The bordercollietrainer BBCC

07/03/2025

We are looking forward to the next meeting in our Sheepballs ® course . I’m excited to hear how much fun the handlers are having, how much they are learning about their collie and how amazing they are finding the experience of watching their collies be real working dogs.

If you’re interested to learn more please drop us a message via the website…. New courses coming very soon.
You can be added to the waiting list 🐑🐾🐑

Welcome To The Best Border Collie Club BASED IN NORTH NORFOLK AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE A little bit about me & my border collies. I am Alison, aka The Border Collie Trainer I have trained border collies to top flight national agility competition standards, to find missing people, to find tiny items i...

06/03/2025

Hits the nail on the head…. As always https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Sdi7pzKV/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Becoming the best handler and partner for your dog starts with one powerful foundation—believing in yourself.

While believing in your dog is easy, self acceptance can be difficult, especially in the face of adversity.
Setbacks in training are inevitable; it’s how you handle those moments that will define your partnership.

Your wins won't shape you as a trainer; what you overcome empowers your development, resilience, integrity, and confidence far more than any victory ever could.
Part believing in yourself is self-acceptance. It includes not being preoccupied with what others think or say about you and letting go of expectations.

Fear of failure is probably the number 1 obstacle we see for dog/handler teams but I believe it’s important to normalize fear. It’s ok to be afraid,
‘courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s being afraid and doing it anyway’
How you rise is far more important than the fall.
—You become what you practice and rehearse. Consistent good habits lead to mastery and confidence.

Honest assessment of both yourself and your dog provide a roadmap for improvement. This clarity gives you direction and the ability to improve with purpose.
Everyone wants to do well, but some don’t want to hear that it takes time, often years of study and dedication, to be successful. It’s the work that leads to the results.

Developing self-belief includes focusing on the process, not the outcome.
Embrace that you may need to improve and change…
Humans are the only beings that can be different tomorrow, simply by making the decision to do so; an amazing opportunity.

Follow a proven methodology and believe in it.
Believe in doing the work.
Believe there is not one definition of success.
Believe in your partnership with your dog.
Believe in yourself—

macraway.com

21/02/2025

It’s not collies,… but it is pure joy 😁

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BVAezkJbM/?mibextid=wwXIfr

16/02/2025

Feeling fabulous! Today we started a new course of Sheepballs ®.
5 new teams learning lots about what makes their collie happy, learning why collies do what they do and learning to give their collies the best life .
Fancy joining us ? Pop to the website to find out more .

Welcome To The Best Border Collie Club BASED IN NORTH NORFOLK AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE A little bit about me & my border collies. I am Alison, aka The Border Collie Trainer I have trained border collies to top flight national agility competition standards, to find missing people, to find tiny items i...

12/02/2025

Just leaving this here …. Once again … perfectly written 👏👏🐑🐾👏👏

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15dEhTUbFL/?mibextid=wwXIfr

One of the most powerful steps you can take as a trainer is to change your mindset from,
‘How can I get my dog to do it’ to
‘How can I get my dog to Want to do it’—

Stress for dogs, often comes from the teacher, not the task.
For some dogs, the resentment for the phase of work that was forced upon them, stays with them and could have been avoided if the handler had changed their approach.
For example, if you make a new concept difficult, even inadvertently, such as,
having expectations of how quickly your dog should learn, how proficient he should be, the wrong set-up
or if you try to force behavior, it could be that you are creating the stress that your dog then associates with that task.
—At the onset of training, it’s extremely important to differentiate, is the training issue one you can change VS. is it a genetic predisposition, that you can improve and manage but not organically alter.

Trying to force a dog to ‘push through’ an issue that stems from their genetics (ie too much eye, inherently wide, inherently fearful etc) is almost always to the detriment of the dog.
Instead, this is when you need knowledge and experience to help your dog or the self awareness to seek help from an expert.

Just like people, dogs can get bored when you do the same thing too often,
frustrated when it’s too arduous or disheartened when too often being told ‘you’re wrong’.

