HOW does a brown dog from the backstreets of Dunolly end up capturing the hearts of a nation?
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“It’s a long story,” says Len Hobday.
We’ve travelled north out of Bendigo to the tiny goldfields town to find the birthplace of the dog on everybody’s lips: Red Dog.
The heartfelt quirky Aussie film Red Dog premiered in Melbourne last week.
ABC reviewers Margaret and David have given it the four-plus thumbs up and its canine star has been splashed across the nation’s broadsheets.
It’s a far cry from Koko’s (for that is Red Dog’s name) former life with Len and Carol Hobday. Not that their dog was a complete stranger to a bit of fuss and attention.
The chocolate-brown kelpie was already an Australian champion in the show ring when animal trainer Luke Hura found him.
The Hobdays were at a dog show in 2009 when they were approached by Luke, on the prowl for the perfect pooch to star in anew Aussie film.
“We said yes, we thought we had a dog that would be suitable,” Len says.
“He was a pretty small sort of dog but he had a beautiful temperament, he was very outgoing. We said we thought he’d be a good dog for the film.”
“He was always a darling dog,” Carol adds. “He used to go down the road to the bakery with me and he’d just sit out the front and wait.
“I said to Luke, ‘I’ve got one at home that’s just like a sponge. He wants to learn everything’.”
Luke came to Dunolly, met Koko and said that on the surface, he seemed ideal.
Red Dog director Kriv Stenders then travelled down from Sydney to see for himself, take some shots and determine Koko’s screen presence.
“Kriv just looked at him and said, ‘if he’ll learn, he’s just what we want. I think we’ve found our dog’.
Luke had already trialed several kelpies before he found Koko.
There was something about the dog’s facial expressions that was remarkable. Carol says she always knew Koko was special.
He was one of a litter of five pups. He was the one they always intended on keeping. They named the puppy Koko, after an earlier dog with a weak ticker.
“We lost one to a heart murmur and his name was Koko,” Carol says.
“I loved him to shreds and when this one was born I said, this one’s going to be my Koko.”
Carol says she’s had other breeds of dog over the years, but there’s just something about a kelpie.
The Hobdays’ neat, modest property on the edge of the Dunolly township is home to many beloved dogs, and the lounge room of their home is a shrine to past champions.
“That’s Koko’s uncle, that’s his great grandfather, that’s his great grandfather on his mother’s side and the young bitch is his mother,” Carol says, pointing to the framed photographs and pencil portraits on the wall.
At that, Koko’s mum, Cuddles, pads into the room. A greying, rotund version of the photo on the wall.
She’s 13 now, with a slight heart murmur herself. She prefers daytime sleeps to runs in the paddock these days. And she loves Tiny Teddy biscuits.
Carol comments that one day soon Cuddles will break her heart.
“Just recently we lost our foundation bitch – she was Koko’s grandmother and she was 17 years old. It broke my heart,” Carol says.
“I’ve got her ashes on the bookshelf. They don’t live long enough, that’s the problem.”
Carol says even when they’ve finished showing, the kelpies stay on in Dunolly. Koko ended up being the exception.
“When he first went with Luke we said, ‘OK, he can go – but he’ll have to come back after the movie,” she says.
“We don’t let our old show dogs go, we have them for life.
“They wanted to buy him and I said, no, we don’t sell our dogs. We sell puppies, but not mature dogs. They stay here with us.”
And sometimes even the puppies find their way back home, like Koko’s understudy Sevy.
“We’d sold him to a couple in Brisbane but their marriage split up and they couldn’t handle him,” Carol says.
“They called us wanting to know what to do with him. We told them to send him back, and he ended up being the understudy.”
Although Koko now lives with producer Nelson Woss, the Hobdays never relented on their rule of never selling an adult dog. Koko was a gift.
“Nelson fell in love with him over a period of time and eventually asked if he could keep him.
“We said, ‘OK, but only if he fits in with your busy lifestyle’.
“He’s got a really lovely home now and Nelson really loves him.
“I think Nelson’s kitchen is as big as our little house. Koko’s spoilt silly.”
There’s a YouTube clip of Nelson interviewing Koko that’s been viewed by over 90,000 people. It clearly shows the bond between the producer and the dog. But Carol says Koko will never forget his first family.
The Hobdays met up with Koko after the Melbourne premier of the film at the Jam Factory last Sunday.
Carol was invited up on stage with Nelson and Koko during the speeches and Koko went silly, licking and licking his former owner’s face.
It was the first time they’d seen each other in a year.
“Even the puppies never forget you,” Carol says. “That’s the glory of the kelpie.”
Although that bond wasn’t always a helpful thing during filming.
“Nelson invited me to Adelaide to watch some of the filming,” Carol says.
“The set was way out north of Adelaide.
“Only Koko kept running away – he kept running up to me so I was asked to go away and have a coffee, which was really cute.”
Carol is now a welcome visitor to Perth, where Nelson lives. It’s a trip she’s already made several times for the chance to catch up with Koko.
She says she never would have imagined where dogs would lead her when she received her first kelpie pup as a Christmas gift 20 years ago. For example, last year Carol judged a national kelpie show in Sweden.
“We’ve had 20 years of adventure with our kelpies,” she says.
And this month the fun continues, with dog shows at Horsham, then Maryborough, then Melbourne Royal. Then Carol is judging at a kelpie specialty show in NSW in September.
“Going out for a social day with your dog at a dog show is really quite fun, as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously,” she says.
Carol slips into a back room and returns with a first edition copy of Red Dog; Louis de Bernieres’ book that inspired the film.
It’s signed by the cast and crew – even Koko has placed a red paw print inside the cover.
“Thank you for giving us a miracle,” writes Kriv.
“The dog world changed our lives,” Len says. “We’ve had a lot of fun with dogs and a lot of successes.
“Every one of our dogs has their own personality and they’re own appeal.
“Koko was just one that stood out as being a smart little bugger.”
And now Australia has the movie to prove it.