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Price: $19.95
(as of Mar 02, 2025 09:30:58 UTC – Details)
Winner of the DWAA 2015 Captain Haggerty Award for Best Training Book
Help! He’s herding the neighborhood kids!!Herding breed dogs such as Border Collies, Corgis, and Australian Shepherds have incredibly strong instinctive behaviors to do the work they were bred for—controlling various kinds of livestock.
These behaviors manifest themselves in modern herding breed dogs kept as companions or family pets in a number of ways. These include chasing cars and bicyclists, herding kids, nipping at vulnerable heels, barking incessantly, and acting as the “fun police” in dog parks. All behaviors that are entirely appropriate and necessary when dealing with sheep or cattle, not so great in a suburban neighborhood.
Fortunately, these instincts can be redirected in a number of ways that keep these energetic dogs busy and happy as well as out of trouble. That is why so many of these dogs can be taught to excel in agility and obedience trials, love to retrieve, and make great running companions. In her latest book, author Dawn Antoniak-Mitchell offers solutions to solving and preventing problem behaviors associated with herding breeds living in the modern world. And no, even though your Border Collie or Corgi might love it, you don’t need to buy a farm!
As the owner of two obsessive but outstanding herding dogs, I found myself nodding along in agreement with this book from start to finish. Dawn offers tips to allow a handler to work with, rather than against a dog’s herding instincts and her easy-to-read writing style and the depth of information she shares makes this book a must read for anyone who works or lives with herding dogs.Nicole Larocco-Skeehan, CPDT-KA and member of the Board of Directors, CCPDT
A super resource that explains how instinctive behaviors impact dogs in their every day activities. I especially like the training tips—very clear and helpful explanations to manage problems often brought out by a variety of herding instincts.Lynn Leach, owner of Downriver Stock Dog Training and creator of the popular All Breed Herding DVD series
A wonderful mix of training information, management suggestions, psychology, and commonsense advice for herding dog owners. Easy to read and filled with gems of information for all dog owners—like eliminating annoying barking! I highly recommend this book for trainers and owners of any breed of dog.Gail Tamases Fisher, CDBC and author of The Thinking Dog
If you have chosen to bring a herding breed in to your life and home this is the book for you! Dawn takes the reader through the history of herding breeds in order to help you understand the why behind some of the obsessive-compulsive behaviors your herding breed may be exhibiting. Better yet, Dawn then offers up specific exercises and training techniques to help herding breed owners become as valuable as livestock in the eyes of their herding dog. You owe it to your herding breed to read this book! Gerianne Darnell, author of Canine Crosstraining: Achieving Excellence in Multiple Dog Sports
Publisher : Dogwise Publishing; Illustrated edition (June 3, 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 180 pages
ISBN-10 : 1617811629
ISBN-13 : 978-1617811623
Item Weight : 2.08 ounces
Dimensions : 7 x 0.41 x 10 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book provides useful information and advice for training herding dogs. They find it interesting with real-world examples and suggestions. The writing style is well-written and easy to read, providing clear instructions and facts about dog breeds.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Perry Clark –
Simply outstanding dog training manual; very highly recommended is one of the top two or three dog training books Iâve ever encountered. Indeed, it is so good that I may find myself recommending it to owners of non-herding-breed dogs, simply because the larger lessons learned help an attentive reader to see beyond the training of a herding dog on to other breeds, other animals, and, at least equally importantly, into the mental habits of humans. The author has brought intellect, passion, compassion, and experience all to bear on the topic, and delivers knowledge and instruction clearly, succinctly, and thoroughly. She addresses very well the importance and means of puppy socialization, and how to deal with a dog that was not properly socialized as a pup. She briefly but completely covers the necessary knowledge about learning theory and its application. She guides the reader to practical perspectives and dispenses useful, well-grounded information and principles.Iâm a tough graderâI quibble with Shakespeare, Steinbeck, and Hemingway, so sure, there are bits here and there Iâd change, but thatâs only reflective of the very nature of things. The book, like the training of a dog, is a human effort, and human efforts are seldom any more perfect than a dogâs, properly considered. This book gets an enthusiastic A+. Iâm very pleased to have found it. The fact that less than 24 hours after itâs arrival Iâd finished reading itâand then started again, with pen and paper in handâalso says something strongly positive about it. I very strongly recommend it to anyone adopting a herding dog and wanting it well socialized, trained, and happy.
First, as background: Iâm experienced with dogs of various breeds, and have trained labs, terriers, and companion breeds. I have significant experience around herding breeds, but only with a recent new addition to the family have I begun to accumulate experience training one. Itâs a different ballgame. I new it going in, and adjusted accordingly. But I learned relatively quickly that my adjustments were not enough. I added a couple new books to my dog-centered collection, but continued to search for moreâand especially betterâadvice/knowledge about training a herding dog in a non-farm environment. What I was searching for I found in this book.
Tux –
The best book for Border Collies or herding dogs there is!
