MGH Rabbit crowned Australia’s champion working dog at 2025 Dogpro Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championship

Nine-year-old Australian working border collie MGH Rabbit has been crowned Australia’s two-time top working dog at one of the country’s largest sheep dog trials in Northam. More than 200 working dogs took to the yards in Northam in August to compete in the 2025 Dogpro Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championship. Travelling across the Nullarbor from Dubbo, New South Wales, with owner Mick Hudson, Rabbit scored a final score of 251.5 points ahead of Lee Jamieson and Riverbourne Fran’s final score of 240. Mr Hudson said Rabbit performed exceptionally at the trials and said her secret to success was her singular obedience. “We’ve got a great bond — she’s my best mate,” he said. “All my dogs are my mates, but if I say to move left a little bit, Rabbit moves left a little bit, if I say move right a long way, she moves right a long way. “Without being mechanical she’s still in great working shape and she does as I tell her.” Rabbit was previously crowned champion in 2018 and has a litany of championships under her collar; including Commonwealth, national, NSW, and Queensland championships, and the title of Australian dog of the year two years in a row in 2022 and 2023. Already selected as a representative from NSW, Rabbit was picked to compete against New Zealand at October’s Wayleggo Cup in Ashburton in New Zealand’s South Island. It was the first time the competition was held in WA in nine years, when Malcolm Taylor and Somerville Nell took out the top prize. About 1200 sheep were involved in the trials, with sheep rotated out to avoid being used twice — with competition classes graded for novice, improver, and open. The WA Working Sheep Dog Association began the first annual championship trials, held in Deloraine, Tasmania, in 1990.