Harford's Apprentice

An introduction
You have a young dog, possibly but not necessarily a Border Collie. You have a
desire to train it on a series of commands and most likely, to use its instincts to
train it to herd. But where to start?
As the heritage of Logan Whistles lies with Border Collies and herding, I took the
opportunity to quiz my father, Harford Logan, on his lifetime with these dogs… …how he
went about training them to work so well. And if he were to distil all his years of experience
into a short tutorial for someone just starting out in sheepdog training, a simple but practical
guide to the crucial first stages with a young dog, what would he say?
So I offered myself up as his ‘Apprentice’ and beside a peat-fire in a little old inn,
The Saltwater Brig, on the shores of Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, he explained
to me how he took a young dog through each stage of its early training in a way that could
bring out the dog’s own natural ability – and so help it to be the best it could be.
What follows is a summary of what he said. And the
punch-line is that the key to success is to break down
early training into simple bite-size chunks and then have
the patience to help the dog understand and then
perform what you are asking of it – the foundation
for all other learning and experience it will build
up over the years.
He’d be the first to stress that this is ‘his way’ to build those foundations for the young dog.
Every handler should take time to watch and understand how their dog learns and tailor
their approach and the speed of training to the nature of their dog.
It’s only a short guide and limited to the first months of training, so the dog has the basic
skills needed for simple farm work, but it’s an insight into the psychology between the
handler, dog and sheep that my father mastered so well and we hope you’ll find it a useful
signpost for your own journey.
Joanne McHardy
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