I am a founding committee member of the Koolie Club of Australia and since it's inception have been an executive committee member and club registrar. I have also along with Tjukurpa undertaken quite a bit of research on the history of the breed and as time permits hope to do a lot more.
The Koolie is an Australian working dog breed, it is not German or American, but evolved in Australia in the mid 1800's. Some claim they are German and by the club not using German any more they are not true to the heritage, there is no such breed in Germany as the German Coolie/Collie/Koolie. There is a similar working breed the Tiger that more than likely came to Australia with German immigrant farmers and the pronounciation and normal problems of translation created a new name with time. Koolie has always been equally used as much as Coolie which is often confused with Collie. Just by starting the club one name had to be used for incorporation of the club etc so Koolie was decided upon for it's distinctiveness as much as anything. Those people who tout the German Coolie name all used Koolie originally but to have something controversial to try and discredit the club with they have chosen to hold up the name as a great crime against the Koolie instead of getting on and educating people about a wonderful breed.
As registrar I have set up the Koolie Register and registered over 450 dogs since April 2000, it has been a big job but one of great satisfaction. It has also been a source of amazement to see the number of dogs and owners that have become known to us, our priority has been to bring current koolie owners together, not to just sell the breed to new people and marketing as some newcomers to the breed do. These are special dogs and it is important to us that as many koolie owners as possible have input into the decisions on the future of the breed for the good of the breed. For this reason we are not rushing to lay down a standard and will not tell people how to breed there dogs. Farmers and stockmen have done a marvelous job breeding these dogs to retain their working instincts first and formost...we will not tell them how the dog should look or make them conform to a standard. Our aim is to encourage farmers to the club as they hold the largest gene pool and breeding stock, if we were to dictate such things as size and style before working ability they would walk away and those traits we value most would be lost to the register and we would be left with pretty dogs. We accept that this is a very long term project and rushing the beginning will ruine the end.
As registrar I have also been working directly with Genetic Science Services on collection of DNA from koolies (I am an authorised collector for GSS) and working closely with their scientist to colate the data, in the hope that at some time we may be able to uncover a koolie gene. This may seem far fetched to some, but some breeds have already been discovered and if you don't try you will never succeed. We are also able to use this data to at least point the direction of who's blood lines are related to who's, with modern travel purchasing a koolie in Queensland doesn't mean it is not related to one in South Australia. I am also in the process of implement the Koolie Pedigree Assurance Program, which certifies those koolies that have been DNA tested and are permanatly identified, usually by micro-chip. This has been very rewarding work and it has thrilled me how many members have taken up the testing knowing the benifits to the breed are so big.
My husband and I have owned and bred working koolies for 20 years, we have now bred our 5th generation koolie and some of the offspring have gone onto to breed another generation for our owners. Our dogs are very dear to us, but are also valuable members of our workforce, although we are not versed in training working dogs our koolies have thrilled us with the work they can do from instinct.
We also run a Jersey dairy cow stud in Australia, which has brought us success with breeding what finished last year the number 1 jersey bull in Australia. Our herd at times has been listed the number 1 genetic rated herd in the country also. We have bred 11 bulls in the current top 200 AI bull list in Australia.
We also run a small miniature horse stud and are enjoying the pleasures of breeding and training these little gems.
I also enjoy photographing all of the above, some of which can be found at our incomplete website at http://www.silhouettefarm.biz. I hope to complete this soon, but find running off to research koolies, or meet members gets first attention.