Tully, Dusty, Mack (front) and Banjo eyeing his boss, Rob.
Tully and Dusty Ryan have it sorted ‒ their old man Rob farms at Lalalty where they have dogs, motorbikes and a canal nearby.
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And as they say, dogs take after their owners and the Ryan boys’ dogs have their priorities in order too.
“Banjo is our lawn dog, he’s a retired working dog so he just lays on the lawn, even if there’s been a frost,” Tully, aged 11, said.
Mack, a Smithfield cross blue heeler, has done a decade of hard labour as the family dog, but is in fact a true-blue hunter at heart.
“He grabs snakes by the tail and flicks them! He can catch rabbits, mice and rats too,” Dusty, aged 9, said.
The Ryans grow cereal crops and farm sheep and cattle between Barooga and Berrigan, and when time permits, there is plenty of room for adventure, for both boys and dogs.
“Mack loves swimming down the canal. He chases the ducks, who are too smart for him,” Rob said.
“They just fly away, watch him battle along, then fly back over his head.
“He’s also been supplementing his diet with rabbit for quite a while, which is why he’s so … round.”
When Country News spoke to the Ryans there were grins all round remembering the time Mack chased a rabbit up a siphon.
He managed to get his head stuck in the siphon and proceeded to charge around the yard.
While Mack appears fearless, Banjo has a softer side.
“Banjo is really scared of storms. One day we were up the hill watching a storm come in and Banjo took off,” Tully said.
“He showed up later drenched and covered in canola flowers, we reckon he was just cutting laps in the canola trying to get home to the door mat.”
The Ryan boys — Tully, Dusty, Mack, Rob and Banjo.
The Ryans rely on their current working dogs Lucy and Curly, meaning Banjo can leave the big jobs up to them, but some days he still feels the need to get involved.
“He tries to help, but just goes straight through the mob, he’s kind of blind,” Dusty said.
With autumn comes the beginning of the footy season, and as the boys prepare for Auskick, they point out that Mack tries to play too.
“He always smothers your kick with his head or he tries to mark the ball with his mouth and his paws, I think he thinks he’s human,” Tully said.
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