PSR Stockdogs

01/09/2026

Are you listening…….

“He is just being a jerk.”
“I told him not to do that!”
“Why does she always blow me off?”

These are things we hear in the herding world ALOT! Why? Why is our first response to blame the dog?
I believe it is all about language …..

Humans communicate-
• 7% Verbal: The actual words spoken.
• 38% Vocal: Tone, inflection, volume, and rhythm (paralanguage).
• 55% Visual: Body language, facial expressions, and gestures.

Dogs communicate over 90% body language and the
rest tone. They don’t use words….

Our dogs spend their WHOLE LIVES learning to communicate
with us. What our words mean, what our tone means, our
expressions ect…..

We spend our dogs WHOLE LIVES teaching them our language ,
our cues, our tone…..we spend VERY little of their lives learning their language.

Our dogs are ALWAYS speaking to us, in their minds they have told us loud and clear that they are going to dive into that sheep, break the start line, chase that rabbit.

When we don’t respond we have clearly“In the dogs mind” said that whatever behavior they are going to do is OK!

Dog does said behavior and then gets into big trouble because
“He is just being a jerk!” “He knows better!”

Instead of always looking at what we are going to “teach”
our dogs, let’s spend more time listening to our dogs and
responding accordingly.

We will be able to spend a lot less time correcting our dogs
and a lot more time telling them they are a good partner!
In turn we will be a MUCH better partner for our dog!

01/08/2026

PATIENCE
I hear it all the time - “You don’t understand - I have no patience!”
Patience isn’t something we have or don’t have. Some people aren’t genetically born with patience and some without.
Patience is a CHOICE.
You can choose to be patient, or you can choose to get frustrated and lose your temper because your dog is not doing what you want.
We must understand that our dog is ALWAYS trying to figure out what we want. Not being patient and losing our temper while we are training does nothing but break down trust and our relationship with our dogs. If they are not understanding, it is a communication issue or a training issue. Our job is to step back, figure out how to help them know what we want and be patient while they are figuring it out.
The next time your dog is struggling, remember to choose patience - you will be amazed at how far it will get you.
Here is Seven patiently trying to figure out how to play cards. 😊

01/07/2026

Calm, correct work builds confidence - in dogs and handlers.
When we slow things down and let dogs think, the work gets clearer and more honest.
In this video driving the goats in the alley slows things down a lot! It allows me to stop the dog when she starts to take a wrong flank and then get the correct one. It also allows her to think. I love where I could say “watch her” and she knew which goat I meant.
Where have you seen your dog get clearer when you slowed things down?

01/06/2026

What adventures did you have with your dogs over last weekend? Did you trial? Hike? Train? Hang out?
What struggles did you have (if any)? What was your favorite moment?

01/02/2026

Knowing our dogs strengths and knowing what we need to work on is important! Giving our dogs the support they need when learning a behavior that is uncomfortable for them will make it a fluent, confident behavior in the end!

01/02/2026

Train the dog you have right now, not the dog you had a month ago! It’s also important to have a training philosophy and build a program around each dog rather then a program that each dog has to fit into. If you train with a philosophy and build a program around each dog you will be able to successfully train a lot more dogs!

12/31/2025

Time to ring in 2026!
We want to hear what your New Years Resolution is with your dog or in your training!
Is it to teach your dog a new skill - on or off of stock? A new trick? Get a reliable stop? Finally get consistent square flanks? Big or small - doesn’t matter - we want to hear about all of them!
Post in the comments and share with us what your goal is for 2026. You never know - you might inspire someone to do the same.
PSR wishes all of you a blessed year! 2026 is going to be AMAZING!!

12/30/2025

PSR Training Tip of the day.
Whenever possible use we use larger groups of stock. This is especially important for the loose eyed breeds but is extremely beneficial for all dogs.
We use larger groups of stock to build confidence, create flow, loosen up dogs that are not relaxed in their work, create more distance, help dogs who struggle with taking training pressure, settle dogs who become over aroused and many other things.
As you can see in this video - this larger group of geese allows this young GSD to work more true to her nature. Being a GSD means a lot of movement in their work feels right to them. This training session allows that while also focusing on distance and more settled, relaxed work - a win for everyone!

12/29/2025

Put in the reps, put in the time, put in the hard work…….it will be worth it!

12/28/2025

Celebrating our Senior Dogs is the topic of our latest video blog - we showcase 5 dogs that are into double digit ages, still loving to work and be our partners. We believe this comes from training in a fair and consistent manner, and being mindful of adjusting the training pressure as they learn and mature. With this approach, they are still enthusiastic and eager to work when they reach ages exceeding 11 years old. See our blog page at this link

Professional online stockdog training from PSR Stockdogs—calm, correct methods to build confident, responsive working dogs at any level.

12/28/2025

What if………
What if… your dog biting the stock isn’t him being a bad dog but just an unconfident one. He doesn’t feel he has the power to move them without biting, or he doesn’t know how to respond to the pressure of the stock back onto him.

What if…. your young dog that is “blowing you off” and won’t stop where you tell her to is just listening to her instincts? Maybe she is perfectly willing to stop but needs to be in control of her stock before she can.

What if… your dog that “chases” the sheep that splits off from the group is really trying to figure out how to bring it back but doesn’t have the skills yet to do it the way we want him to?

What if… your dog who is pushing the stock to fast, won’t rate and isn’t listening is just in a state of over arousal? Maybe you didn’t focus on getting her arousal level down to a place where she can think and receive information before you started your work session?

What if… your dog that looks at you to much and “won’t listen” is confused because you have pushed him to fast in his training and he doesn’t really understand his job?

What if….. before we corrected our dogs we tried to understand where a behavior is coming from so we can show her how to be right?

“When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.” Dr Wayne Dyer
I will add to this that then we also change the way we respond to them.

12/25/2025

PSR dogs are having a great Christmas breakfast!
They say Merry Christmas to EVERYONE!