The Border Collie Geek Podcast

My last episode for 2023!

Thank you for being with me another year!

Now the links I promised:

The Facebook Group for my in person events:

In this episode, we sit down with Laura, a dedicated dog owner, and her Border Collie, Alfie. Alfie's journey from a reactive, anxious adolescent to a confident and content companion is truly full of hope!

At just 10 months old, Alfie began his journey as a student in the online membership program, The Collie Club. He is now 2.5 years old, and we will hear how he went from being reactive and fearfully of cars, other dogs, and anything that moved, to an off-lead, happy Border Collie who relishes his daily walks and even confidently walks on the road without reacting to passing cars.

In this episode, Laura shares the pivotal role that two key components played in Alfie's journey: the Control Unleashed program and The Collie Club. She highlights the effectiveness of the Control Unleashed program in helping her understand and address Alfie's reactivity, providing valuable tools and techniques to manage his anxiety.

Tune in to hear the inspiring story of Alfie's transformation and how the combination of Laura's dedication, the Control Unleashed program, and The Collie Club's supportive community made it all possible. It's a testament to the power of commitment, education and community in improving the lives of both dogs and their owners.

To follow me on social media:

Inspired by a video I made on Instagram and Tiktok and after a follower suggested it... here it a full podcast episode about Traits that are Border Collie breed related traits and which ones are not!

To follow me on social media:

What is prey drive?

How does it effect our domestic dogs and their life as pets?

Should we repress prey drive or embracing with it?

Tracey will answer all these questions and more in this episode!

Do you want to learn more about Tracey?

Inspired by a student that wanted to understand the different between markers and cues, here is my explanation!

What is a marker?

How many markers there are?

Is my method the only one? (NO!)

Can some cues also be markers?

Listen to find out!

Sing Up to my FREE webinar, "The Collie Eye?

What is adolescence?

What happens in the brain?

What are the behaviours that might change?

Are behaviours that we see in adolescence staying?

How do we work through it?

How long does it last?

How can sleep and diet, exercise and enrichment help during adolescence?

How neutering influence adolescence?

To follow me on social media:

Join Jane and me in our chat about high driven working dogs!

Jane is a working cocker owner, trainer and breeder and is well known world wide for her knowledge about high driven dogs.

Jane wrote a book that I really suggest your to read: "Mission Control".

Jane run the Wagga Wuffins Canine College where she trains other dogs trainers as well her classes and One to One.

To know more about Jane, her work and her book:

Part 1!

If you want to know more about the Look At That game I mention in the episode here is the link for the webinar!

To learn more about Kay:

My first replay episode!

If you haven't listen to it yet or don't remember much about it and maybe in the meantime you got a puppy... here it is again!

I'm running a webinar on the topic, so hope to see some of you live with some questions!

I love this topic and I love to see my dogs happy and confident.

Here is the link to sign up:

What about an older dog? Can we still talk about socialisation? Let me talk you through it!

To follow me on social media:

“My Border Collie is always bringing me the toy and if I don’t play he barks at me”

“When we sit down in the evening to relax and watch tv my Border Collie doesn’t settle down and keeps running up and down”

“When we have visitors we have to put our Border Collie in another room as they won’t leave the guest alone”

“ I wish I could leave the door of the garden open but my Border Collie doesn’t know how to relax and want to chase birds and planes all the time”

“ I would like to take my Border Collie with me to the pub garden with me in summer but as soon as I sit down my Border Collie start whining and pulling on the lead and I have to give up and go home”

“ I can’t stop talking to people on the street as my Border Collie doesn’t like to stand still and it keeps barking and whining to carry on the wall”…

I could do on an on and on…

Who else has a Border Collie or any dog that cannot relax and has to be always on the go? Would you like to learn how to teach to offer CALM?!

If that sounds like your dog, don't miss out on the webinar on Thursday!

To learn more about Nicola and how to reach out for training with her and her team check her website and Facebook Page

Future Webinars:

https://thatlldoacademy.com/events/

To follow me on social media:

What is dog training? It's not just fixing problems or it shouldn't be anyway! Although that seems to be what I do all the time with my students. This episode is for all of you that want to learn how to avoid bad habits to become bad behaviours and instead building good habits or if the bad habits area already there, how to train good habits instead and change behaviours without frustration and suppression of the behaviours you don't like. To follow me on social media:

To join my next 5 days free training challenge click here:

Thank you for all your questions!

