Gill

Find out how pack behaviour affects dogs, to get a better understanding of your dog. How pack behaviour affects sheepdogs This tutorial’s a little different from usual. We’re looking at dog behaviour, rather than training. “An Insight into Pack Behaviour” was originally a chapter on our “Border Collie Sheepdogs and Friends – Still Off Duty”… (Read more).

Improve control of your working sheepdog once you and the dog have mastered “Backwards is the Way Forward”. A matter of trust Walking backwards, with the dog steadily bringing the sheep up to you at your chosen pace is one of the best exercises we know. It’s particularly useful for trainee dogs, as it improves… (Read more).

Our best sheepdog training lesson, once you have control of your dog, and the dog also has basic control of the sheep or cattle. A hugely important farm dog training exercise. Our best sheepdog training exercise! It’s boring – and it might appear pointless to the novice, but walking backwards with the dog bringing the… (Read more).

Sheepdog trainers often refer to The Point of Balance but what exactly is it, and where can we find one? In this short tutorial, we discover that the point of balance is not always to be found where we might expect it to be. (Read more).

Follow the progress of two litter sisters – Bronwen and Scylla – as they learn to become sheepdogs. They might have the same parents, but their temperaments are very different and the same goes for their attitude to working sheep. (Read more).

Part 2: Sheepdog Scylla’s introduction to training – she’s not so nice! Scylla’s introduction to sheepdog training! In part one we saw how good Bronwen’s sheep control can be. We caught a glimpse of Scylla’s antics too. In this tutorial, we find out just how difficult Scylla can be when she encounters sheep. When Scylla… (Read more).

Part 3: Compare training two young sheepdogs. Bronwen gets the sheep in. Scylla’s still horrible! Bronwen struggles, Scylla’s horrible! This third tutorial in our Bronwen and Scylla series, we compare training two young sheepdogs. Bronwen struggles to get the sheep into the training ring. Once the sheep are in, we see training sessions with both… (Read more).

Part 4: Bronwen’s no angel Scylla’s improving slowly. Nobody’s perfect… In tutorial number four, Bronwen proves she’s no angel when she’s under pressure during her sheepdog training lessons! She continues to be far ahead of Scylla in terms of reliability and sheep control though. Scylla’s still working much too close to the sheep. Her tail… (Read more).

Part 5: Bronwen’s erratic while Scylla’s awful! Sheep in all directions… Scylla takes an almighty aggressive charge, and scatters the sheep in all directions. Four of the sheep leave the ring but, once under control, Scylla was impressive at times. She’s particularly good at keeping the sheep off the hurdles. Unfortunately Scylla’s lesson was brought… (Read more).