brinashay

I Don't know any trainers in WA, but a suggestion would be to select a couple & go & watch, look at the handlers & dogs body language, do they teach Positive Reward, etc. One of the best tools we found when training our staffy lead work was to start with a NO PULL harness , this has a clip on the chest for the lead & when they pull it turns them back to you, after a few week we were able to go to a flat collar successfully.

We volunteer at the RSPCA and see the damage choke/correction chains can do in the wrong/untrained hands, a tool for training with NO instruction :D . Check out the link at the bottom of the front page at this website ( www.wagntailscdc.piczo.com ) There are better ways to train using either the stop/go method or change direction, you just need to see which one suits your charge.

1st rule of training - Never train frustrated, agitated or upset. 2nd rule of training - enjoy your fury friends company. One of the things we teach is not to play tug games with a puppy, but if the puppy does YOU must always win. Also watch closely for natural behaviours i.e. sitting & add your command to it, puppys sit or lay down quite often over the course of a day. We practice getting our timming right for markwers by bouncing a ball and offering the marker at each bounce. i.e.right hand drop the ball click left hand the moment of contact with the floor.

It sounds a lot like your dog is expecting the reward as part of the command, :D treats should only be offered after the command is completed and your dog "released" from it. This is an example of the method we use i.e. We ask the dog to sit, as the sit action completes we reward the dog with an affirmation (i.e. YES ) and when the required time is reach we release the dog (i.e.OKAY/ALRIGHT) let the dog see the treat in finger tips, but curled away from the dog. re-enforce with saying "gentle" then and only then is the reward given.

We have worked with training Kelpies a fair bit, there's no quick fix. Purpose built yard best short term solution.As those before have said "fences". & work on good leadership in hte long run (excuse the pun)