Murray and Dice won the long head at the North Island championships at Eltham last year, when they took sixth place in the short head and yard.
This year Nelson-Marlborough dog triallist and national representative Eion Herbert and his well-performed Storm blocked a North Island clean sweep of island and national sheep dog titles this season by winning the short head and yard title.
Storm has been one of the form dogs in New Zealand in recent seasons, helping Herbert to a national long head title in 2014, in a island and nationals career that dates back more than 30 years, and at Whangara formed a South Island quinella with Waimate triallist Paul Collins and his titles hope, Tilly.
Herbert was in the four-man national dog trials team captained by Murray Child which retained the Wayleggo Cup in transtasman tests against Australia last year.
Results were:
Long head: Paul Evans, Bryte, Ohingaiti, 98pts, 1; Murray Child, Dice, Maungakaramea, 97.5pts, 2; Dave Stuart, Gyp, Rangiwahia, 97pts, 3; Graeme Wellington, Murphy, Parapara-Makirikiri, 96.5pts, 4; Roger Tweed, Price, Waitahuna, 96.25pts, 5; Bob Bruce, Cheat, Te Aute, 96pts, 6; Neville Child, Rod, Maungatapere, 95.75pts, 7.
Short head and yard: Eion Herbert, Storm, Tapawera, 98pts, 1; Paul Collins, Tilly, Waimate, 97pts, 2; Merv Utting, Prince, Poverty Bay, 96pts, 3; Stuart Miller, Tess, Glenroy, 95.75pts, 4; Rick Aubrey, Toby, Omarama, 95.5pts, 5; Leo Edginton, Skip, Tolaga Bay, 95.25pts, 6; Brent Mathews, Reef, Makotuku, 95pts, 7.
Zig zag hunt: Simon Prouting, Vince, Weber, 98pts, 1; Dave Stuart, Gus, Rangiwahia, 97.75pts, 2; Gerard Brown, Tempo, Dannevirke, 97.5pts, 3; Trevor Rumbal, Thug, Taumarunui, 97.25pts, 4; Chris Baker, Storm, Piopio, 97pts, 5; Leo Edginton, Gavin, Tolaga Bay, 96.75pts, 6; Troy MacDonald, Jude, Putaruru, 96.5pts, 7.
Straight hunt: Vaughan Marfell, Torque, Masterton, 97pts, 1; Murray Child, Maungakaramea, 96.5pts, 2; Colin Bayliss, Guss, Ngatapa, 95.5pts, 3; Brad Bielski, Maximus, Eltham-Tukau, 95.25pts, 4; Graeme Dickson, Bell, Egmont, 95pts, 5; Graeme Dickson, Maude, Egmont, 94.5pts, 6; Brian Sparrow, Bones, Greenvale, 93.5pts, 7.