Effy the resource guarding Border Collie

We’ve recently been working with Effy the Border Collie in Newcastle.

Effy has a long list of issues, such as resource guarding, fear of the lead on some days, chasing and reacting to cyclists and joggers, fear of the car, reactivity to noises, and being incredibly sensitive to others.

Effy is a pretty typical working line border collie. She’s already had 3 trainers and a vet behaviorist, 2 of the trainers (both qualified) were fab and made really good progress and resolved a lot of issues but the other (who had no qualifications - no surprises there) made her a lot worse and created a whole host of new issues by using harsh techniques - always make sure your trainers are qualified.

Effy was referred to me by one of the trainers as they work from a center and needed to take training to the outside world.

We had a chat on Zoom and put in some foundation work and simple confidence-building techniques for the areas I’ve been asked to help her with.

It was very obvious that Effy has a HUGE herding drive that wasn’t been channeled appropriately and this was coming out in other areas and causing Effy stress.

It’s important to understand that working dogs were bred for a reason, and their drive is still a necessity to them whether they are working or in a home.

We gave her a game called Sheep Balls to start channeling her drive.

As you can see in the video below, she naturally herds all the tennis balls together as if they were sheep - we did not train this what so ever, just gave Effy the outlet she needs!

We are going to be continuing to work with Effy over the coming months to make her the best she can be!

Well done Effy and Family so far!