A WORKING dog plays a crucial role in farming, which makes it a true Aussie icon.
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So it is no surprise that yet another high-quality book is being launched that celebrates the contribution of these remarkable animals.
Working Dogs features more than 300 photographs of the dogs that are a familiar and enduring symbol of Australian rural and outback life - Kelpies, Border Collies, Blue Heelers and every crossbred in between.
The book features the dogs at play, with their owners, riding tractors and utes, with their farmyard friends, and doing what they all live to do - round up livestock.
Many of the photographs in the book have been generously supplied by dog owners from across the country who entered the 2012 Farmer of the Year competition.
Other pictures are from the six principal rural weeklies published by Fairfax Agricultural Media: Stock Journal, North Queensland Register, Queensland Country Life, The Land, Stock & Land and Farm Weekly. Two pictures of the pictures were taken at the Yard Dog Trials at the South East Field Days this year.
The event is organised by breeders Rex and Kay Hocking, Washpool Kelpies, Avenue Range.
Mr Hocking says the trials - now in their 31st year - show the affection people have for working dogs.
"People love to see the dogs working," he said.
In the book's foreword, former Stock Journal editor Deanna Lush says there is immeasurable value in a good dog.
"Every farming family has its working dog hall of fame - dogs leave a lasting legacy in our memories, long after they have left us behind," she said.
* Full report in Stock Journal's October 31 edition.
