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Wilton, California.
| RED BLUFF - For many people watching last Friday's cow dog sale at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale, the border collie that sold for $23,000 named Patch came as quite a shock. For Bret Venable, the beginner consignor and horse trainer from Wilton who has raised the pup, "It was a dream come true," he said this week. The dog belongs to the McCallum breed - a breed Venable saw for the first time at the 2000 Red Bluff Bull Sale, and it's the only breed one he's worked with ever since. That year, Paul Miller sold the top-selling dog, a half-breed McCallum, Venable said. Venable's narrative of the breed's history in America is short and interesting. The McCallum family introduced the dog to America only 15 years ago, Venable said, although they've been breeding them for about 100 years. Once Venable saw his first McCallum, he got in contact with Tony McCallum, the man who brought the breed from Australia to the United States, and then he flew to Australia to look at and work with the dogs. As a result of Venable's work, he started a relationship with Patch, the 3-year-old dog that sold so high at Red Bluff this year. Patch is the first dog Venable has ever sold. McCallum dogs "have their own stamp," Venable said. There's no one major trait that makes them special over other dogs, he said, but "It's the little things that make the big difference." He said he liked their temperament, build and "the way they can control stock." The dogs "have some bite," but it's with a purpose, he said. "They can get the job done." Venable loves the dogs so much that they're the only breed he wants to raise now. "They're amazing," he said. "I really believe in them." Patch's buyer, Theresa Cliff, of LaPine, Ore., agreed. When she saw the collie at work last week, she said, "It minded very well. It had control of the livestock. When it needed to move them, it could. He's very well-mannered and he's a thinking dog. The fellow who was working him didn't do his thinking for him." Venable, previously a horse breeder and trainer, has only been breeding dogs for the past five years. "My dogs are my life," he said. "I've invested everything into this." Unfortunately, though, Venable said, the big sale "has caused a lot of drama," given that some people were so surprised that a dog could sell for so much. But, he said, "In a few more years, that's not going to be a lot to pay for a dog." McCallum dogs are building quite a reputation across the country, he said, and they're raising the price of dogs. Tony McCallum, the man who introduced them to the United States "was a genius," Venable said. He sees his role today as "maintaining the quality that he started with." So will Venable bring more McCallum dogs to next year's Red Bluff sale? "We'll have to wait and see," he said. --------- Staff writer Abby Fox can be reached at 527-2153, extension 114, or clerk@redbluffdailynews.com |
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