Scottish shepherdess and television personality Emma Gray led the way with a £5,600 price tag at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest sale of working sheep dogs.
Emma, who farms on the Isle of Bute, claimed top call with her part-broken March 2021 lilac and white bitch, Pentir Dusti, which is of her own breeding.
She has been owned and trained by Welshman Glynne Jones since being purchased from Emma as an eight-week-old pup in 2014, to successfully lay a solid foundation for his Pentir Sheepdogs breeding programme.
In fact, Mr Jones, who farms near Bangor in Gwynedd, sold Dusti’s full sister, Pentire Lassie, for £7,600 last year at Skipton Auction Mart.
This remains a world record price for an unbroken puppy just turned nine-weeks-old, while in 2020 and again at Skipton, Emma herself sold a fully broken bitch for a then world record prize of £18,900.
The shepherdess remains busy training dogs and looking after sheep, also running an online training course called Sheepdog School.
Her latest top price coup on 1 September cemented the growing popularity of dogs with both the red and lilac genes, as Dusti joined sheep farmer Graham Pears, of Flash House Farms, Penistone.
Next best at £4,000 was a fully broken black and white 20-month-old dog, Spot, from Lancastrian Tony Birkett, of Carnforth. Spot found a new home with sheep farmers AC Bray & Sons, of Hepworth, and will be used as a work dog.
Back with the part-broken entries, from Wales, Sophie Holt, of Hendre Brynach, Brecon, made £2,350 with a young November 2021 tri-coloured dog, Myllin Tucker, by E Nilsson’s Frej, out of HJ Francis’ Mo.
In Sophie’s hands since the age of eight weeks, Tucker returned to Wales with Beryl Lewis of Llandrrindod Wells, Powys.
There were joint top calls in the unbroken section of £1,550. First up was another pup with unusual colouring, the April-born red, white and merle, bitch, Highills Lola, from another Welsh handler, Natalie Matthews in Gwent, which was claimed by a buyer from the Netherlands, Melissa Beckerleg.
Also making £1,550 was very last lot in the online catalogue, Kim, a rising six-month-old red and white bitch from G Brierley, of Rochdale.
By Kevin Evans’ Red Spot, out of Mr Brierley’s own Ruby, herself another dog by Ricky Hutchinson’s Sweep, Kim went to PJ&S Edwards & Sons in Pontypridd, mid-Glamorgan.
Skipton’s next working sheepdog sale on 14 October returns to the live on-field format, again supported by a live online format.
