Bendigo dog Sasha has a day job. Between following her best mate and owner Clive Hughes around his Myers Flat property, the six-year-old Border Collie does conservation work all over Victoria.
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Clive and Sasha go out with La Trobe University teams to find sugar gliders and turtle egg nests. When they do, the university's teams work to protect the nests from predators such as foxes.
"It's all volunteer work, La Trobe sent us scout for sugar gliders, into the high country for insects and we've been to Gunbower looking for turtle nests," Clive said.
"With the drought the foxes tend to dig up the eggs and are moving further afield for food. La Trobe has collected things from old nests and we rain the dogs to get that scent.
"The dogs find the nest and indicate, then the conservation volunteers come in check the nests and net it to protect it."
But before Sasha discovered her nose for conservation, she learned the basics - sit, stay, lie down - as a puppy at the Bendigo Dog Obedience Club.
"Six years ago when I brought Sasha here, she was eight weeks old and I had just retired," Clive said.
"I have had dogs all my life but never done any formal training with them. I had the time and thought it would be good.
"The reality was what I learned here in my first few months, I should have been doing all my life. My dogs learned how to fit in but this taught me how to do it correctly and quicker."
Clive said training any dog started with a basic bond between the owner and the dog but that any dog could be trained to do what Sasha does.
"It starts with basic obedience. We don't dominate them, it's a mutual partnership and respect and love," he said.
"With La Trobe there's a toy poodle, a South African Ridgeback, another Border Collie and Kelpies. There's all sorts. Some are more adept than others, like with humans, but with basic training, they can get it.
"I say to my students, 'you have this dog for 10 or 12 years. If you put in nine or 12 months now, just 10 or 20 minutes a day, it will be stress-free for you and the dog's happy."
I say to my students, 'you have this dog for 10 or 12 years. If you put in nine or 2 months now, just 10 or 20 minutes a day, it will be stress-free for you and the dog's happy.
- Clive Hughes
The Bendigo Dog Obedience Club has been operating for 56 years.
Since the late 1980s, the club has had its home at the Finn Street Recreation Reserve.
"The club members have built the barbecue and a few other things," club secretary Heather Turpie said.
"It's great. We lease the rooms from the council and are very fortunate to have a (proper) home.
"We have a tremendous group of volunteers who instruct, they're wonderful. They come out in all sorts of weather."
After going through different levels of training, the club also gives owners the chance to train downs for trials including agility, obedience, rally obedience, racking and track and search.
Club president Sandra Price said the was a simple reason the club had endured so long.
"People keep getting puppies. There's nearly a dog in every yard now," she said.
"A lot of members join now to enjoy their dogs, only a few go on to competition. Most just come to have a well-behaved, dog, which is important.
"People basically want dogs sit, stay and come, not jump up, not be reactive to people or dogs."
Sandra said local councils were a lot stronger on poorly-behaved dogs.
"(Obedience has) always been there but now councils are really strong on dogs not charging at people and not roaming free," she said.
"There are more regulations in making sure dogs well behaved and things like that.
"Dogs that don't behave generally end up re-homed and people hand the problem to the next person. That's not the dog's fault."
The club is volunteer-run and has almost 80 dogs attend classes each week with up to 50 regularly attending Wednesday night training sessions.
"We train on Wednesdays for puppy classes and Class 1, so we can have about 50 on that night," she said.
"On Sunday for higher classes, we have another 20 or 30 coming then. A lot of people, once you do the initial training, they're quite happy to go away and see how go. They can always come back.
"When the dog is trained up for other disciplines, people can start getting involved in trialing in and different things."
Heather said socialising and keeping your dog's brain fine-tuned were also benefits of training.
"Especially dogs that aren't couch potatoes. They're the ones more likely to get into mischief if they're bored," Heather said.
"That's where a lot of people find problems, they keep their dogs locked up in yards, don't take them for walks or do anything with them, that's when they get destructive."
One option of extra training comes in the form of the club's cafe class.
"With so many outdoor eating areas, people can have dogs there," Heather said. "So we actually have 'cafe days' where we put the tables out in the club room and have people come in for a class.
"They have to have the dogs sit next to them at the table while people have tea and biscuits. It's part of the training so that people can do it in public.
"You hope to do everything with your dog. You want them around. That's the fun of having a dog. Why have a dog if you're not going to enjoy it?"
Training dogs beyond the sit, drop and stay basics is easy according to Clive. He said for Sasha following a scent is just like a game.
The hard part for most owners was getting through dull, repetitious basic parts of training.
"Patience is the biggest thing, it's just small steps," Clive said. "Especially in the puppy ages.
"It's good to sit with your dog for 10 minutes and let the world go by with bikes, prams, wheelchairs, other dogs and people. Have your treats ready, reassure them and give them confidence. Then come back again two days later.
"When they don't take notice (of passers-by) that's when you reward them. Then you can sit there relaxed and your dog sits relaxed. If you're tense, the dogs get antsy."
The reward for effort - for both canines and people - comes as the dog learns more and more.
"Because it's so repetitious, some come for a term and do sit, drop, stay and stand. They can't look past the end of the lead and realise it's going to go further," Clive said.
"Those who come back for two or three terms improve out of sight. You get the building blocks done and then get into the fun stuff. It's great to come on Sundays and see 20 dogs running around no leads."
For more information on the Bendigo Dog Obedience Club visit www.bendigoobedienceclub.com or find them on Facebook.
The club's next intake of dogs will be in October.
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