Motto, 3, Archer, 17 months, Rata, 5, and Harley, 4, make up the majority of the South Island team of five dogs going to Auckland on Labour Day weekend to compete at the National Dog Training Assembly, an obedience competition.
The hounds and their handlers — Sallie Remon, Reece Smith, Alex Clarke and Shay-ruby Wickham — belong to the Taieri Canine Training Club.
Mrs Remon said the event was quite special and they had been doing a lot of training in preparation for it.
It was a pretty costly exercise taking care of the show dogs.
One member of the club had spent about $5000 this year just on entry fees for competitions.
The dogs received physiotherapy and hydrotherapy as a part of their training regimes.
"They’re canine athletes," Mrs Remon said.
Depending on their grades, the dogs will be judged on their on- and off-lead behaviour, retrieval skills and ascent capability.
Two other dogs from the club have been selected in the agility team from the lower South Island (south of Timaru) to take part in the New Zealand Dog Agility Championship in Cromwell, also on Labour weekend.
Bond, 21 months old, and Ember, 6, as well as handlers Louise Marsh and Richard Powley will take part in a course that tests agility using jumps, tunnels and A-frame ramps.
Ms Marsh said Bond had a solid base and only required about five minutes of routine training a day.
