KARANA DIGBY
The Working Kelpie Council of Australia Inc.
WKC reg:48307 KHIJ (V51)
BLACK AND TAN MALE
Born: January 9th, 2006
Bred by: Howell, K.J. &L.K. ‘KARANA’ , Eugowra, New South Wales, Australia
January 9, 2006-September 24, 2020
Hold on to your hats as Digby was a full litter mate to Karana Abba II, who won the WKC National Championships twice, as well as numerous other trials (check the link for Karana Kelpies for full details).
Karana Digby was a big, cool-headed, multi-purpose Kelpie that spent his first five years working on a large station in Australia before being reacquired by Kevin Howell. Kevin has visited us in the United States and we have spent time each year at his property for working stock with his champion Kelpies.
This exposure to the Karana line convinced us that the type of dog that Kevin has been raising would fit perfectly in our harsh mountain country of Montana.
During our visit to Australia in March 2012, Kevin and Kay Howell offered Digby to us to advance the Karana line in America. We feel privileged to had Digby where he made himself at home on the Burradoo Ranch.
Karana Digby had the temperament and was the type of Kelpie that complemented our lineup of dogs purchased from the top Australian studs. Digby did exceptionally well on cattle in Australia in addition to our mountain country cattle and small bands of sheep.
Some may say “sure he is a nice dog, but so what if his litter mate won a bunch of trials.” Unless you have seen the Australian version of utility, yard and three sheep trials, and compared them to the American and European trials, hold your judgment! In Australia there are essentially no secondary markets for stock dogs, so either the dogs work in real life situations and in field trials or they don’t exist. We have personally observed the Karana dogs working in field trials, 30,000 plus sheep sale yards, 1000 plus stock station situations and cattle work similar to what we deal with in America. These are tough, thinking animals that do NOT need to be whistled to every 30 seconds in order to finish a job.
Digby sired numerous litters of pups with great working instinct. Dogs on our ranch related to Digby include Bug, Deuce, Ozzie, Ariat, Nugget, Gilly, and Ned.
Sadly, Digby passed away in 2020.