Little did we know what was around the corner. These two sheepdogs changed our lives!
This photo of Dot and Glen in the boot of Gill’s car, after a January training session, brought memories flooding back to us. Once Dot (left) and later Glen came along, our sheepdog training took on a much more serious and informed nature.
Gill and I had been living here at Kings Green Farm for a shade over a year. Dot had come into our lives at our previous home, and was an excellent farm dog. However, as I was finding it hard to train her for sheepdog trials, we bought Glen. He’d been successful in East of England nursery trials. We felt he’d help us to move things along in competitions.
He certainly did that. After a fairly lengthy settling-in period. He was four when we bought him, and older dogs take much longer to settle in with their new owners than puppies or young dogs do. Glen was quite successful in both novice and open trials.
He also proved that shortcuts in sheepdog training are of limited use. To get the best out of sheep dogs you really do need to understand dogs and how (and why) they work. You also need to know a surprising amount about sheep behaviour and how they react to dogs. At the time, I wasn’t aware of any of it. Glen’s experience and good nature were hiding my incompetence as a sheepdog handler. Dot and Glen were the two sheepdogs that changed our lives for the better.
Glen was no farm dog
Glen had a completely different nature to Dot. He was very steady and reserved, while Dot’s approach could be fast and aggressive. Glen never really adapted to work as a farm dog though. He was a perfectionist and too submissive to move stubborn sheep. Dot, by contrast, was happy to assert herself at any time! Studying the two of them led me to realise that, although the basic principles are the same when you train a sheepdog, to get the very best out of your dog you need to understand your dog’s nature. Every dog is different.
Once I understood this I learned to assess each dog’s strong and weak points and train them accordingly. A sheep dog like Glen needed a gentle approach and lots of encouragement to increase his confidence. Dot would interpret a polite, gentle word from me as a licence to carry on at top speed! I found that if I was firm though, she respected it. My ideas worked time and time again with other dogs. They obviously work for other people too because, quite soon, I gave up my work as a commercial photographer to concentrate on our growing pack of dogs and running the website.
Our first sheepdog training DVD
Gill noticed that I had something to offer novice trainers, and encouraged me to make a DVD about training sheepdogs. First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training was born! (Sadly, the DVD is no longer available, but most of it is available on our Online Sheepdog Training Videos (watch the video below for more details).
After I’d spent a year or two of running the website, juggling DVD sales, training our own dogs, and holding regular training courses, Gill left her full-time job as editor of an industrial magazine. She began to work with the dogs too. Not long after, we began uploading tutorial videos to the internet so that people could watch them online. The tutorials have proved to be popular too, so Gill and I have been able to work together ever since!
What a huge change Dot and Glen brought about! Strange though it might seem, these two sheepdogs changed our lives. We owe them such a lot.
WE CAN HELP YOU TRAIN YOUR DOG TO WORK SHEEP, CATTLE OR OTHER LIVESTOCK
If you’re interested in training a dog to work sheep, cattle, or other livestock, we can help you – whether you’re a complete beginner, or just wanting to improve.
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