Key Reading

• 50 years a student of sheepdogs
  In recognition of my half-century of being a student of collies I want to celebrate their skills as masters of my learning.
• A Cue or not a cue?
  With thoughtful planning and a good understanding of the relevance of antecedent selection we can teach the dog the skills of sorting the wheat from the chaff, finding the bones of the exercise. This skill is critical to being able to distinguish between distractions, which are just cues for an alternative reward opportunity, and cues which signify a guarantee of success.
• A Family of Multiple Dogs
  Another addition is not just an extra bed and bowl. It is important to build a home that is healthy, content and well-balanced.
• A Road to Nowhere
  When familiarity is stripped away we seek recognisable signposts that will take us back to comfort and security. This is survival instinct. It is worth listening to as it keeps us alive.
• And Why Can’t He Refuse?
  I bristle at the insistence that a dog will assent to any request we make if they understand what we’re asking and if the rewards we offer are of sufficient value
• Any Dog But a Collie
  After deciding I wanted to live with a dog, the only dog I ruled out was a Border Collie.
• Back to Basics?
  The word “basic” is often derided as synonymous with “shallow,” but in its origins it is the very opposite: foundational, profound, supportive.
• Chasm opening up?
  The more I see “sit, down, come, stay heel” as the essential basics the more I am moving further away from the general view of living with dogs.
• Construction or suppression
  Looking at the way the behaviour is carried out is the most important element, and that is the product of all the considerations.
• Cue Seeking is Connection
  Connection is very individual and to be authentic we have to observe, slow down, understand our dogs and meet them where they are.
• Do you see what I see
  Doing better is the reward from doing the work. This work needs to be the right work at the right time with the right intent done in the right way.
• Dogs are Born To Learn
  We can build tremendous learners when we get beyond the idea that “dogs are trained”.
• Don’t Let Them Learn
  Becoming aware that we share our lives with premier learners, dogs, is about saving you frustration, despair, anxiety and endless hours further down the road.
• Ethos: A Personal Trust Pilot
  Experience changes our ethos. There are many pathways that will broaden our choices.
• Guidance is not dependence
  Guidance can be the lightest change in contingencies, an extra antecedent. I can place a palette of different paints and brushes next to the chair. It doesn’t mean you need to paint the chair, you could sit on the chair and paint your own shoes, but just the presence of the tools would give you guidance.
• Heartbeat of living with dogs
  I like to regard a “teacher of dogs” as someone who meets dogs in their world and teaches them how to be their best whilst living alongside us in our world.
• In praise of naughty dogs
  .. a desire for solutions to problems that weren’t problems until someone else outside of the relationship suggested they were.
• It’s Not Training
  A carefully planned learning pathway, paced to suit that particular learner for their life ahead.
• Location is Their Cue
  We begin teaching the dog to go to a target, such as a mat or platform and in this process our focus is on the outcome – the dog can place feet on the object or settle down. But at the same time this learning is happening the dog is also noting the location: where this is happening in this room, in the house, relative to the food-machine (you).
• No room for mechanics
  If your ambition is to have good mechanics in communication to animals then you may find yourself blocked into a tight corner
• Normal is always changing
  What was normal in training 20 or 40 years ago is not the same today. There are folk persistently maintaining the normal of 1976, but fortunately there are enough folk with a deeper understanding of the processes that have moved normal forwards.
• Not Today and Not for My Sheepdogs
  Standard protocols of extinction, impulse control, counterconditioning are quickly grabbed off the shelf as satisfactory solutions. These solutions are unlikely to help your collie, your sheepdog as the focus is heavily on suppression of who they are and why they live.
• Play Health Check
  When we look at play or food delivery as an ACTIVITY we share the same mindset as the dog: is there pleasure to be experienced?
• Science Doesn’t Have All the Answers
  We lean on science in our efforts to bridge the gap as though it provides the answers to how things should be rather than describing how things are understood.
• Shaping by rewards
  When I see a dog showing a behaviour that is heading towards potential conflict, my first question is “what rewards are available?”
• Since the Dawn of Dog Training
  The old joke reminds us that the only thing dog trainers can agree on is that their training method in the best one. It becomes increasingly difficult to know which method is "right" and whether it will suit the dog, the situation and trainer's skills.
• The Answers Await Discovery
  The idea that we’re responsible for our dogs’ learning might well seem strange when we consider how we conceptualise “training:”
• The choice of lure
  Luring teaches trainers essential skills. We learn how to use suggestion and guidance to shape behaviours. We learn how to explain dynamic movement in the cues from our hands. In combination with reinforcement, luring has without doubt, been one of the skills I value most as a trainer.
• The Cost of Cherrypicking
  When we admit that the ideas we’re sharing are derived from the work of others, we demonstrate our own commitment to learning
• The Experienced Dog
  Knowing your dog has receive sufficient preparation does not mean every eventuality, but a range of different conditions so that when the unexpected happens they will draw on their skills and solve the issue.
• The Fade-in Protocol
  Even though today we are surrounded by many available protocols for teaching with positive reinforcement, there is still a persistence that a dog should be set-up to make an error. An error is simply the difference between my expectation and the dog’s response. No more "distractions", but faded-in environments.
• The Right Bed in the Right Spot
  Resting and sleeping are not necessarily the same state. Good sleep where we feel safe and comfortable is important for us all.
• The Spaces Between
  At the heart of learner-centred education, the teacher acts as a guide whose role is to elicit rather than to impart, and learners quickly become empowered and equipped to transfer their knowledge and skills to new scenarios.
• The Value of Experience
  The non-experienced, or current generation of imposters, have attended a course, read a book, got a certificate and have yet to gain experience to deepen their knowledge or understanding of the subject, protocol, method ...
• The Whole of The Dog
  We cannot divide training into compartments of fast recalls, or sit for greeting, or loose leads as everything we ask of the dogs is interrelated.
• Think carefully
  We cannot presume a cue is a reinforcer unless we can shape a new behaviour using that cue as the marker. Read carefully. Think carefully. Consider multiple perspectives. Sometimes it seems easier to let someone else do the thinking for you and just copy, but we need to become thoughtful trainers.
• What is a Trainer?
  I know what I am, as a trainer. But does my view of “A Trainer” coincide with, or even overlap with yours?
• What Words Conceal
  The language across all kinds of media paints a picture of dogs and our relationships with them.
• What’s Cooking? A Warning About Recipes
  Recipes for “training” dogs are so prevalent in how we live with and talk about them that their existence often goes unquestioned.
• When we train a dog it grows
  Most training starts from necessity. Management is a necessity but it usually benefits all parties by a reduction of conflict. Are they expanding their skills to benefit us or for their benefit?
• Why add fun?
  When an activity gives intrinsic pleasure we do not need to add fun.