How do you teach an Australian stumpy-tailed cattle dog to ride a million kilometres behind the wheel of a motorcycle?

Start by pushing the dog sitting on the motorbike up and down the driveway, said Tex O'Grady who owns the dog, Bundy. Then a lap of the block. Turn the engine on next time. "Eventually that block becomes a lap of Australia," Mr O'Grady said.

Tex O'Grady and Bundy, who have ridden 1 million kilometres by motorbike for charity. Credit:Helen Nezdropa

Eleven years of riding around Australia turned into 1 million kilometres (without a scratch or a crash) late last month when the two were returning from a quick 3000-kilometre round trip to Broken Hill.

Bundy, 11, and Mr O'Grady, 61, are both recovering from trauma. Bundy broke her back and was paralysed when she was four. She was rehabilitated, with the help of a long support sling under her back, fan letters from children urging the dog and her vet to keep going, and physiotherapy that Mr O'Grady still does before and after long rides.