Two years after a litter of five adorable kelpie puppies stole the nation’s hearts, Muster Dogs is back for its second season.
This time with even more adorable border collie puppies.
We’ll watch the five litter-mates set out into the world to meet their new owners and take their first steps to becoming Champion Muster Dog on ABC TV at 7.30pm on Sunday, January 14.
It will continue each Sunday night, but if you can’t wait a week, all five episodes (one more than the first season) will be available to stream on ABC iview.
Frank Finger and his dog Annie were the winners of season one, and this year five new trainers will be in the spotlight, spanning the red earth of the Top End to the green pastures of Tasmania.
The graziers each receive a border collie puppy from the same litter, and have 12 months to turn them into a champion muster dog and an efficient working member of their mustering packs.
Checking in with the puppies at key milestones, the show’s training gurus and mustering experts set challenges and assess each pup’s progress.
The journey to train these intelligent dogs turns into an emotional ride for the graziers, giving the audience an exclusive window into their lives and a deeper understanding of the unique bond between human and dog.
Stunning visuals of the autumn sun rising in Goondy Creek, Western Plains open episode one, where we meet Debbie and Snip, the mother and father of the brand-new litter of Muster Dog pups.
After 14 long hours, Debbie delivers 10 gorgeous border collie puppies. Five of these pups will steal our hearts as we watch them grow in the 12-month experiment.
These pups were bred by dog trialling champion and dog educator, Mick Hudson, and their bloodlines come from more than 100 years of Australian dog trial champions. Will this litter be as good as their ancestors and become champion working dogs?
Neil McDonald returns as the training expert with an updated experiment to cater to the training style of border collies.
The key milestones for this season are set at five, seven, 10 and 12 months. Can this litter of pups be trained in 12 months to be quality working dogs and what will we learn about their natural instincts along the way?
After 13 weeks, the dogs are delivered to their new homes with Zoe, a contract weaner tailer in the Northern Territory; Steve, a grazier from Winton, Queensland; Lily who runs sheep and goats with her mother in Wilcannia, NSW; Cilla who is juggling her farm work with three young children in Ban Ban Springs, Queensland; and Russ, a seventh-generation grazier in Bothwell, Tasmania.
Through the mischief and chaos the puppies are named: Buddy, Indi, Snow, Ash and Molly.
So tune in and fall in love all over again.
You can follow the puppies’ progress each week in Country News.