Dog testing community shocked by death

New Zealand Shepherd Dog Championship Captain Neil Evans will be remembered by his fellow competitors for his generosity in always offering advice to newcomers to the sport.

The close-knit dog competition community is still reeling from the loss of the veteran Whistler, who died in an ATV accident on the family farm in Omihi, North Canterbury, late last month.

Mr. Evans was widely known for his two passions, working with dogs on the farm and in competition.

His lead dog Tess was one of his favourites, having set an impressive record with two national and several island titles.

He took them to Ashburton last November as captain of the victorious New Zealand team in the two-Test series against Australia.

The team, which also included Ian Stevenson, another member of the Omihi club, Brian Dickison from Southland and Leo Jecentho from Waikato, were determined to make up for their loss to the Australians the previous year.

With Mr Evans at the helm, they amassed 311.25 points to Australia's 245.75 by the end of the first day and held on strongly in the second Test to reclaim the Wayleggo Cup.

Afterwards, he admitted that he was close to tears when they were greeted by fans at the hotel because so many people, including former captains of the New Zealand national team, had contributed to the success.

At the age of 18, he began his first experiments on his family's sheep and arable farm near Rangiora.

Neighbor Henry Eder, a well-known cattle breeder, took him under his wing and gave him a well-behaved, active puppy.

He never forgot this act of generosity and from then on he maintained the attitude of passing it on to anyone who showed even the slightest interest.

A mentor to many, he often gave away puppies and was willing to give advice.

Young volunteers have been invited to Seaview for training and for the past two years he has helped with the Growing Future Farmers programme.

One piece of advice he liked to give to the “youngsters” was to watch the top Test players at work, who “could show as much eye as the dog”.

“If you don't keep an eye on the sheep, you're always a second behind. You can learn a lot just by observing the body language of the sheep, even in the sheep pens.”

Mr Evans has been a member of the Omihi Collie Club since he and his wife Marg moved to Seaview in the late 1980s.

The small club of 15 members achieved an achievement that was hard to beat last season when Mr Evans reached the finals twice and Mr Stevenson and Ferg McLean also reached the finals at the National Championships in South Otago.

Not one to brag, Mr Evans downplayed his role and, as usual, passed the praise on to his colleagues.

Mr Stevenson said this was typical of the man he had known almost since birth.

“Neil is a great mate who is only too happy to share his knowledge with us on many topics, whether it is talking to rugby players after a game, sheep and cattle farming or his great passion – the art of training a lead dog or huntaway so that it can work optimally with its trainer.”

He said that any young or old person with natural talent, commitment and enthusiasm would have benefited from his knowledge and advice.

The New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Association paid tribute to Mr Evans in a statement.

“Neil was a highly respected and extremely successful dog handler and a good friend to many in our sport,” it said.