Books on training a border collie

truebloodfan

I have a border collie pup. 8 weeks I'm going to try and train him to work cattle and or sheep. Just wondering if there's any books/DVDs out there to help me

SillyMangoX

I know there is a book out there somewhere, care of the herding dog, it has a blue or green cover and is quite small but I cant remember the name of the author. Maybe try posting on the farming forum too as Im sure they must have working dogs!

Wooly Admirer

truebloodfan wrote: »

I have a border collie pup. 8 weeks I'm going to try and train him to work cattle and or sheep. Just wondering if there's any books/DVDs out there to help me

Talk to Eamonn Egan - Teagasc advisor in Roscommon - 090 6626166. He trains dogs and put together a nice little booklet. He would be happy to send it out to you i'm sure.

Irishchick

truebloodfan wrote: »

I have a border collie pup. 8 weeks I'm going to try and train him to work cattle and or sheep. Just wondering if there's any books/DVDs out there to help me

The best person to talk to would be a farmer with a working/herding dog.

Sigma Force

There's an Irish ameteur sheepdog herding facebook page now if you're interested pm me for the link if you can't find it on there.

DBB

Sigma Force wrote: »

There's an Irish ameteur sheepdog herding facebook page now if you're interested pm me for the link if you can't find it on there.

Is this the new organisation based in south Wicklow?
Sounds like a very exciting new venture, if we're talking about the same people!
It's aimed at owners of herding breeds who'd like to exercise their dog's instincts, under the supervision and training of a skilled sheepdog trainer. The long term aim is to go national... Could be a super resource for owners!

boomerang

This one: https://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DHE172

But don't be in any rush at all. Spend the time now building up a trusting relationship with your puppy using positive reinforcement methods to teach him the building blocks of doggy obedience and you'll be off to a flying start. Sheepdog trainers put in that general groundwork first anyways and don't start the dog on sheep until they are at least a year old.

Don't do what I saw one fellow dog training student do, and let your inexperienced pet collie loose on a flock of sheep at a herding event, just to give her a taste of what she was bred to do. It didn't matter that the owner could have called her back to him anytime he wanted. The over-excited dog scattered the flock and really stressed out the poor sheep. The whole point of herding with a dog is to move sheep from A to B in the most efficient way and with the least amount of distress to the sheep. Your dog has to learn self-control around the sheep and that is why the dog's first forays into herding occur with the dog under the owner's careful control on a long line or else with a physical barrier between the dog and the sheep. The dog needs to already have rock-solid sit-stays, down-stays and recall. Those are the things you can be working on now.

Also if your collie isn't directly descended from working stock, don't be downhearted if they don't show great drive, aptitude or enthusiasm for the job. My own collie would not have made a good herding dog and she didn't enjoy agility. So after that I deferred to her and simply did the things with her that she enjoyed, rather than the things I assumed she'd enjoy, being a collie.

funny man

truebloodfan wrote: »

I have a border collie pup. 8 weeks I'm going to try and train him to work cattle and or sheep. Just wondering if there's any books/DVDs out there to help me

http://www.workingsheepdog.co.uk/

First steps in border collie sheepdog training is an excellent DVD especially for a novice, i rate it very highly and have no problem to recommend it. Good artical on training on the web-site also.