first things I do with a pup is introduce them to cattle ,horses sheep,chickens and ducks in that order .
The only thing I couldn’t stop him chasing was cats, he’s 15 now doesn’t chase anything ,well doesn’t catch anything ,half blind and completely deaf!!🫣🤫
 
Before she passed my Lurcher Sox came to work with me every day. A few short walks through the day and then she would snooze the day away.
She passed eighteen months ago and my work van has never been the same since.
 
Before she passed my Lurcher Sox came to work with me every day. A few short walks through the day and then she would snooze the day away.
She passed eighteen months ago and my work van has never been the same since.
I'm dreading this when it happens, it'll be far worse than the loss of any person
 
R ball bags goes EVERYWHERE WITH ME .

"go sleep" . He does " . Find um" .he does lol.

Whether its in the shed / range / . My van or scratching a nest out under a high seat .

Hes been going to work with me for the last 8 years . Goes a kip.in the cabin or van . Everyone is used to him..and he is used to them aswell. All the lads love r ball bags
If he doesnt know who you are .... its like someone knocking on the door at home .

Full alert. Game n cattle he is ok. But ....cats ............!!

He knows the score
 
Last edited:
Back
Top