From the bar to Benalla

From the bar to Benalla

By Edward McLeish

Pacho is a big boy for a two-year old golden retriever, and his owner Anna O’Callaghan is about to treat him to a weekend at the family farm.

Anna is a self-employed barrister and said after Pacho’s first day at the office, on a casual Friday, they’ll drive up to Benalla for a weekend of dam swimming.

“Today, I’ll just take him out for little walks and coffee breaks,” she said. 

“It’s a lot easier to bring in dogs when you work for yourself.”

When CBD News met Pacho last month, Anna wasn’t in court and was just doing office work, so Pacho, who can handshake and loves a pat, provided her with great company.

“I think the bar is pretty dog friendly – there’s a lot of people that do it,” she said.

There’ll be cattle and sheep for Pacho to play with in Benalla, but Anna told CBD News he preferred to stay with the family.

“I think if he would [mix with the cattle and sheep] he could, but I think for his own safety, we wouldn’t let him,” she said.

“He gets to just run around and jump in dams and get really dirty and do all that dog stuff. There are so many smells for him to investigate.”

Pacho is on a relatively healthy diet; his favourite things to eat are peanut butter, sweet potato and couches.

According to Anna, he’s a good boy, but there was a phase where “he wanted to chew everything”.

Luckily, he’s out of it now. 

“I think he just got a burst of hormones,” she said.

Pacho’s name means “free” in Spanish.

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