Marley Border Collies

07/03/2024

Ready for some work

07/03/2024

Grand, turn out

11/04/2023

Hope to Ride up and see you, been a long time, please wear a name tag, ha ha ha ha, know you will have a great time this side of the pond

Welcome. Judge for Kingston Sheep Dog Trials CBCA National Finals 2023–Michael Davidson. A Scot, from Northumberland.

22/02/2023

Propper work makes good dogs, when was younger, I look at Sean’s like this and decide on how I would gather, some are hefted stock so the gather is already mapped out, but l lik3 to make a plann

Honister Pass in the Lake District.

A pictorial guide to the beautiful Lake District: BritainAndBritishness.com/LakeDistrict/

Featured photo credit: Dan | London-based photographer instagram.com/danvisualarts/ ✨✨✨

17/02/2023

25/10/2022

Doggers , see how Rhyse and Kerry do

25/10/2022

31/07/2022

1970 (Haddington) Scottish team: top l to r Dougie Lamb, John Jack, John Bathgate, Davy Shennan, Davy McTeir, Tom Watson, Jack Campbell (winner of the Brace), John Templeton, J. R. Millar.
sitting l to r Jim Gilchrist, Jock Richardson, Peter Hetherington with Nell (Winner of the Scottish National), and Bob Shennan.

23/05/2022

06/04/2022

If you listen, your dog will tell you,….
By observing your dogs actions, body language and demeanor he will tell you what he’s thinking and how he’s feeling.
If you watch closely, you can tell if he is happy, enthusiastic, disinterested, confident, stressed, confused, relaxed, worried, committed to working, chasing, just to name a few.

Understanding what your dog is telling you, is key to fostering your partnership. This is true at every level especially, for pups just starting.

For example, if you take a young dog to sheep and he starts running towards them with keenness, and you step in to try and keep him from splitting up the sheep or chasing, there are several possible outcomes.
If he continues to go around with enthusiasm there’s a good chance he likes the exposure you're giving him.
Some other reactions include:
1. He stands and looks at you—he could be telling you he’s confused or that he needs movement from the sheep to stay interested.
2. He comes to you to make sure you’re not upset with him—he might be worried he’s done something wrong, not confident or not enjoying the experience (which may be his maturity, something you are doing or the sheep).
3. Sniffs or picks at the grass— he’s telling you he’s not yet committed to working; perhaps he's only titillated by the chase at this stage, he's not yet ready for exposure and/or he's not enjoying it.

Dogs are just as communicative once they start going around sheep. For example, when you ask your dog to stop for the first time, if after he stops he goes back to the sheep slowly, he’s telling you he’s not yet ready for the lie down, it’s affecting his enjoyment and if you continue, it’s possible his interest will diminish (he may even turn off).
It’s important if this happens, that you don’t ask for another lie down until he’s more enthusiastic.
With more quality exposure, your pup will go back to the sheep more quickly after being stopped. When he does, he’s telling you he understands what you’re asking and that he wants the sheep enough to accept a lie down.
You might now try 2 stops in a session, always watching to evaluate how he goes back to work after each lie down and adjust accordingly.
Once your pup is accepting your direction with a stop, you might be able to prevent slicing agin, using his reaction as your barometer.
For us, at the beginning stage, cultivating enjoyment is paramount and in fact, we prefer our dogs a bit tight and fast at the start. We’re willing to wait on shaping their development until they are super keen to work.

Some trainers make lots of corrections with young dogs. They don’t allow them to be tight at all, and will chase them off, with the handler running through the sheep towards their dog. They often have the dog circling way off the sheep or another form of pressure (usually an effort to accelerate the training and push their dog).
This approach might work for dogs that have high drive at a young age, but for many others, it’s too much pressure, too soon, and can have many detrimental consequences.
If you try to shape or push your young dog off sheep, and he gets reluctant, sniffs, quits, is master conscience, turnstail or comes back to you for reassurance, he’s telling you that you’re spoiling his enjoyment— it's his way of telling you he’s not ready for the pressure you're applying.
Handlers may blame their dog rather than recognizing the approach has a bullying mindset rather than a teaching mindset.
While many dogs can’t accept the methods mentioned above at a young age, with patience in training, those same dogs can have great accomplishments and we've trained countless dogs that were labeled by others as 'not keen enough'.

Watch your dogs body language and demeanor. If he’s not enjoying what he’s doing, he’s probably not ready for the next step.
Once he is enthusiastic and confident, try the next step and make adjustments based on his response; cultivate his desire before trying to implement discipline—if you listen, your dog will tell you…

Learn more, macraeway.com

27/03/2022

Just a little History of the Hardenmoss sheepdog trials.
Hardenmoss sheep dog trials association was founded in 1908, the first sheepdog trials was on the 26th September 1908, the course was in Hardenmoss park which is now the car park field . The sheep were loaned from Seth Seniors , Brewers from Shepley Holmfirth . Below is a photograph of Goerge Mitchell and his dog Glen , date is unknown but my best guess is late 70s early eighty’s .

29/12/2020

27/12/2020

London

19/12/2020

Mona, Bute , Trim, where all trained for this job, that i did not need hubby , brilliant no divorces on them days , , loved my dog to do the job, also loaded up the shearing pens and the trailer for market, , and here in Canada

, yarrow would go to market to unload the trailer too , love working with my dog, more than just you farm hand

18/12/2020

did not see this till now, had many a good tripès up the this farm

First Shown March 2008

13/12/2020

12/12/2020

Somebody got under the tree early , ha ha ha h

12/12/2020

Gosh a trim , David Brady Craig , granddaughter

15/11/2020

Still want Marley Cobwebs sheep