It’s estimated that Australians own an estimated 4.8 million dogs, about 1 for every 5 people – one of the highest rates of dog ownership in the world. Guy Hull shows how the dog was pivotal to the foundation of agricultural Australia and the wool and cattle industries – it’s hard to imagine that we’d have built our country on the sheep’s back without the dog. He brings the latest research on the first dog’s arrival – the dingo, an Asian dog – which only happened between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago – at least 55,000 years after the arrival of the aboriginal people. The first dogs brought into the infant colony at Sydney Cove played a vital role in guarding stores, crops and domestic livestock. And they were invaluable when hunting kangaroos, a valuable food source. In the starving colony of the first few years this may have tipped the balance between survival and extinction for the First Fleet settlers. Thank you dogs! Note: the kangaroo dog – a cross between Scottish deerhounds (stamina) and smooth coated greyhounds (speed) – worked in pairs to bring down kangaroos. They soon found as much favour with aboriginal people as with the white settlers. He tells the stories of the heelers and the kelpies, how the breeds came about and of their feats as cattle and sheep dogs. You’ll learn about extraordinary police dogs, but also about the little home-grown terriers that protected the homestead and the garden. Best of all, Guy Hull writes like a thriller writer. If you love dogs and history, then you’ll love every of the 368 pages in this riveting book.
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