Hello Adam.
I would firstly like very much to thank you for the fantastic information in the book! Wow! It has made the training of our new dog so much easier than I could possibly expect!
I live on a small farm in Victoria Australia and am currently in the process of training our new dog "Toby"(a border collie). I think we maybe have a head start as he is quite smart and soft natured but the techniques in you book work a treat and I find I hardly have to do anything to maintain a healthy working relationship with him. I do however get frustrated at people who I try to explain why he is so well behaved and happy etc.. .etc... when they think I am some kind of dog basher!?? The comments have even been "He is a lovely well behaved dog but I've heard about your training techniques (with negative intonation!)."
I don’t understand why people can’t see that this way you can train a behavior in minutes and with only one or two corrections rather than months or years of yelling at the dog for the same problem with monotonous inconsistency! (What they also don’t know is that a correction for Toby doesn’t need to be much to be motivational)
At least the dog knows! He is happy-- well behaved-- he can be inside safely without worry of disasters. He is quiet and confident-house trained--does sit/down (and stays down)/paw/crawl/bow/find/ and come from as far away as he can hear me(well come+down anyway, I haven’t tried the others). He also is safe around our horses when we work them, as we have boundary trained him to the arena and will hold a down stay if needed elsewhere. And he is only five months old!! It is almost like magic!
Now for the Question. I struggled to come up with one as the basic principles seem to solve pretty much everything. I would like to know a good way to teach him to go away/back or to go left or right in a controlled way(sort of working dog stuff really). I don’t know if this makes sense and it may sound unusual but it would be quite useful on the farm as well as fun and interesting for me and him (He seems to like jobs to do!)
I hope you can help me as I cant figure out a good way to do it? I would rather not use sheep to teach it as I am afraid he might then feel the need to work sheep or ducks or whatever at other times. Maybe this isn’t a problem anyway as he doesn’t misbehave. I wouldn't like to create a temptation though? (Besides I don’t know what I am doing with working training anyway and wouldn’t like to stuff it up!) Any suggestions would be well appreciated.
Sorry this is so long but I am really enthusiastic!
- Oliver.
Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, Australia.

Dear Oliver:
Set a plate with a cookie on it, off in the distance. (Point B).
Start a Point A, with the dog, and with a broad hand motion, point to the plate and say, “Go out.”
Your dog will run in the direction you point, to the plate.
Gradually move the plate farther away.
Then find a shallow hill, and place the plate on top of the hill. Point, and do the same things as described above.
After you’ve been doing this consistently for several days, begin placing the plate “behind the horizon,” but let the dog see you do it.
Next, do it again (after a few successful days) but don’t let the dog see you put the plate out.
Repeat in a variety of situations, always using the same command.

To read more of my dog training ramblings, read about my book (click below):
Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!