And while Erin Chittock admits a feeling of responsibility weighed on her initially, now she thinks it is "pretty cool" she can continue the legacy of her father Kerry and late uncle John Chittock.
Ms Chittock, a shepherd at Stag Valley, near Lumsden, is in her second year of dog trialling "properly" and she acknowledged her father was her biggest fan.
"He loves it. If I have the tiniest bit of success, it blows all his successes out of the window," she said.
It was also special to be involved in a sport where she could compete alongside her father as not many people were able to do that.
She wore a dog whistle given to her by John Chittock, the hugely respected former Jeff Farm manager who died last year. He had a big influence on his niece and having the whistle felt like he was with her.
Ironically, Ms Chittock never thought she would ever become a dog triallist, laughing that she "almost despised them" when she was younger, dragged along with her father to clerk for him when he was judging.
"I thought, ‘why would anybody do this? It’s so boring,"’ she recalled.
Growing up on a farm in East Otago, she was always interested in dogs, particularly enjoying when there were litters of pups to spend time with.
Prominent Palmerston triallist Lloyd Smith, who had been like a grandfather to her, gave Ms Chittock her first huntaway when she was about 8. That was after one of his well-known dogs, Walter, died and she wrote him a letter.
After leaving school, she headed to Massey University to study veterinary science but, after missing out getting into second year, she went to Lincoln University and completed a degree in agribusiness and food marketing.
It was then a toss-up between an office job or the outdoors and, having always loved farming and animals, the latter won.
She went shepherding, firstly at Glenlapa in Southland for nearly three years, followed by a stint at Omakau. She has been at Stag Valley for seven months.
She had two dogs which her father looked after while she was at university — "the perks of having a Dad with dogs".
She took those two with her shepherding and quickly realised she needed a few more so she now had a team of six.
That included heading dog Snow and huntaway Frank, the two dogs she nominated for the Young Guns initiative in the South for novice triallists, under 30, who could accumulate points through the season.
It was a good way to get young people to trials and Snow was in the top five which was "pretty cool", she said.
Snow would always hold a special place; he was the first heading dog on the scene and when she ran him in the yarding at Mararoa last year, her first proper trial, the combination penned their sheep. While unplaced, she was "quietly stoked" about the result.
Training was often incorporated into her day-to-day work and there were also Wednesday night training sessions at North Range, a property managed by keen dog triallist Andrew Law and his wife Jayne.
And whenever she visited her parents at Bannockburn, there was usually a wee training session with her father.
Ms Chittock used to get nervous before her runs but now she was more confident that she knew what she was doing.
"If you act confident, I find people take you a bit more seriously."
And she had been fortunate that many of the other triallists knew her through her father and they had been very helpful.
It was a sport that you could go from "hero to zero" and it was about taking those days on the chin.
"Some of the good guys have bad days too," she said.
While there were more women competing, there were still not as many as she would like. She reckoned women tended to "overthink it a bit" while men seemed better at getting out and giving it a crack.
Ms Chittock’s ultimate goal was to qualify for the New Zealand championships.
"We’re on the right track. At the end of the day, if you’re happy with how the dog goes, that’s the main thing."
It was also "pretty cool" to be able to use her dogs both at work and for sport.
"They are pretty amazing animals," she said.
Ms Chittock was loving her non-office job, saying she could not think of anything better than being able to work outside and work with animals.
She was studying a wool technology course and also doing a Headwaters internship. Her big goal was to own a farm one day, if possible. In the meantime, she was growing her skills and continually learning.
