🐑 DOGGED HEBRIDEANS AVAILABLE 🐕
Been used regularly for dog training but not for last six weeks so are perfect for anyone starting a younger dog
Ewes, gimmers and wethers
DL12 0LS
07810094072
Today I held my last sheepdog training lessons at Mickleton 🥹 Most of my regular customers will now know that I’ve recently moved 3.5 hours up the road to Scotland 🏴 It’s safe to say it wasn’t at all in my plan for 2024; consequently I haven’t really made any business plans around the move for customers and planned dogs I had scheduled in for training this winter 🫣
It’s a bittersweet move as I’m having to say goodbye to many customers who I’ve met over the past few years, and so many of you I now class as good friends.
I have zero facilities for dog training at the moment, so temporarily I am not able to offer boarding and training, one to one lessons or clinic days. Apologies to all of those hoping to send a dog this winter. Hopefully come spring I will have facilities in place, but we’ll have to see what comes…!
Just a polite reminder that my life has been incredibly hectic so if I don’t reply to a message quickly, please just be aware that training dogs has been forced to take a bit of a back seat for me at the moment and I don’t always have time to reply to messages 🙂
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me with advice, constructive criticism, business and just general encouragement over the last few years whilst I’ve been at Mickleton. Every single piece of it has been appreciated more than you will know!
But for the moment, Mickleton Working Kelpies is taking a bit of a backseat and we’ll see what Scotland brings 🏴💙 Here’s some of my favourite 2024 moments…
Cold water, sunshine and kelpies can make everything better 👌🏻😍🥰
Western finally starting to get some real work and responsibility at 14 months old! 👌🏻 It’s been a long, sh*tty winter where we’ve had very little cattle work for young dogs so it’s fantastic to see how well she’s coming on. It did take me a good 2 minutes to call her off but I won’t post that as the language isn’t really Facebook friendly 🤣
An off switch and trust 😎
My dogs haven’t had real work for probably three weeks now because life has been absolutely hectic.
You can (and still need to) teach an off switch, but it’s far easier to breed one with the foundations in place. The amount of kelpies I get in where I’m told they can never stop them working is just ridiculous.
Select your pup from a breeder wisely so it fits in with your needs. Ask all of the questions you need to, and if they can’t show you what you want, look elsewhere. There’s enough options from different breeders in the UK now to get a kelpie pup, than to settle for something you don’t exactly want. Find a breeder who has a work life and life style like yours and go from there.
Bailey did an inside flank for the first time tonight, and I managed to catch it on video. The first times we do things with a dog, they’re rarely tidy but it doesn’t really matter. Bailey’s weakest side is come by, so even though he was going to cut in at the end and I had to stop him - it doesn’t matter! The fact he did it is more than enough of an accomplishment, and you can be understanding of him needing to release pressure afterwards 👌🏻👏🏻 Love it when you see the penny drop with them that they’re allowed to do it 🥰
Because despite what many handlers try to say, Kelpies can work with AND without as much verbal instruction that you want them to. Just depends how you train them… It’s personal preference how somebody wants to work a dog to suit their situation and stock. People will ALWAYS argue about what is right, but at the end of the day the only person the dog has to please is the person who’s feeding it.
Do yourself a favour and find a trainer who can show you how to do both! 🤪 Or at least explain how to the get the best out of a dog that doesn’t enjoy instruction.
Bailey’s a lot further on that what this tiny clip shows, will post another at the end of this week showing what three/four weeks training with a kelpie will roughly get you to. He’s only a baby at 13 months, and has had a fair few days off as he’s been a little bit stiff (not unusual for such a large dog coming into work for the first time properly). There’s such a variety across the breed for when kelpies mature, it’s really very dependent upon bloodlines and individual dogs when you’ll get the best out of them training. For me, I like to send them home for a break to get them going with their owner at home, before they come back to me to be finished off. This way you don’t end investing a huge amount of money into training and end up with a dog that maybe isn’t quite right for you, or more trained than you actually need them to be.
And Emily Raw will confirm that these sheep are no where near as quiet as they look on video when she came for a lesson today 😵💫🤣🤣
1 brain between the 3 of them. So nice to actually have some cattle back outside finally!
Oakecho Patch 🥰
Celtic Rex x Celtic Jet
Teaching your dogs to switch off around stock when they aren’t working is one of the most valuable things I do with pups and young dogs now. Makes life so much easier later on, especially at times of the year when they have very little work. Wish I’d known the importance when I got my first one 😆🫣
Bailey, sixth time out ☑️ Improved arc around stock ☑️ Outrunning 70m or so comfortably
Bailey, sixth time out
☑️ Improved arc around stock
☑️ Outrunning 70m or so comfortably
Bailey, fifth time out. Started to introduce an off balance stop, introduced off balance work and concept of driving. First half of clip when I first had him out, second half towards the end of the twenty minutes.
Back to basics for the next few days, building confidence (putting him in situations where he’s losing his head) and getting him to feel where he needs to be without me telling him and manufacturing everything.
