More than a 200 dogs and their handlers descended on Young over the weekend for the 2026 NSW Yard Dog Championships.

Taking place over three days from Friday, May 15 to Sunday, May 17, more than 200 dogs and 70 handlers competed across 6 classes to take home the top place in their class.

Hosted separately to the Young Show yard dog events later in the year, organisers say the championship is a major standalone competition on the NSW working dog calendar.

Event organiser Chloe Muggleton said it was a good weekend, with the quality of dogs on display great, and everyone gave their best shot across all of the classes.

"The stockmanship was really good, everyone's sportsmanship was amazing," she said.

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Sean and his dog Jerry and their mates Nev and Will enjoying the rare sunny day.

Ms Muggleton said it was great to see a range of handlers come to take part and the quality of the dogs was pretty awesome.

To match the quality of the dogs, there were 900 sheep provided on Friday and Saturday for the competition and these sheep proved to be a match for the competitors, with only a couple getting around in the Open course.

On Sunday, the championships were provided with 600 sheep, which also proved to be a challenge with not all competitors being able to get around the course.

Ms Muggleton said while this was pretty tough for the handlers and their dogs, this is what they want for a state championships.

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Coming up next locally will be the yard dog trials at the Young Show in September and in April next year the town will host the Australian Yard Dog Championships, which will see some of the best in the country coming to compete.

Among the results to come out of the day include:

Community award: Justin Tombs

Junior Handler of the year: Angus Armstrong

Bitch of the year: Toni Elton- Lucy

Dog of the year: Dean Incher- Hulk

Female Handler of the year: Emelia Stokehill

Rookie of the year: Chloe Muggleton

Handler of the year: Jake Varena

The 2026 NSW Yard Dog Championships Open Class winner was Brad Watts with his dog Chilly. Thomas Woolford and his dog Mac claimed second place and Dean Incher and his dog Hulk rounded out the top three.