OBEDIENCE TRAINING BORDER COLLIES
You can start obedience training border collies from when they first come to live with you. If you think you'd like to compete in obedience then book a session because it's important that you get the behaviours you want right from the start. Puppies love learning the basics of obedience exercises in exchange for treats and early lessons will include sitting close in the heelwork position, learning the present, finish and other bits and pieces before progressing on to the more formal exercises as they get older.
Obedience Training Border Collies
Border collies need a "job" to do and without one, they invent their own. This might be chasing cars, joggers or cyclists, digging, chewing or more bizarre behaviours such as staring at shadows or reflections. They practise their "job" so often that they get really good at it and that makes them feel good, so they do it even more!
Obedience training gives your dog a job to do. I can take you through the exercises you need to train to compete in obedience shows using highly motivational techniques that your dog will love.
I can show you how to teach the everyday skills he will need to be a lovely dog to live with, as well as the more advanced obedience competition training that you will need to go on and compete in obedience, agility or rally sports.
We will cover sit, down, stay, recall, loose lead walking, wait at doors or in the crate to be released, touch a hand target so that you can guide them anywhere, such as on to the scales at the vets. We also cover life skills, which teach your puppy manners and how to be a fabulous member of the family. This involves learning to wait when he wants something instead of rushing off to get it, greeting people nicely and not jumping up, lying calmly on a mat or in his crate.
If you want to proceed into competitive obedience, or just train your dog up to competition standard, then I’d be very happy to teach you!
If your aim is to compete in obedience or rally shows, then I can help. I trained my own dogs for obedience for many years and although I didn’t get to compete as often as I would have liked due to my children being young and being a single parent (only a handful of shows a year), my dogs all advanced through the classes very quickly, all trained and winning in Class B.
My training methods involve clicker training and toy training and are fun, breaking everything down into small steps and starting the puppies off really young. We work on training that suits your dog, as it is definitely not a “one style fits all”.
We keep everything moving quickly, no boring walking the dogs round in a circle or monotonous, old-fashioned training. The dogs love it, it keeps their minds active, tires them out and training is the best part of their day!
We will cover heelwork training which is best started off when the pup is really young, just a few minutes a day. I love heelwork training!
We also cover all the exercises you need to compete: recall, retrieve, stays, scent and sendaway. Everything is broken down into really small steps and started when the puppy is very young. It’s very exciting seeing the puppies progress and they love the training.
For instance, I start training the heel position and presents in the first week of bringing a puppy home, just a few repetitions whenever you pass the treat pot. We start teaching the pup how to tug on a rope and let go on cue, so that you can reward your collie with a game of tug as well as food treats.
Obedience training border collies can be carried out in person or via video call.
Clicker training is perfect for teaching obedience, particularly in the early stages or certain exercises, such a heelwork and retrieve. Clicker training opens up communication between you and your collie and enables you to tell your dog the exact second that he has done something good, with the reward always following straight away. It’s a training technique that dogs love, understand and willingly participate in.