Lie Down

Stay

"Get Behind"

Come

Circling

Flanking

Driving

Sit

Lie Down

DH- One method of teaching the "down" command is by putting a lead on the dog and using it to enforce the down. Place your foot over the lead, and ask the to lie down. If the dog does not obey, press down with your foot on the lead, until the dog gives to the pressure of the lead pulling down on the dog. Once the dog lies down, release the pressure and praise the dog. Now, let the dog up, walk a little bit, then repeat the process. After several of these "lessons", the dog will get the picture. You may have to repeat these lessons several days in a row, before the dog completely understands the command.

I use the lead method on all of my dogs, and have had good success. I will usually put this command on a pup when he is old enough to have an attention span that I can use. 12 to 16 weeks is usually a good time to start

Stay

"Get Behind"

LT- As the "Alpha" of the pack, you should always make your dog walk behind you whenever you go anywhere with him/her. A way to teach this is to walk with the dog on a short lead in one hand, and a flexible staff in the other. As you walk, swing the staff gently back and forth in front of you like a pendulum. When the dog tries to walk past you, say "get behind" and let the staff meet the dog in front of his front legs. DO NOT hit the dog hard, just enough to get his attention and let him/her know that they cannot walk in front because they are not the leader. Also, take this opportunity to work on "stay" and "lie down".

Come

Circling

When getting a dog to circle, one method that has worked for me is to get the dog in a small round pen with about 3-5 tame sheep. Ideally, you would like sheep that think of you as protection from the dog, thus staying close to you (This keeps the sheep off of the fence). Put your dog on the edge of the fence. Place your self in the middle of the pen with the sheep. Walk towards the dog, through the sheep. As you get close to the dog, try to excite him. His instinct should be to get away from you and to the opposite side of the sheep from you. Don't worry about which way he goes. Once he starts going around the sheep, however, you need to follow him, not allowing him to get exactly opposite of you. As you keep moving, he will keep moving. This creates the "circling" that you are looking for. Go around a few times, then repeat the process. Do this 5-10 times a session until he is very comfortable with it. Once he has the hang of it, then start adding in the flanking command. First let him decide which side to go to. Once he has made is choice, give him the appropriate flanking command, and repeat it for as long as he is circling. He will then begin associating that command with moving in that direction. This is the beginning of Flanking.

If you dog does not move to the opposite side of the flock, but rather flies in at them, then you will have to help him figure out that flying in is bad. Get a long lead, and begin walking the dog around the flock very close. As he tries to fly in, tell him, "get out" and force him outside of you. Always keep yourself between the dog and the stock. Do this until the dog realizes that he will be scolded every time he flies into the stock. Eventually he will figure it out. Once this is accomplished, begin circling faster with the dog on the lead. Once a little speed is achieved, let go of the lead and let the dog go. Once he gets to the opposite side from you, keep moving (chasing him) so that he cannot achieve that "balance point" on you (directly opposite). Do this repeatedly until he is comfortable with going around the stock, not through it. Once this is accomplished, then try the method mentioned first in this article.

Flanking

Driving