Why some station's don't take dogs

Here's a succinctly and well written piece telling us why a lot of properties won’t allow you to bring your dogs with you.

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NO DOGS ALLOWED

Let's talk about dogs. Everyone loves them, and so do we. The 'no dogs' condition is very common on cattle stations and every time we advertise a position vacant, we come up against the old dilemma...

"No dogs? But I have a dog, can I bring him, he's a good dog..."

No, you cant.

But why - isn't that a little unfair. Doesn't every man have a dog? Every family have a dog?

Every country girl loves her dog?

Well, here's some of our reason's why.

1. We'll start with barking, because that's the one that pisses everyone off the most. I know your dog hardly barks, that's what we all think. But full moon, dark moon, half moon, full shadow, little shadow, windy night, still night, dogs bark at things. Sometimes the owners sleep right through, sometimes the owners have to get up and stop their dog from barking. Either way, someone is pissed off.

They wont bark if they're in your room. But you are not keeping your dog in your room, because we provide your accommodation, and no, dogs do not live in the room we supply for you.

*Memories of scrubbing the floor after that one bloke let his dog sleep under his bed on a painted concrete floor for a whole year. Ticks. Fleas. Yuck*

2. Chooks, poddy calves, horses, other peoples dogs. Read: dead chooks, bitten calves, chasing horses, fighting with other peoples dogs.

3. Dingoes. Them on heat. Your female dog on heat. Them prowling around, making your dog bark (see # 1).

4. 1080 baits. No, you cant take your dog to work all day everyday, this is why. We have a wild dog problem, and we treat that problem. And no, you are not leaving your dog at the homestead all day for someone else to look after (see #1 & 2).

5. Cages, chains & crap. Yes, dogs crap. Every station has seen a lot of dogs live in their own crap because their loving owner couldn't give a crap about the crap. And yes, dogs on the property will be chained or caged (see #2 & 3 & 4).

6. Exercise. (See # 5). Yes, your dogs need exercise. Some people do exercise their dogs, some people don't. We don't allow 'dont's' because 'don'ts dogs bark & crap (see #1 & 5), but you'll be offended if I tell you when you need to exercise your dog because guess what - its your dog. See # 8.

7. Dogs at work. Chasing cattle. Being tied up on a hot Toyota in the sun (or taking up a front seat where staff are meant to sit?).

8. Arguments. We all live here. Sometimes people don't love dogs or your dog as much as you do.

Yes, we do have dogs here. They live in cages and are let out for exercise morning & night. Some of them have their very own job, and they are all educated to living here - and they all follow the rules.

We have staff who have lived on the property for a long time, who have bought a dog here - those staff have our blessing. Until you know us, know the job, know the environment, know the responsibilities of living on our property, you can not bring a dog. I know your dog is amazing. Bring them later, when we know you are amazing.

c/o Aileron Pastoral Holdings - Aileron Station

May 3, 2018

(BTW those two are our much loved 3-legged dogs, Rocky & Benny).

First posted to RFTTEJOBS blog July 2023 | Newsletter 17th November 2023