If you want to ask me some questions so I can record an episode and answer you, join the Facebook Group!

Hélène is a dog sport performance coach who helps handlers develop the confidence and competence they need to reach their performance goals. Hélène specialises in Optimal Arousal, Success with Sensitive Dogs, and mindset coaching.  Founder of, and head coach at Dog Sport Scholars and an instructor at the Fenzi Dog Sport Academy, Hélène has been raising and training working Border Collies for sport, work, and companionship for over 30 years. Her primary focus is on herding and agility, but she has also explored obedience, Rally-O, scent work, search and rescue, and bite sports.  

You can find Hélène at helenelawler.com, or follow her on the socials at:   

Rebecca is a dog trainer, dog breeder and coach for other dog breeders.

She runs an accredited course for breeders or people that want to be breeders on how to do it right, from the beginning to the end!

This episode will hopefully help some of you making the right questions to breeders or lines for your next puppy.

You can learn more about Rebecca on the Pupstarts website:

This episode is my intro episode that I realised I should have done as first episode! It tells you about me and how I got where I am now and also about my dogs, Border Collies and not! Hope you enjoy it :) www.thatlldoacademy.com

Today's guest is the world known obedience coach and trainer Kamal Fernandez.

We ended up geeking out about Border Collie genetic predisposition, breeding of different lines for different sports and obedience.

I had million of questions but we had limited time so I'm sure we will record another episode in the future!

If you want to find out about Kamal's work you can check his Facebook page and his website:

What? Dogs can help wildlife?

This Episode comes from a question that one of my Members on the Border Collie Geek Community forum asked me.

It's a question that needs a proper answer as it's an overlooked problem and loads of dogs can do with building more confidence in order to make it easier for them to cope with the rest of the world!

Is your dog confident or not? What do you need to work on?

Listen to what I have to say about it!

Check out the podcast merchandise :

Caroline Taylor, aka The Slim Pet Vet. on a mission to help hundreds of dog's have more energy to live their life to the full. 

A silent pandemic has been sweeping our nation's dogs, with now over 60% above their ideal weight. This puts them at greater risk of a number of diseases, but also reduces their chance of a long, carefree and joyful life.  

Dr Caroline has created an online solution to canine weight loss, with a step by step program which combines all the latest research and advice, combining enrichment, exercise, diet, and habit change to give you the best chance for long term success for your dog's health and vitality. Her ultimate focus is to enhance the bond you have with your dog. 

She is not affiliated with any dog food company so can offer completely impartial advice, according to your dogs food preferences and specific needs. Join her to Give Your Dog More Energy to Live Their BEST Life.

I get this question asked many times, from my Online Academy students and also from in my free Community Group of Facebook!

There is no one answer to this so I thought about doing a podcast to explain why and to try to analyse all different scenario and talk what are the emotions behind this and how can we work on things.

Podcast Link

Check out the podcast merchandise :

Anxious dogs need space, respect and consideration!

How can we make sure that other people notice and stay away from our anxious dog? 

How does a good recall looks like?

I tell you what is looks life for me and how I train it!

Recall is not an easy before, it's not just about rewarding the dog when they come back! It's a complex chain of behaviour where prey drive, impulse control and motivation play a big part!

If after listening to this episode you want to learn more and need help with your dog, I'm also running a Webinar in September! 

Here is the link to know more and book your ticket!

In this episode I'm chatting with Debby about her work with KAD to help families with dogs having the support they need to make sure kids and dogs can understand each other and have all the right introduction and management. In this episode we talk about how to get ready for a new dog in a family with children, if is better to pick a rescue or a breeder puppy, what breeds are the most likely to be compatible to a life with children and of course what are the most common problems with Border Collies and Children that both me and Debby have come across as dog trainers. 

To learn more about Debby and KAD and to download their free resources here are some useful links for you! 

Another episode that one of my listeners asked me for! I love teaching my dogs and my students distance down.
It's useful in life for a lot of reasons:

- stop the dog at distance as it's safer then calling them back
- interrupt a chase

It's possible to teach this with with several different exercises I will explain in this episode!

The podcast has now a Patreon, to support me and be an active part of the making of the episodes: