TWO purebred dingoes — on leads — turned heads in Collie last Thursday.
Bassendean woman Toni George’s two pets came with her when she visited her mother Lorraine Bamford at ValleyView Residence.
Eight-year-old Chloe, an Alpine dingo-tropical dingo crossbred, and two-year-old purebred Alpine dingo Banjo were photographed at ValleyView and outside the Collie Visitor Centre, when Toni and a friend dropped in to pick up some souvenirs.
Both were rescue dogs and both had been neutered, she said.
Chloe had originally been living with a family but fell on hard times. She had given birth to many pups then her family, or at least the mother, decided she was no longer wanted.
A truckie wound up with her and he felt a kangaroo carcase every so often was adequate feed.
“The WA Dingo Association rescued her and I took her from them,” Toni said.
Banjo’s story was rather different. “He was bought and his owners paid good money for him,” Toni said. “But, they could not keep him in their yard and eventually handed him into the Mandurah pound.”
Pound staff knew she was looking for another dingo so rang and offered him to her.
Acquiring her native dogs was obviously very special to her. She “fell in love with them” and still remembers the day each joined her household — Banjo on March 26 last year and Chloe on August 28.
Dingoes are not easily trained to do tricks, she said, though hers “sit for treats”. Chloe adds a little extra, she raises a paw.
Generally dingoes are more independent than other dogs, like cats.
“Mine are like a cross between a professor and a kid with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — they have a very short attention span,” Toni said.
She has no problems with them trying to kill cats or other smaller animals. Chloe and Banjo live with her three cats “and get on with them quite well”.
