I thought she was ace! Didnt spend weeks clicking and faffing, the dog adored her and he was doing the job he was bred for having been a confirmed Sheep killer withing 12weeks! Fantastic job, full credit to her.
Dawn.

Obviously I'm only seeing what the film crew wanted us to see....
She was far to harsh on the dog without enough praise.
Nearly whipping the dog on a good few occasions.
Screaming and panicking.
Her commands could have been clearer, when training a new dog short sharpe commands are more useful than sentences.
Setting the dog up to fail at the trial, he need more time and training
To say that a dog that likes to chew a toy is a killer

If I were that dog I would have bitten her. Her training was very old school, I saw very little positive reward training, her methods were far too dominance based.

I just hope that your inexperienced dog owners who watched this don't think screaming and shouting is the right way to go about training their dog.

Despite all that I still enjoyed the programme great to see dogs enjoying themselves, just a shame Sue didn't train Herbie using kinder methods, she'd probably have got better results if she had.

That has more to do with the tv people's time constraints than the trainer.

I think the proof here is in the pudding. At the end of the programme the dog was happy and well adjusted and didn't look like he was being bullied into anything.

I think she did a wonderful job with him, full credit to her.

Yet the dog was happily at her side, not once did he seem afraid or scared, he was all over her and wanted to be with her. I think some people get a tad upset to think things can be done in different ways, its not all click and treat, there are many ways to train a dog, I have never ever used clicking etc.. yet I have well balanced, well mannered dogs that respond to me in a flash. Why was this woman wrong? do you think you could of done a better job?
Dawn.

I agree with some of your points Anne but not all.

I don't agree she was too harsh. Herbie was a tough cookie and I think responded well to FIRM handling. He looked to me to be the kind of dog that would easily walk all over any owner who didn't show him the boundaries.

I didn't see her nearly whipping him. Can you remember at which part of the programme did you notice this? I am hoping to watch it again on Sunday, so will watch out for it.

I didn't see Barbara screaming and panicking.

I do think she chatted too much to Herbie and had too many different, and convoluted, instructions instead of simple, short commands. It seemed to work for her and Herbie though, so I am not knocking it

I believe the programme's producers wanted her to run Herbie in the sheepdog trial but she refused. She apparently also initially had 14 weeks to train Herbie, but that was then cut down to 7 weeks. As someone who is training her collies to work sheep, I cannot stress enough how much time and effort and patience has to go into the training. 7 weeks is NOTHING!

I agree that because a dog likes to attack a football, it doesn't mean it is a sheep killer! However, I can understand the principles in teaching Herbie to leave his prized possession (the ball) so that when she took him to sheep he already knew the leave command and what was required of him.

Regarding your comment on there was little reward for the dog, I have to say that to let a working sheepdog herd sheep is all the reward that dog needs. Believe me, when my dogs are working sheep, the ONLY reward they want is to be allowed to continue to work.

Thats the sad thing about dogs, no matter how you treat them, they stay unconditionally loyal.

I don't think clicker training is the right way to go when training a dog to herd sheep.

Moobli
Yes he needed firm but fair handling but there was no need to be so aggressive, trying to whip the dog and threatening him didn't help the situation at all.

Not little reward, there was too little Praise.

Can you please tell me where Barbara showed aggression towards the dog and where she tried to whip him. I honestly must have missed that bit.

OK - too little praise?? A dog working sheep needs NO praise, just to continue to work the sheep. Believe me, I have seen it in my own collies. In fact, Rip in particular doesn't want praise and a fuss when I call him away from his sheep, he just looks to me to allow him to herd some more.

Don't forget, Barbara Sykes was training him to be a working dog, not a pet. Herbie is a working Beardie, not a show/pet type (and there is a huge difference), and certainly not a dog for the faint-hearted or a pet environment. She was his last chance and I think she did an absolutely wonderful job.

I would be more than happy to ask her advice in the future on training my own dogs after watching the programme.

Just out of interest Anne, what would you have done differently?

It was quite obvious I'm sure you'll see it when you watch the programme again on Sunday.

I agree an already working sheep dog doesn't need praise But when initially training a dog praise should be used so that they know when their getting it right.

What would i have done differently? More praise and less aggression. I don't believe in training dogs through fear. I believe she would have got better results had she laid off on the aggression a bit and praised him more when he was getting it right.

I would just like to add my tuppence worth, i think the woman did a flippin marvellous job! Lets not kid ourselves here, this dog WAS a sheep killer, he WAS a loose cannon, and as said on the show he WAS lucky not to have had a shotgun pointed at him a long time ago.
To convert a once sheep killer is a HUGE achievement in itself.
As for her training methods, i see nothing wrong with them. Coming from someone who has an English Springer who was very much an unruly sod for a long time, and who i tried all the clickers, excessive treats, noise discs to get him to leave the cats, excessive praise etc with..and you know what happened? He looked at me as if to say,'Well you can go n do one if you think im listening'.
A firm hand, and i do not mean physical punishment, and a half decent loud voice is what keeps him in line nowdays-this was a dog that once used to tear off as soon as offlead, pull like a steam train when on lead, jump at everyone and everything, nearly ATTACK the cats, risked himself getting hurt so often etc etc..im rambling now, but my point is not ALL dogs respond to training the same way.
Positive reinforcement for some is great, I just haven't found it all useful with mine.

All i say is..a dog that was a sheep killer working the sheep without harming them..gosh the woman responsible doesn't need criticism she needs a bloomin' medal!