Whether you want a dog, want to farm, want to compete, or just want to know, Sheepdog Training is an enlightening read from Glyn Jones, a third-generation expert sheepdog handler. Learn a compassionate, dog-centered approach to raising and training herding dogs, from choosing a dog to preparing for competitions.

The New York Times–bestselling author Donald McCaig has established an expansive literary career, founded equally on books about working sheepdogs and the Civil War novels Jacob’s Ladder and Rhett Butler’s People, the official sequel to Gone with the Wind. In his new book, Mr. and Mrs. Dog, McCaig draws on twenty-five years of experience raising sheepdogs to vividly describe his—and his dogs June and Luke’s—unlikely progress toward and participation in the World Sheepdog Trials in Wales. McCaig engagingly chronicles the often grueling experience—through rain, snow, ice storms, and brain-numbing heat—of preparing and trialing Mrs. Dog, June, "a foxy lady in a slinky black-and-white peignoir," and Mr. Dog, Luke, "a plain worker—no flash to him." Along the way, he relays sage advice from his decades spent talking with America’s most renowned dog experts, from police-dog trainers to positive-training gurus. As readers of McCaig’s novels will expect, Mr. and Mrs. Dog delivers far more than straightforward dog-training tips. Revealing an abiding love and respect for his dogs, McCaig unveils the life experiences that set him on the long road to the Welsh trial fields. Starting with memories of his first dog, Rascal, and their Montana roadtrip in a ’48 Dodge, McCaig leads us into his thirties, when he abandons his New York advertising career to move to a run-down Appalachian sheep farm in the least populous county in Virginia. This 1960s agrarian adventure ultimately brings McCaig, Luke, and June to the Olympics of sheepdog trials. In his narration of one man’s love for his dogs, McCaig offers a powerful portrayal of the connection between humans and their animal companions.

Whether you are interested in working dogs for a hobby, on the ranch, or for serious trial competition, Stockdog Savvy will be an invaluable aid. Beginning with chapters on herding dog characteristics, instinct, and choosing a herding dog, the Taylors explain how to prepare your puppy and do basic foundation training. The book progresses to starting the dog on stock and developing a useful working dog and ends with advanced lessons and preparing for the various types of competition. If you want to learn about working stockdogs, this is the book for you! Learn how to: • Select, care for and train a working stock dog. • Teach your dog to work cattle, sheep, goats, foul or exotic livestock. • Choose the right type or breed of livestock, care for and handle them correctly. • Train a dog for work on a ranch, the open range, or in the trial pen. • Recognize more than 60 different herding breeds and much, much more.

Accompanied by explanatory text, color photographs and illustrations 'Talking Sheepdogs' guides the reader from beginner stage to effective working sheepdog right through to supreme championship level using 'the Scrimgeour method of sheepdog training. With plenty of 'sheepdog dog' and ancedotes to make this book an enjoyable as well as information book Derek takes the reader through the special relationship, starting a pup, basic commands and driving, the good and bad moves, introducing the stop, good foundations and starting trialling making this the key reference for anyone wanting to training their sheepdog for farm work.

Think Like A Sheepdog Trainer looks at the ancient art of sheepdog training through the lens of science-based learning theory and behavior analysis. It is designed to help you understand how and why a method works and to give you the tools for setting up and evaluating training plans and for approaching training problems in a logical, evidence-based manner. While there are good sheepdog training books available, almost all of them assume the reader has a basic knowledge of sheep and sheep behavior, the skill and experience to train a dog to do complex behaviors, the ability to figure out training steps on their own, and a clear mental picture of what a properly trained herding dog should look like. This book covers several topics that will help you become a more successful sheepdog trainer. Here’s what you can expect: 1. We discuss in detail how to train, manage and communicate with your dog before you take him to sheep. Without a proper relationship and training foundation, working stock with your dog is extremely difficult. 2. We introduce you to science-based learning theory and explain how it can be used to speed up and improve your ability to train your dog. We demonstrate how to evaluate and analyze training techniques so you can choose which ones work best for you and your dog. 3. We describe and discuss the physical and mental traits a sheepdog trainer must cultivate to succeed. People aren’t born as excellent trainers; training is a learned skill that must be practiced and refined. 4. We explain the behavior and handling of sheep. Understanding and knowing how to properly control sheep is essential to your journey in the world of sheepdog training. Many newcomers to herding have no previous experience with sheep. We provide some basic sheep handling exercises to improve your ability to control livestock. 5. We offer detailed lesson plans that break down training sessions into very small and clearly explained steps that a novice handler can apply on her own. This should help you with developing a daily lesson plan, a goal for that day’s lesson and a way to evaluate how you and your dog are progressing. You will discover that having a training plan and metrics to evaluate that plan will help you train faster and more efficiently. 6. Finally, we give you ways to think about training problems and how to approach and solve them in a logical, evidence-based manner. Because people have been training dogs and herding with dogs for many years, some of the methods described here are similar to those found in other books and from other sources. We have chosen training approaches that are widely used, least aversive and easily understood and implemented by an inexperienced trainer. You will find our sources in the resources and recommended reading section at the end of the book. Remember, sheepdog training is a lifelong journey. You will learn something new with every dog you train and with every competition that you enter. We hope this book will help make that journey a little easier. *This book focuses on training Border Collies for United States Border Collie Handlers Association(USBCHA) type trials, but the information is applicable to all herding breeds and herding venues.

Provides a detailed and comprehensive discussion of the principles behind the training of working dogs. Australian author.