Training Border Collies for Better Focus and Engagement.

This episode follows one adult dog’s long rehabilitation from fear based reactivity toward people and dogs to a much more confident, trainable life. Martina explains why progress took time, why owner education mattered just as much as dog training, and how careful behaviour work, management, and veterinary support all played a role.

In this episode I explain why dog training is less like a quick fix and more like a lifestyle change. Drawing from my own transformation journey with fitness, I breakdown why lasting behaviour change in dogs depends on commitment, habit-building, and ongoing management rather than a one-off training package.

In this episode I tackle one of the most common myths in dog training, the idea that calm equals focused. If you have been teaching your Border Collie to lie down, rewarding stillness, and building a foundation of doing nothing, hoping it would fix their focus outside, this episode explains why it might not be working. I talk about what focus actually looks like in a Border Collie, why it is rooted in energy and movement rather than calm, and why the arousal your dog carries is not the problem, it is the fuel. The job is not to offer calm. The job is to redirect it onto you. I also talk about what to do instead, why you need to become more exciting than the environment, and why a dog that seems unmotivated by food or toys is not a lost cause. This is part two of a two-part series on focus and engagement. If you haven't listened to part one yet, go back and start there first. 🎙 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3n3nV51SQ2NdGfn2o0UI4B?si=6ad010c8642e4e3e Want my help building this with your Border Collie? I am running a free live training event 15–19 July where I will show you exactly how to start. 👉 Join here for free: https://thatlldoacademy.com/focus-free-training/

In this episode we are going to talk about everything you need to know to keep your border collie safe and active in summer. We will cover acclimatisation, heat stroke, hot pavements, water safety, and what to watch out for if you are travelling to a hotter country with your dog.

One of the most common questions I get asked is: "Who is the pack leader after you?" — and my answer is that there is no pack leader, because we are not a pack. In this episode I break down what a pack actually is, why it doesn't apply to dogs living in a human household, and what the relationship between us and our dogs really looks like. We cover: The scientific definition of a pack and why humans and dogs don't qualify The alpha wolf myth: where it came from, and how it was debunked What feral and street dogs in Italy, Eastern Europe, and South America actually do (and don't do) socially Why dogs evolved to live with us, not to dominate us What our household really is — and why that matters for how we train and relate to our dogs Pack (canine) — Wikipedia Pack Structure — Wolf Haven International Packs (Zoology) — EBSCO Research Starters Mech (1999) full paper PDF — wolf.org/USGS — L. David Mech, "Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs," Canadian Journal of Zoology, 77(8): 1196–1203 Mech (1999) — Canadian Journal of Zoology Scientific Self-Correction: How Mech undid the alpha wolf concept — Science Arena Debunking the Alpha Dog Theory — Whole Dog Journal Alpha Dog Theory Is Dead. Science Killed It in 1999. — Dogly Boitani & Ciucci (1995) — Tandfonline — "Comparative Social Ecology of Feral Dogs and Wolves," Ethology Ecology & Evolution, 7: 49–72 The Ecology and Behavior of Feral Dogs: A Case Study from Central Italy — ResearchGate Feral Dog overview — ScienceDirect Dog Dominance, Alpha and Pack Leadership — VCA Animal Hospitals The Truth About Dominance — Positively.com