10/06/2026
I’ve realised I’m a pretty lazy dog trainer—and oddly enough, that seems to work just fine.
By rights, Jill Bean, at 10 months old, should be getting steady training on a little mob of educated weaners or sheep. But here she is on 200 fresh weaners, steadying them through the gate. They had a bit of a trot up, and her presence was enough to stop them.
I can’t take any credit. There’s been minimal training; it’s just sheer instinct that I’m trying not to get in the way of.
Two weeks ago was the first real work she got when we went to do 800 head for someone else. She didn’t get put around that many at once, but she worked them in mobs 60–80 head for several hours over a few days.
I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to try and have great dogs with all the bells and whistles, because that’s what gets drummed into us on Facebook and at schools. I used to keep a little mob of “trainers” around the house and force myself to go and work them to try and make my dogs better and to get better myself.
And I hated it.
But over the last couple of years, I’ve just thought, “feck it,” and stopped with the high-pressure training—for both me and the dogs. Now I’m pretty laidback about it, way more relaxed and it shows in both the dogs and cattle (and also my own movement around the stock).
My dogs occasionally make a mistake, like crossing in front of me, or have a lapse in concentration. But for the most part, they’re very functional dogs who get the job done with minimal fuss.
Will I win any trials? Gosh no, and I’m finally okay with that. Can I drop my dogs out of the buggy with s**t hitting the fan and know that they’ll give it a good hard crack at fixing it on their own when I can’t even see them through the scrub? Certainly can.
I’m not saying don’t train dogs. some people are excellent at it and really enjoy it and I really admire them. But I think a lot of us make it harder than it needs to be. Give a good dog stock, give it time, and don’t nitpick every little mistake. They’ve usually got more natural ability than we give them credit for. They’ve certainly got more than me 😂
That’s not to say training doesn’t matter—it does. But these days I’ve realised I’m a pretty lazy dog trainer, and I’m okay with that
