Training your border collie the easy way

Border collies are one of the absolute easiest dogs to train. They want to obey. It gives them meaning and purpose, and they are happiest when they are able to understand what it is you want and meet that demand.

Border collies can be trained for everything from herding cattle to simply being an excellent family pet. However, they can be very energetic, and if that energy isn’t harnessed, they can be rather annoying — jumping up on people, chasing cattle and cars and generally running crazy.

Video: Teach Your Dog to Roll Over

Here are some tips to help you train your border collie easily and effectively.

Tip #1 – Be Consistent

When giving a command or instruction, always use the same word for what you want your pup to do, and preceded it with your dog’s name. So around here it would be “Max [pause] No!”

Video: Training A Border Collie Puppy

This gets your pup’s attention so that they can hear the command. Since commands are consistent, they always know exactly what you want. So “heel” is always “heel”. “Come” is always “come”.

Tip #2 – Start As Soon As Possible

For young Border Collies it is essential that you introduce them to a wide variety of experiences. Take them with you in the car. Go to the park. Introduce them to a lot of new people.

Video: Border Collie Training : How to Train a Border Collie

Simple obedience training for commands such as “come”, “heel”, “sit” and “stay should also occur early on. This gives you a strong basis to begin training more complex commands should you decide to work with your border collie.

Tip #3 – Teach Whistle Commands

If you are going to be working with your border collie, you definitely want to invest in a whistle. When your pup is 100 feet away from you around a lot of huge, restless cattle, you don’t want to be yelling yourself hoarse.

Whistle commands are easy to hear, carry a long ways, don’t spook the cattle and don’t make your dog think that you are upset with them with your shouting. Here is an excellent list of whistle commands.

Tip #4 – Push Your Border Collie

Border collies are one of the smartest breeds out there. Don’t be afraid to try to teach your dog something new. They love learning and will go to great lengths to please you.

Continually learning keeps a border collie at the top of their game and makes them happy animals.

Tip #5 – Train Everyday

Ten minutes is all it takes. Then go play with them or do something fun. But learning and having commands reinforced to them is essential if they are to get a good grasp on their obedience.

Video: Trick Teaching - Twirl & Through Legs

Whether you plan on working border collies or just want one that is trained to obey, Border collies love to please. It’s why they make such great pets.

Tip #6 – Train Yourself

Dogs speak a different language than we do. But they try really hard to make us happy. And they do so well, that sometimes we forget that they aren’t one of our own.

Learning what makes your pet ticking and how to speak to them and train them in a way that makes sense can make the training easier on both of you. Plus they learn faster.

If you are serious about training your Border Collie, be sure to invest in some basic dog training courses and go through them together. This will teach you how to communicate. Then, if you decide to teach them sheep-herding, it will be that much easier.

Hope these tips helped. For step-by-step instructions, check out the course below.

Reviews & Comments