Forget the usual one syllable Wag, Tip and Snow and their ilk - Mr Murney (34) has Disco, Jandals, Beyonce, Graham, Angela and China among the canines in his kennels.
He was campaigning two dogs at the Oamaru Collie Dog Club's 61st annual trials at McMillans' property at Waianakarua yesterday - Angela, a huntaway, and Mac, a more traditionally named heading dog.
He liked "original" names, saying some were named "after past girlfriends and stuff like that", although he admitted he had never had a girlfriend called Beyonce.
Mr Murney, who grew up in Waimate, has been working as a shepherd at Dome Hills at Livingstone since August last year. He has 10 dogs, including three pig dogs.
He had his first two open dog trial wins last year, at Mt Nessing and Waimate, with huntaway Jed, and he qualified for and competed at last year's national championships. Unfortunately, Jed died two weeks ago.
He is hoping to qualify for this year's national championships at Gore and needed another four points for Mac and six for Angela. Mac was "going pretty good", while Angela probably needed to go to a few more trials, he said.
The Oamaru Collie Dog Club's trials continue today.
