Researching a working dog’s history

Start with identity

Collect the registered name, known call names, registration authority, owner and approximate dates. Similar names can describe different dogs, so do not merge records without supporting evidence.

Compare independent records

Check registration material, event results, dated photographs and interviews. Record the source for each claim and note when an account was written long after the event.

Publish uncertainty honestly

Separate confirmed facts, attributed recollections and unresolved questions. WKC history is a specialist starting point for Kelpie research, not permission to reproduce an entire registry or archive.

Maintain a research log with searches that produced no reliable match as well as successful finds. This prevents another researcher repeating the same uncertainty and makes later corrections easier to evaluate.

For an apparent match, compare the dates, handler and registry details together. A familiar call name in a newspaper report is a lead to investigate, not sufficient identification.

Separate a timeline from a pedigree

Build a dated timeline of known events before drawing a family tree or lifetime ranking. Ownership, handling and breeding relationships may change independently. A result may name the handler without naming the owner; a sale advertisement may identify a proposed transaction without proving it occurred. Keep these distinctions in the evidence fields. Use exact and approximate dates explicitly and retain unresolved gaps. When a new record changes the account, update the interpretation while keeping the original source and an explanation of the correction.

Common questions

Sources & further reading

References for this guide. Rules and services can change; check the responsible organisation for current details.

• Working Kelpie Council of Australia (opens in a new tab)
• National Library of Australia: Oral history and folklore (opens in a new tab)

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