Training Retrievers for the Marshes and Meadows Book

Overall, I found this book disappointing.

There was some advice I found questionable (very few toys... really??), some border collie info I am skeptical about (although maybe you can tell a bc's temperament by his/her ears, eyeshade, and coat color), and much of the rest was applicable to general dog raising.

And that's probably the rub- I have plenty of dog experience, and was really looking for a book to explain the oddities this breed: why my pup is so touch sensitive; why he demands respect and time to think, rather than just being shown what to do (despite his very sweet and helpful nature); how to deal with the incredible complexity (and intensity) of working with these dogs. It wasn't in this book.

I did appreciate the pictures and the talk about stalking. I further appreciated the author's explanation about why kids and bcs can work together just fine, thankyouverymuch, if both kids and dog have clear rules to follow. Unlike too many websites, the author was not trying to steer everyone away from these fabulous dogs, nor was she trying to scare us with horror stories. Since this book was written primarily for pet border collies, she does a good job of discussing hyperactivity, and what owners can do to 'fix' it or what they could do (in error and on bad advice) to make it worse. She abhors food rewards (I used to agree.. UNTIL my bc came, ironically.) There is a little talk about pack position, but she neither discusses it at length, nor ignores the value of positive training methods- very middle of the road, so regardless of which you embrace, you probably won't be offended by her book.

It is clear the author knows and loves bc's- it just wasn't clear that she fully understood how different they are than other breeds. Better than nothing, but not really that helpful.


Update: now that my own BC is 2 years old, and a settled adult, I gave this book a reread. In a way, that was helpful: with the incredibly tough puppy stages behind us, I can find more common ground here. However, I still believe it doesn't make a good enough distinction between border collies and other breeds. It also didn't address many of the challenges we had to work with that just aren't out there (my bc never ate the house, herded the children, or chased cars. But he had to be very carefully socialized to EVERYTHING, we had to overcome a litany of 'wolfy' behaviors, and his intelligence means I have to reach his brain FIRST or he just won't do it, necessitating a very special kind of training) . This book should have been the go-to source to that stuff. Unfortunate that it wasn't.