Sarah Hedderly - DingBatt Dog Training

23/06/2025

🚨 Free 5-Day Trial for Border Collie Parents! 🚨
Struggling with a car-chasing, kid-herding, lead-dragging Collie? You’re not alone. The Border Collie Academy is the breed specific membership designed just for your brilliant, high-energy dog.
🎉 Try it FREE for 5 days – because your Collie deserves better (and so do your arms).
👇 Start your trial today!
https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/academy-5free

22/06/2025

Tired of being outwalked or outwitted by your Border Collie?

🐶 Tired of shouting “COME BACK!” at a Collie who’s already halfway across the park?
Or battling the lead as they lunge after every passing bike, car, dog or jogger?

We get it. Border Collies are brilliant, but their energy and instincts can be a lot.
That’s why we created The Border Collie Academy—the biggest and best training membership designed exclusively for Collie owners who want calm, trust, and joy on every walk.

Here’s what you get inside:
✅ Instant access to breed-specific training modules
✅ Daily trainer support
✅ Weekly live sessions
✅ A kind, knowledgeable Facebook community
🎉 PLUS: Try it FREE for 5 days to celebrate our 5th birthday!

Start your free trial now and transform your DingBatt into a Dreamboat 💫👇 (free trial is automatically applied at checkout)

https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/academy-5free

21/06/2025

Tomorrow is the 5th birthday of the Border Collie Academy 🎉🎁

The decision to set up this breed specific membership was the best thing I have ever done. Over the last 5 years I have had the absolute pleasure of working with fantastic Border Collie owners from all over the world.

The community that has built has blown me away and the support that is given to other members is led by kindness, empathy and an over riding understanding of each others journey.

I have worked with people from all over the world and to also watch friendships grow between members from different countries who have then gone on to meet up in person has blown me away. And the thing that has brought us all together is our love of the genius Border Collie!

Tomorrow as a birthday celebration I will be opening doors to this incredible online membership and as a birthday gift will be offering a free 5 day trial. So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, come and take a look around with no risk and see if this is the right fit to help you and your Border Collie achieve your best life together.

Look out tomorrow for full details and links to join the Border Collie party 🎉

21/06/2025

Virtual Collie camp starts in just 2 hours time!🎉

If you have already signed up you will have received the zoom link to join via email (check your spam folder if you can't find it) and it is also within your home study programme. Here you can also find your interactive workbook and anything you will need to get the most from the training. You can log in to your home study 👇
https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/login

If you have been on the fence but have decided now you want to join here is the link.👇

https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/virtual-collie-camp

If you can't attend live no worries as you get to keep the recordings to watch at your leisure.

I look forward to seeing you all shortly.

Let the fun begin!

20/06/2025

A fun competition to enter for a good cause. I am lucky to be judging the most handsome dog ❤️
Get taking those photos (or search through the thousands you already have on your phone 😂)
https://www.facebook.com/PPBCDogShow2025/

Charity organisation

20/06/2025

I’ve cleared my entire weekend to spend with YOU! And we’ve got one job to do: ...nail YOUR Border Collie’s foundation training. You in?

Reserve Your Seat Here for Just £59👇
https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/virtual-collie-camp
See ya there!

Sarah

P.S. Some Quick Q&A:

Yes, this is LIVE! From 12pm-3pm BST (THIS Sat & Sun).

This is a 2-Part Training. It’s ideal to attend both days!

You have LIFETIME ACCESS to the recordings!

Yes, there is plenty of time for LIVE Q&A!

18/06/2025

Do you ever stop and look at the world through your dog's eyes?

What do they see?
What do they experience?
What do they feel?
What do they want?
How would they like a training session to look and feel?

We usually think about what we want and less about the dogs wants.

But I would love you to pause and get inside the head of your dog for a moment. What would they want a training session to look like? How would they want you to be? And does this align with you and what you want?

Beau loves using his brain. Any learning and training he enjoys but this is especially when he is rewarded through movement and play. This doesn't mean that we can't train with food or train stationary behaviours but if we mix it up then it is more rewarding and fun for him.

Now he would train with me if I just used praise and fed him treats but I wouldn't get the quality of work and full engagement and attention if this was always the case so knowing what he likes and finds most rewarding helps also with allowing us to train the other things that are not as interesting to the dog.

There are so many nuances in rewards based training. Not just on the type of reward and timing of reward but the reward delivery, effect of the reward on the dog, effect of the reward on the behaviour, size of the reward, knowing how to reduce rewards and move them off the body.

If you want to learn more about this and really get to understand your Border Collie then join our 2 day Virtual Collie Camp this Saturday and Sunday. It is just £59 for both days and you get to keep the recordings to watch at your leisure if you can't join live.

For full details and to sign up here is the link 👇

https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/virtual-collie-camp

16/06/2025

Supercharge your dog training 🐶 at Virtual Collie Camp!⛺️

If you have been following me for a while you will know I train using positive reinforcement as the main focus in my training. But using rewards can be challenging for some. Problems some of my clients tell me they have are:

💥Their dog won’t take food rewards
💥Their dog doesn’t want to play when on walks
💥They don’t believe they can train their dog as they can’t use rewards

But rewards based training is more than food and toys. Not all dogs start in wanting to take food or play as rewards though and this is part of the foundations we will be working on in the upcoming Virtual Collie Camp.

