Outdoor Dogs

Short Film (Full Length) – 1953

This New Zealand Now edition looks at working dogs. A brief look at show dogs makes way for a Timaru sheep farmer conducting six border collies to round up a mob of ewes. Elsewhere pig dogs bail up a wild boar; rabbit hunters use spaniels to flush their prey; retrievers aid pheasant and duck shooters; and off goes the hare for the greyhound to chase. The attitude to imported species (seen as game rather than as environmental pests) dates the film to an acclimatisation society era, and the close relationship between man and dog provides enduring fascination.

Practically all game in New Zealand has been imported. But through the good work and control of the Acclimatisation Societies it has flourished and there’s good shooting.
– Narrator