Max holds The Australian Book of Records’ National Record Breakers accolade for setting the highest jump by a dog over 70 centimetres at Penrith Showgrounds in August 2018.

It was a breeze for the 42 kilogram Great Dane cross to jump the 3.25 metres and set the record.

And this May, Max will attempt to break his own record at the Dubbo Show.

Max first began naturally jumping rural fences at six-months-old and has gone on to win seven out of seven high jump competitions, which has earned him the nickname Winx.

Mr Tonkins is the owner of Blue Collar Canines and travels across New South Wales and up into Queensland educating dogs and their owners on conservation, training and more.

While creating a well mannered and balanced pet was a high priority for Mr Tonkins, another passion of his was changing the negative stereotypes of pig dogs, like Max, who is a working conservation pig dog.

“The stereotype of pig dogs is wrong.. nearly any breed or cross breed can be used as a working pig dog and it’s about how they’re raised and what they’re exposed to that dictates predominately what sort of dog they’re going to turn into,” Mr Tonkins said.

His advice to owners of working dogs was to have a good connection and good working relationship.

“And find out what motivates the dog and then expose it to as much as you can positively… all new experiences, all different experiences make it positive,” Mr Tonkins said.

The high jump competitions usually see Border Collie or Kelpie breeds competing, not a Great Dane cross who stands at 72cm at the shoulder. But Max has certainly broken molds as well as records.

At each high jump competition, Mr Tonkins stays on the ground, at the bottom of the board, ready to catch Max should he fall.

“It’s a trust and respect thing (between a dog and its owner), which is what I try and do with Blue Collar Canines…,” Mr Tonkins said.

“And if the dog trusts you, the dog will follow you… that’s the whole thing with him (Max), he trusts that I’m going to catch him so he’ll try and jump anything I tell him to jump….”

You can’t have an ego in the high jump competitions, Mr Tonkins said.

“He’s just an animal.. he’s not a machine. You’ve got to look after them,” he said of Max and working dogs in general.

“There’s a good saying ‘a man’s ego is a hard burden for a dog to carry’, which is so true.”

The world record is 3.72m.

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