Sheep dog trials: Phoebe battles to defend dog trial record

Phoebe Smailes, pictured with dog Sage

Every man or in this case, girl and her dog, battled it out for points at the Ruahine-Rangiwahia Collie Club for entry to the prestigious New Zealand Dog Trial Championship.

It was the biggest day on the calendar for the small rural community of Rangiwahia in Northern Manawatu, as locals got together and hosted a top-class event for hundreds of visiting shepherds from around the North Island.

But it wasn't a friendly walk in the park. The brutal competition is something 15-year-old Phoebe Smailes knows all too well.

"Currently, I hold the record for the youngest female to ever compete in the New Zealand Dog Trials when I was 14, and I'm the youngest person to ever win an open," she said.

"It's quite a good record to hold but it doesn't really get me anything more special. I'm still treated the same as everyone else, same as the guys that have been doing it for 15 to 20 years."

Phoebe has been helping her parents run the local event ever since she was born, but she quickly worked out where the real action was.

"Dad had a dog in the kennels that wasn't really going very well for him, so I thought I'd have a burn myself and she went real good and it just sort of went from there."

She's even been called a "dog whisperer". "I don't really like to carry the dog whisperer name, I'm just the same as anyone else," she said. "I suppose I've worked really hard to get to where I am today. The hard work certainly has paid off and my friends think it's quite a good achievement for someone who is so young and still at school and trying to get an education as well."