In a stunning mirror image of the 2018 auction, vendor Shane Maurer sold his kelpie ‘Eveready Possum’ for $25,000 to the same buyer - Dwayne Evans from Wilcania — who also purchased Mr Maurer’s first dog of the day ‘Timberhills Ronnie’ for $10,500.
Mr Maurer said he wasn’t expecting either dog to reach their respective prices and added he was lucky there was a bidding war.
‘‘I knew the buyer and three or four others were keen on the dog.
‘‘Going in I knew the buyer would bid on the dogs but you never know if the others will. I thought she might have made around $15,000 so to go as far as she did is just amazing.
‘‘One bloke pulled out at about $18,000 and a second bloke pulled out at $20,000.
‘‘You dream of breaking the record at least once but doing it twice is a whole different ball game.
‘‘I thought ‘Timberhills Ronnie’ was around the $7,000 mark there were obviously people there who thought he was worth more than that.’’
Mr Maurer said he maintains a high standard for his dogs.
‘‘You offer a good dog and be honest about it and upfront. Let the buyers decide and if you’re lucky the people might be prepared to spend a bit more than what they wanted.
‘‘At the end of the day if they get what they paid for then we can all go away happy.
‘‘Honesty is the key to the whole process; you tell them what the dog has and what it doesn’t have,’’ he said.
Mr Maurer joked he might retire from selling dogs on the back of two record breaking years but said he’ll still find two dogs for next year.
Last year Mr Maurer’s dog broke the Australian record when ‘Coopendale Charlie’ sold for $14,000 before it was beaten at the Casterton Dog Auction for $22,000.
The second best selling dog was Michael Joss’s ‘Moe’ going under the hammer for $17,820 to a buyer across the Nullarbor in Kojunup.
Other big sellers included ‘Clare’ going for $9900 to a buyer in York, Western Australia, and ‘Daisy’ selling for $10,500 to Barcaldine, Queensland.
Some dogs were sold to local buyers from Jerilderie, Barooga, Tocumwal, Finley, Deniliquin and Urana with the best being ‘Kingsley Chevy’ to Finley at $12,500.
Jerilderie seller Colin Bryce’s ‘Canawindra Buster’ sold for $3000 and his first dog ‘Canawindra Toughy’ was passed in.
Fellow Jerilderie local Nick Gray’s dog ‘Ned’ went for $7400, while auction co-organiser Andrew Rutherford’s kelpies ‘Mott’ sold for $4200 and ‘Heidi’ for $2750.
The average price for dogs sold at auction was $5978, beating last year’s average price of $4344.
Jerilderie Working Dogs Auction co-organiser Warwick Doolan said he was ecstatic at another record year.
‘‘There were buyers from right across Australia. We didn’t know what was going to happen so to have these results is really good for the town.
‘‘Preparations for next year’s working dog auction started on Monday.
‘‘All the money we raised goes back into the Jerilderie through local community groups,’’ Mr Doolan said.
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