Man’s best friend Buddy up for hard yakka gong

Farmhand Bailey Vlahov was “stuck for names” when he bought a seven-week-old purebred kelpie about 18 months ago.

But after having a good look at man’s best friend, he fittingly named him Buddy.

Since then, Mr Vlahov and Buddy have been rounding up livestock on a Nabawa farm with 3000 sheep and 3000 cattle.

To Mr Vlahov’s mind, there’s no better farm dog.

And in August, he will set out to prove it during the national search for Australia’s hardest working pooch.

“See, they put a tracker on him and record how many kilometres he’s running, how long he runs for and how fast he’s doing it,” the 20-year-old explained.

“We find out how he did at the end of the month.“

Buddy is one of 12 dogs across Australia — and one of two in WA — competing in the 2019 Cobber Challenge, which will see the owner of the hardest-working dog land $3000.

Last year, Victorian sheepdog Boof won.

Boof ran a total of 638.1km over a three-week period while clocking an average speed of 10.62km/h.

The Cobber Challenge begins on August 12 and finishes on September 1.

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UPDATE, Aug 7: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Bailey Vlahov and his dog Buddy will no longer compete in this year’s Cobber Challenge.