INTRODUCING: an aspiring author living in Winton, Western Queensland with her two dalmations and her two cats. Fae le Friz spends her days as the local rural postie, her nights writing and her weekends as a tarot reader.

When sixteen year old Richard 'Dick' Dyre is paid for his station work with the pick of the litter, he was expecting the dog in question to be a border collie or a kelpie - not a dalmation! But Dick has always dreamt of upstaging his older siblings at a dog trial with his own four-legged partner, and what could be more upstaging than to beat them with a breed that hasn't been a shepherding dog in centuries?

On top of that, Dick is still at boarding school, where pets are strictly prohibited. Can he train and keep Bother on school grounds in secret without getting caught?