Instead of trying to accelerate your dogs training timeline, focus on your consistency, development and improvement as a teacher.
It's your continuous effort to adjust to your dogs response and body language that will help your dog become the best he can be.
Handlers sometimes find themselves waiting...for the day when they, win the competition, succeed at “X” , are acknowledged by their peers, or other.
Don’t let the pursuit of tomorrow diminish the joy of today, for you or your dog.
macraeway.com

06/02/2025

Yes!!! Partnering is our aim 😁

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16FemTqk1K/?mibextid=wwXIfr

There is a saying, every time you point a finger, 3 fingers are pointing back at you…I believe this is especially true in dog training.
Trainers sometimes get caught up in their own expectations and if they don’t have positive results, it’s a shortcoming of their dog.
They put their desire and vision of success, ahead of how their individual dog needs to work to be his or her best.
Their dog—‘didn’t have enough drive, a “good dog” should be able to handle my pressure, he never liked to do X’, etc.
But more often than not, it was the method and how they executed it that never gave their dog a chance.

When agenda or ego guides the training, it can lead to shortcuts and bullying.
Dogs can be trained successfully with many different styles and techniques but there is a huge difference between a dog that has been trained with the focus on correction,
versus dogs taught with a constructive, adaptable ideology taking into account individual amount of desire, eye, excitability, maturity, feel, etc.

When the work is enjoyable and intuitive, it becomes your dogs idea to want to please.
This is true both when training young dogs and when competing at trials.
When conditions are hot, humid or difficult and you need your dog to try, dogs that are mentally invested are the ones who give their heart.
You can just train or you can partner.
macraeway.com

05/02/2025

Collies…. Ball mad often …
This made me chuckle

05/02/2025

SHEEPBALLS !!!
Harness that ball obsession!!

Sheepballs ® is here!
I’m running a set of workshops starting soon .
If you’ve got a border collie or a close cousin type breed, this is for you .
Does your collie love to control moving objects?
Does your collie seem to have boundless energy?
Would you love more connection with your collie out in the big wide world of excitement?
Check out the website for the details and to book your space .
www.thebordercollietrainer.org

03/02/2025

Sheepballs ® is filling fast 🎉

If you want to book a space please pop to the website and sign up .

The course runs over 4 Sundays
Each session is 90 minutes
Dates for the next course are

SUNDAY FEB 16TH

SUNDAY FEB 23RD

SUNDAY MARCH 9TH

SUNDAY MARCH 30TH

Here’s a bit about what to expect.

What it is

The game of Sheepballs® was devised by Kay Laurence.

It is a game played with a variety of soft balls that can be kicked, thrown or flicked.

The aim of the game

Sheepballs® is intended to allow the heritage of the collie to shine through whilst using familiar equipment, easy to master human skills and on occasion small spaces.
The combination of these components makes it an ideal and fun way for us to spend time with our collies.

We aim to give our collie the opportunity to show us their skills, to engage in the activities in the ways that they enjoy most and to use their tactical brains.

This activity gives our collies a real and meaningful way to display their heritage, their skills, and to get that all important Dopamine hit.
The activity is their way to be satisfied both physically and mentally, being able to be a sheepdog is the best feeling in the world for many collies, it’s why they might choose to chase other, less appropriate items too.

How it works

When we play the Sheepballs® games we are moving away from the typical ball games of fetch and retrieve which most collies do not engage in unless pressed to do so.
If you need to know more about this please refer to the website articles “Learning About Border Collies”

There is no reason that you can’t use the traditional sheepdog training ideas/words/ tasks as you both progress your skills.
�We would aim towards our collies being able to change direction, start or stop moving, and anticipate a release of a ball by our body language, timing and verbal cues.

Training together

I will guide you and your collie together through the activities in our practical sessions, you can go home and enjoy the practice together.

www.thebordercollietrainer.org

03/02/2025

🐑🐑 Sheepballs ® is open for booking !!!

What it is

The game of Sheepballs® was devised by Kay Laurence.

It is a game played with a variety of soft balls that can be kicked, thrown or flicked.

The aim of the game

Sheepballs® is intended to allow the heritage of the collie to shine through whilst using familiar equipment, easy to master human skills and on occasion small spaces.
The combination of these components makes it an ideal and fun way for us to spend time with our collies.

We aim to give our collie the opportunity to show us their skills, to engage in the activities in the ways that they enjoy most and to use their tactical brains.

This activity gives our collies a real and meaningful way to display their heritage, their skills, and to get that all important Dopamine hit.
The activity is their way to be satisfied both physically and mentally, being able to be a sheepdog is the best feeling in the world for many collies, it’s why they might choose to chase other, less appropriate items too.

