When I’m gearing up to train one of my young dogs, I always have a bit of a plan… but am also prepared to adjust this plan if a different opportunity presents itself. I became particularly adept at adapting plans through 20 years of teaching high school science students!

No matter what skill I want to work on, I structure my sessions in a way that ensures my dog can learn most easily. I have a theory that only introduces one new skill or refinement per session. This keeps both of our brains from short-circuiting and sometimes this skill might actually be as simple as “reducing body language."

This might mean walking around the sheep with a long line, just to help the dog get to the other side or it might mean beginning with a small fetch. Whatever works so that my dog doesn’t learn to “chase” and break through the group right when she first walks into the training area. I want to establish positive patterns with my dog.

Here are the 5 parts for my training session:

✔️ New: Introduce a single new skill or refinement

For example, practicing only ONE of the verbal flank commands or adding in one whistle command. Keep the initial attempts short and simple, gradually increasing complexity based on your dog's progress. I sometimes will not add anything new, but rather “take away” additional tools such as the flag or my arm reaching out to block.

✔️ Finish with Familiar

Finish the session with a task that’s easy and familiar to your dog. For me, this is often silent balance work emphasizing correct shape and pace of movement. The dog should look relaxed and confident.

✔️ Take breaks

I am not afraid to stop the session for a bit, have a sip of coffee, and have my dog just hangout with me around the stock.

A while back, we wrote about the perfect approach to training your stock dog and this was a super popular post (a short read too!) LINK HERE

By organizing your training sessions with these steps, you create a structured learning environment that supports your dog's growth in herding skills, allowing for gradual, consistent development and keeping the experience positive and productive.

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