We will also explore
👏Other forms of rewards such as verbal praise, physical play, distance and movement
⏰Timing of reward delivery
👉Type of delivery

All these things make huge differences in the effectiveness of your communication with your dog. So if your dog is lacking in motivation to work with you and listen when you need them to, join the Virtual Collie Camp to start to learn how to work together.

Start to enjoy the training journey, together. After all we got our Border Collies to be fun, loving companions so why not spend some time together making this happen?

Get your Virtual Collie Camp spot here👇

https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/virtual-collie-camp

15/06/2025

People don’t come to me for relationship advice with their dogs.

And yet when we really look at what they want ‘fixed’ it comes down to relationships. The definition of relationship is the way in which two or more people or things interact with each other. It’s about the way they behave towards each other or the way they are connected.

Many of my clients build a much improved relationship with their dog through training and it is this that they note, but only after the training has been successful.

But imagine if we approached our training from a relationship viewpoint. Rather than an I say, you do approach we also looked inward at how we were behaving towards our dog and how we can motivate the dog. Are we giving them a reason to want to interact with us more than the environment?

We will be discussing this on our upcoming Virtual Collie Camp. How we can use rewards effectively to then make us more rewarding to our dogs. We shouldn't be using rewards to bribe our dog and our dog's responses should not be reliant on us showing them we have a reward first.

If you want to improve your communication with your Border Collie so you have a better recall, can support them through their reactivity training or just improve your overall relationship then join us for Virtual Collie Camp.

When: 21st-22nd June
Where: Online from the comfort of your own home
How: Sign up via the link below 👇

https://courses.dingbattdogtraining.co.uk/virtual-collie-camp

14/06/2025

It is always worthwhile going back a step in training to move forward again but it is something that many feel deflating to have to do.

Ding won his G5-7 agility today but for several weeks now we have had a weaving problem. It started when he hit a weave pole hard with his shoulder and then he lost his confidence. I'm not going to lie it has been frustrating as he has been running really well in all other aspects. But, sometimes he was starting the weaves and not finishing all 12 and other times he was finding the entry and coming out straight away.

He was checked physically to make sure there was not a pain issue before we continued to train.

On Thursday this week my trainer opened up the weaves to give him more space and make it easier. The first time through he was almost surprised and then you could see him grow in confidence again each time. At the show yesterday he finished the day with a good set of weaves and gained a 3rd place. I was thrilled with him but wondered if it was a one off! I should have trusted him more as today he was amazing and won his agility. The only weaves he missed today I take the blame for.

I am sharing this story as Ding is a Grade 5 agility dog. He is not a beginner and yet by making things easier for him and revisiting the basics he grew in confidence.

Many of my clients feel they are back at square one if they have a blip in their training and I suggest revisiting a foundation behaviour but the fact is we should be keeping these foundations strong throughout their training.

If your recall weakens then using a long line again while you add value back into your recall is not going backwards, instead it will help you move forward again.

Beau had several 'nearly' runs this weekend. Over all his work is improving but again I have highlighted some foundation skills I will be revisiting with him.

Advanced training is the basics done really well so never be afraid of revisiting the basics.

Next weekend I am running a Virtual Collie Camp where we will be working on building strong foundations in your Border Collies training. If you are interested in joining in then comment the word Camp below and I will send you the details to sign up 👇

08/06/2025

Do you know your dogs preferred learning style?

Did you ever think how they like to learn and how this effects their behaviour?

My dogs are all different.

Mini likes things broken down into as many steps as possible. She can be suspicious of luring and would give up easily with shaping when she was younger due to lacking self confidence>

Ding is a child genius. Generally finds learning very easy but this can make harder things more difficult as he isn't used to working things out, he usually just gets it. He throws himself into learning like a bull in a china shop and you have to progress things fairly quickly to keep challenging his brain.

Beau is a very literal learner. He was a thoughtful pup. He needed more errorless learning as once he had done something he assumed that he was right and so learnt incorrect things as quickly as correct things and it was difficult then reteaching something.

Sparkles is a genius level problem solver. She learns quickly and once she has got it she really has got it. But with this level of genius she is easily bored and so motivation is really important.

While I teach them all the same type of skills some need to learn with more repetition, different rewards, varying numbers of repetitions. So really getting to know them as individuals was important.

Mini liked to be shown what to do and luring was most comfortable for her but it was shaping and teaching her how to problem solve and work things out was the biggest turning point for her in her learning journey.

Ding was easily over aroused and came with a lot of frustration and behavioural issues. I captured good behaviours I wanted repeated, slowed him down with a lure and taught him how to work through frustration with shaping.

Beau I often have to teach things in different ways so he gets full and true understanding. He needs to slow down to be able to think and using a lure helps this.

Sparkles I had to focus more on building value in her reward structure. She didn't see the point in doing something more than twice. In fairness to her she usually got it that quickly but she would then just choose to leave so building value in the rewards was of more importance.

Really getting to know each individual dog and what drives them is key in any training. It's about building our relationship so we can work together in a way we both want to work.

If you would like to get to know what motivates your dog the most or teach them how to learn and work with you rather than against you join our Virtual Collie Camp on June 21st-22nd

Full details in comments below 👇

07/06/2025

Sparkles the Artist!