If your dog could scale a three metre high wall, you'd be excused for thinking that there is no way you could keep it in your yard.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That though is not the case for Pieta Leechburch and her brown and tan kelpie Bolt.
The three year old is a regular at dog high jumps from the Hawkesbury to Goulburn and Orange and on March 19 he'll be taking on the Dog High Jump at the Blayney Show.
"I started with Bolt when he was a pup, just started off low and gave him a treat and after a break for a while I gave him another go, and he took to it really well," Pieta said from her home in Richmond.
As well as being a reliable sheep dog, Pieta believes that his training is why he will clamber up a three metre high wall, but won't jump a four foot toddler gate.
"We've just built so much fun about it, and I make so much of an idiot of myself to encourage him up, that he just thinks it's awesome," she said.
"He works so much with the sheep that he doesn't need to go jumping fences to entertain himself or do anything else. I have no doubt though if I went away for a week without him he'd do the whole Red Dog thing and come looking for me."
Between dog trials and high jumps Bolt's needs are met, and at the Blayney Show he'll be competing for the first time, on a jump he's already mastered.
"He jumped 2.95 metres on the Blayney jump at the Oberon Show and we stopped there because we didn't want him to get hurt as he's a working dog after all."
Always a popular event the dog high jump always attracts a crowd, something that Pieta believes that Bolt thrives on.
"At Goulburn there was a big crowd that was really close to the jump and he definitely fed off the crowd."
The Blayney Show is on Saturday March 19 commencing at 8.30am. Purchase your entry tickets at http://www.blayneyshow.com/ for a quicker entry.