This is book is more than just outstanding…way more. It should be required reading for anyone with a herding breed. I only wish I had read this before our Border Collie came to us and especially when he was a pup. I can see how so many of the mistakes I have made could have been avoided. I have ten books on dog training and four of them are border collie specific. This one is by far the best! Dawn’s writing is style is terrific. She doesn’t waste your time, no, there is so much she has put into this that I must really read slow and take it all in. How she is able to fit so much into a paragraph where others would take pages lets you know that she not only knows what she is talking about, she has a rare gift as a writer that few really are blessed with. This book is truly that, a blessing to anyone seeking to know more about herding dogs, especially one like my border collie, Tux. Beyond Dawn writing this outstanding book, she is way more than an author. I reached in near desperation about a question about Tux’s physical- mental state and how it is effecting his behavior and our lives. To my surprise, she responded! Unbelievable, generous & just outstanding she is! I have raved to others about this book & now after that, I may have to buy and hand these out to repay Dawn for her time and let her words benefit other as much as me. Anyone looking to benefit themselves or their dog and all that it surrounds , please do your dog & self a the delight an service of buying and reading this book. It really is the best out there.
Mary –
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Good read
Chris –
Food for thought
After 30+ years of Labradors, this time we went with a Cardigan Corgi, mainly because we are now older and he is smaller but still has that “big dog” look. I never even considered that a herding dog would be so different from a retriever. A dog is a dog, right? Well, no. In addition to the expected challenges of a puppy (our corgi is five months old now) after being used to elderly labs, we now have a dog that wants to chase bikes, cars, and the vacuum cleaner. I never connected that to his being a herding dog until reading this book. Now I realize I have a bigger challenge ahead than I anticipated, but also a great opportunity to develop this little guy, who is clearly intelligent, eager to learn, and full of energy.This book provides a lot of practical commands to teach as well as explaining how herding dogs think and why they are the way they are. I would definitely recommend it, particularly if you are new to herders.
Cheryl Chamberlain –
Breed-specific enough for me to learn what I was looking for!
I canât believe that anyone thought that this book was not breed-specific enough. While it does give a lot of non breed-specific training guidance, it really does stay on topic about herding dogsâ natural tendencies and how to avoid worsening some, like to think twice about putting your dog in just any doggy daycare where yours might pick up really bad habits from other dogs or might try to herd the dogs or could bully or get bullied.That never would have donned on me.Tips like, not labeling a command until your dog follows those commands solely by physical communication was something I never would have thought of either.So many great ideas in this book. And I love that the author included the history of the dogs and how the came to be the great breeds they are today.
NJA –
No ref re: potty training
I got a border collie and she was not interested in being potty trained. As much chicken and hot dogs I treated to her when going potty outside, for 6 months, she kept going inside. Also got very aggressive toward strangers at about 5 months. Book did not address either issue. Iâm 53 and have raised 7 perfect dogs that were great with new people and potty trained within weeks.
Kelly Lynn Mallory –
Very Informative
I just received my copy yesterday & began reading it. So far, very good information.
Emily layng –
I wish Iâd had this book a few years ago! I rescued a herding breed dog and struggled to understand him. Now that I am getting a border collie puppy, this book has explained so much! Looking forward to practicing the training tips that are so clearly explained. I have already recommended this book to other people. I love it!
Jemi –
After downloading a Kelpie book and finding it non specific and generalist, clearly written with ai, I was searching for a book written by an experienced qualified author and found this one. It is appropriately specific for high energy working strain herding dogs that have a tendency to chase nip control stare etc. I will re read some of it as it offers solutions which will form part of my strategy with the dog I have rehomed.
Greta –
Good specific suggestion for the herding group breeds. Thank you for providing it.
Trisha H –
It is well-known that Corgis work by nipping heels (her Majesty’s footmen can confirm this!) but this is the first book I have seen that mentions the fact that German Shepherds work by patrolling the flock and do not round it up. So full marks for that!. As a lifelong GSD owner I had high hopes for the rest of the book, but after the introductory chapter the drovers, heelers and patrollers seemed to be neglected and the suggestions and exercises were geared towards the requirements of the herders that work by rounding-up – in particular as the Border Collie (which was featured in almost all of the photos). So although all the content was sensible and well-presented, that was disappointing. A German Shepherd is very different to a Border Collie is very different to a Sheltie is very different to a Corgi….. For example, when learning something new, a typical GSD will stop and think to work something out, while a BC will usually keep moving and offering variations to try to get it right.I see there are other books in this series. I wonder if the Sporting Dogs book similarly ignores the special requirements of the pointers, flushers and trackers to concentrate on the retrievers – as it appears that Golden Retrievers are the breed of choice for Obedience in the USA.So to sum up: an excellent book if you have a breed that rounds up such as a BC or Working Sheepdog. Less use for other types of herding breeds.
Rinrin –
It is so informative, even if you feel like you’ve ready everything about puppies. It has also helped me identify and work with border collie behaviours in my BC-ACD mix, and has been very validating / normalizing of certain challenges that come with our dear BC! Definitely recommend this book.