Why Hunterville loves the Huntaway
If you ask most people to picture a sheepdog at work, they'll probably imagine a dog silently creeping across a paddock, staring down a mob of sheep.
A Huntaway does things a little differently and you'll probably hear it before you see it.
Big, strong and famously vocal, the New Zealand Huntaway was developed for a job that traditional sheepdogs weren't always suited to, moving large mobs of stock across New Zealand's sprawling, steep and often rugged hill country.
And if there's one town that understands the importance of a good Huntaway, it's Hunterville (Paraekaretu).
A dog made for New Zealand
As sheep farming expanded across New Zealand during the late 1800s, farmers found that traditional sheepdogs brought here from Britain were excellent workers, but New Zealand farming presented some very different challenges.
Farms could be enormous. Flocks were large. The country could be steep, covered in scrub and difficult to see across.
A dog could disappear over a ridge or into a gully while its shepherd remained hundreds of metres away. So farmers began selecting and breeding dogs for their strength, stamina, intelligence, and importantly, they wanted a dog with a really good bark.
Unlike heading dogs, which generally work stock quietly using movement and eye contact, Huntaways were bred to use their voices to move sheep forward.
That deep, repeating bark could carry across the hills, letting the shepherd know where their dog was working while encouraging sheep out of gullies, scrub and other places where they might otherwise be difficult to shift.
Exactly which breeds contributed to the development of the Huntaway remains uncertain. Which is why even today Huntaways can look surprisingly different from one another. That didn't matter to farmers. What mattered was whether the dog could do the job.
So, why Hunterville?
Take a look at the country surrounding Hunterville and the connection starts to make sense.
This is sheep and beef country. Rolling farmland giving way to the steep hills and valleys that have shaped farming in this part of Rangitīkei for generations.
Here, a good working dog isn't simply a companion. It's part of the team.
Hunterville has embraced that relationship so completely that today it proudly calls itself the Huntaway Capital of the World.
Standing beside State Highway 1 is the town's Huntaway statue, celebrating the working dogs that have become such an important part of New Zealand farming life. But once a year, Hunterville takes that appreciation considerably further.
Things get a little... Shemozzley
In 1998, Hunterville locals Tony Theed, Richard Horrocks and Thomas Powell, were sitting in the local pub when they came up with an idea.
Inspired by the Cardrona Shepherd's Run, they wanted to create their own race.
Hunterville didn't have a mountain. It did, however, have a pretty steep hill and apparently, that was close enough.
The result was the Shepherds' Shemozzle, an annual celebration of working dogs, farming and rural life that now attracts thousands of people to the town, where shepherds and their Huntaways take on a gruelling adventure race together.
Exactly what competitors will encounter along the way has traditionally been part of the fun.
Add Huntaway dog trials, the famous Bark Up, speed shearing, children's races, entertainment and thousands of spectators, and for one day each year this small Rangitīkei town gets considerably less small.
The 2026 Hunterville Huntaway Festival takes place on Saturday 31 October.
More than a statue
The Huntaway might be celebrated in Hunterville with a statue and a festival, but head out onto the surrounding farms and you'll find the real thing doing what it was developed to do.
Working.
For generations, these dogs have helped farmers move stock across some of New Zealand's toughest country. They're not particularly concerned about pedigrees or looking good for the camera.
Give them a mob of sheep, a hillside and plenty of room to work and they're considerably happier. Perhaps that's why the Huntaway feels so at home in Hunterville.
Practical. Hard-working. A little bit noisy.
And unmistakably rural New Zealand.