How it works

When we play the Sheepballs® games we are moving away from the typical ball games of fetch and retrieve which most collies do not engage in unless pressed to do so.
If you need to know more about this please refer to the website articles “Learning About Border Collies”

There is no reason that you can’t use the traditional sheepdog training ideas/words/ tasks as you both progress your skills.
�We would aim towards our collies being able to change direction, start or stop moving, and anticipate a release of a ball by our body language, timing and verbal cues.

Training together

I will guide you and your collie together through the activities in our practical sessions, you can go home and enjoy the practice together.

The dates for this course are as follows

SHEEPBALLS® INTRODUCTION COURSE

This is a 4 week course, it will take place on Sunday mornings 10.30 - 12.00

Based at NR11 and NR10, full address and directions are sent with email confirmation .

Cost £85 per dog

The payment covers all 4 sessions and no refunds are given if you can’t attend a session, feedback will still be available between our meetings

There will be an introductory session for humans only followed by 3 sessions where you will bring your collie and train in a secure area.

This is a private venue where no other cars, dogs or people will be present.

If you want to give you collie the gift of Sheepballs ® you need to email me asap
[email protected]

01/02/2025

It’s coming to Norfolk !!!
I’m a fully qualified teacher of Sheepballs ®
New face to face class starts Feb 16th
Keep an eye on the website to book.
www.thebordercollietrainer.org
Information coming soon

Sheepballs ® … your collie will love you for it!

01/02/2025

Cooking the veg for my gang this week @ thebordercollietrainer.org

23/01/2025

In light of the red weather warnings in Ireland and Scotland, and the yellow and amber warnings across much of the country, which are all advising against travel, we regret to inform you that the AGM in Preston scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled.

The safety of our directors and members is of paramount importance to us. This situation is unfortunately out of our control, and we believe cancelling the event is the best course of action given the severe weather conditions.

Please inform anyone who may already be travelling to Preston if you can, we are in the process of contacting everyone as quickly as we can.

Any rooms you have booked for tomorrow night (Friday 23rd) are refundable if cancelled before 4pm today. The hotel will probably be inundated with calls for most of today, but have assured us they will do their best to speak to everyone who has booked with them as quickly as they can.
+44 (0)1772 868000
[email protected]

We understand the inconvenience this may cause and are actively looking into Plan B. We will notify everyone as soon as possible with further details.

Stay safe everyone!

13/01/2025

A fabulous post from this amazing team …. Again 🐾

When training isn’t going well, the first instinct is often to try to change your dog.
But the answer is more often found in changing yourself—

Blame is easy.
And handlers often assign responsibility to the wrong source. They may rationalize:
it's limited time (frequency/duration of training sessions)
the sheep
something that happened off the training field
their dog’s innate ability
temperament, or other.
The cause they attribute (often unconsciously), eliminates their accountability.
This includes, “It’s me”, if said with resignation.

Change can be hard.
It can feel frustrating, counterintuitive, messy and almost always requires admitting you’ve made mistakes and need to alter course.
It’s uncomfortable.
But when you’re humble enough to evaluate your mindset, your training method
your commitment to continue learning
and be accountable,
you’ll find the answer is within yourself.

One way to get started is to revisit the challenges you are facing. Evaluate how you can develop to become a better, more intuitive teacher.
View training obstacles as a catalyst to gain knowledge, develop skills, and grow.
Reframe frustration and fear of failure; instead of “I have to change” embrace the opportunity, “I get to change”.

If self discipline is difficult, you need motivation or if a training issue is outside your experience level, recruit help.
With technology, even when you’re unable to travel, you have access to experts and can immerse yourself in knowledge.

When I understood it was my responsibility to honestly assess my dog and change my teaching approach to best match his individual characteristics (including amount and type of eye, excitability, maturity, temperament, self confidence, etc.)
it was a game changer.
Instead of expecting him to figure it out or adapt to my style, I needed to learn how to adjust to him.
While the principles stay the same, the individuality is paramount; for both training and for partnership.
The more I work on myself, the more my dogs improve.
macraeway.com

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11/01/2025

A day in our life 😁🐑🐾❄️🙏
The bordercollietrainer BBCC