169. Kim Dodson

Kim Dodson farms with her husband Shane at Kaniva in western Victoria, 15 kilometres from the South Australian border. They run about 6,000 acres, mostly cropping, with a bit over 3,000 sheep. She won season three of Muster Dogs with Banjo, and she's only been in dogs seven or eight years. Kim came to the district in 1999 to ride track work and planned to stay six months. Horses were the whole thing until her back gave out, and dogs filled the gap. Her first one was a Gumtree pup with no breeding behind it, which she rehomed after a Neil McDonald clinic set her straight on pedigrees. The one that actually started her was Barkell Peters Kate, an eight-year-old fully trained bitch. Four months later she was at Sheepvention having never watched a full trial, and came third in a strong encourage. She's good company on a lot of this. The bit worth staying for is her case for buying an older dog when you're starting out, and why nobody says it out loud.