The entries are rolling in for the Lawrence Gymkhana Club dog sale on Friday.
PGG Wrightson dog sale agent Warwick Howie hoped there would be up to 40 dogs in the catalogue.
About 25 dogs had been entered when Southern Rural Life contacted Mr Howie last week.
The sale would proceed no matter the number of dogs entered, he said.
PGG Wrightson cancelled the 66th annual Gore Dog Sale at Charlton Saleyards last year, citing a lack of entries at the time.
At short notice, the organisers of the Southern Indoor Charity Dog Trial held a dog sale at the Southern Field Days AgriCentre in Waimumu in August.
The dog sale being held in Lawrence this month suited the vendors because it allowed them time to get their dogs ready for sale, Mr Howie said.
"It gives them six weeks after Christmas to get their dogs into the shape they need to be to sell them."
The dogs getting a "few miles under their belt really brings them on".
Demand for working dogs was steady, despite sheep numbers dropping in the South as was the number of people wanting to train dogs.
Some experienced vendors had died, so fewer dogs were being trained, causing a drop in supply, he said.
Many farmers preferred to buy a working dog than breed a pup and train it.
"You’ve got to feed it for 18 months to get it going — that’s if it does go."
At a sale, buyers could watch a dog work and do their due diligence on the dog they buy.
"It is a lot more appealing than getting a pup and building it up and hoping it might be something."
