Clever Kelpies

Private lessons or board and train (near Guyra NSW).

• Tailored to your desired actions and commands.

• Training done on sheep, but applicable to other livestock.

• For dogs from 7 months old showing strong interest in stock.

  • Short cast with directional commands, fetch sheep and balance to you, no crossing, stop, walk in, call off stock, walk behind you, jump up on vehicle. Generally, requires 4 weeks minimum.

  • More advanced training also available.

Options

• Private lessons – you learning to train with your dog, on sheep ($90 cash per 1 hour lesson at my property near Guyra)

• Board and train (minimum 2 weeks) – I train dog here, 2-week progress report and a final handover session with you.

  • Week 1 $350 cash, $300 cash each successive week.

  • Payment in advance.

  • You provide your dog’s food.

  • Must be C3 vaccinated, with proof.

  • Mandatory flea and worm treatment done on arrival.

  • No fleas, ticks or heartworm here.

  • Housing is outdoor jump-up, insulated kennels in a large snake-fenced day yard (plus a coat in winter)

What results can be expected?

Four weeks of foundation training will generally result in fair to good reliability of the actions and commands taught (depends on dog) in straight-forward working scenarios.

While results do depend on the trainer and training time, of more importance is your dog’s natural abilities and work style. A dog that naturally stays well off stock is less likely to become a good yard dog, and a pushy, barky dog is less likely to become a good paddock dog, and genuinely good all-rounders are not as common as we’d like. While improvement can be made with almost all dogs, they require a lot more training to go against their natural style and under difficulty will tend to revert to their natural style.

To achieve a good working dog requires the right genetics for the jobs to be done. Training then refines the natural work of the particular dog and attaches commands to them to bring the dog under the handler’s control and direction. Choose a pup based on its parents’ and grandparents’ style (preferably seeing them in action), and even then, plenty will never be as good as their parents.

Also, dogs trained by another person may not work well for their owner unless the owner works the dog in a similar way to the trainer. An ideal option is to attend progressive lessons and train your own dog. With board and train you will have one handover training session, but one or a few more follow up training sessions are also recommended, if you are not too far away.

Foundation training does not produce a “fully trained” dog; they would be better described as “well-started”. Fully trained only comes with consistent and frequent further training by the handler with many and varied work kilometres covered by the dog.

Training is customised to your requirements, i.e. what outcome you want and the commands/cues to be used.

I will train you with your dog (all breeds).

Basic obedience examples

— Heel, Sit, Stay, Down, Come, etc, on and off lead

— Stop pulling on lead

— Stop jumping up

— Stop rushing out the door/gate

Advanced training examples:

— Tricks

— Scent

Other training examples

— Crate training

— House training

— Muzzle wearing

— Desensitisation for nail trimming, examining ears/eyes/mouth/feet, giving medicines/tablets etc

Also can address issues such as biting, reactivity, barking, digging, but these will depend on the circumstances and individual dogs.

Training at your residence (Guyra, Armidale or between)

Private lessons: $90 cash per hour.

If lessons coincide with my existing travel to Guyra or Armidale, then no travel costs.