Update...
Mick is now 14 weeks old, we brought him home at 8 weeks old. In 6 weeks he has learned an astounding ammount. I started his training at 8 weeks following my old favorite Richard Wolters who wrote Gun Dog, a training model ahead of its time in my opinion.
So at 14 weeks, Mick understands well and obeys 8 times out of 10 and improving daily, the following: His name, No, That'll Do, Lie Down, Go On, Load Up (gets into farm buggy/ golf cart), Thats Enough (to stop tormenting our Shih Tzus), TimeOut (banished to crate for socially unacceptable behavior), Out Of The Kitchen, Outside, Hurry Hurry (go potty).
Hes met my 5 Shetland sheep and had a few positive and a few negative experiences with them; they are not impressed with him at all and seem to want to come to him and intimidate him, its almost like they know who he is and they want to get the upper hand- anyways I try very hard to manage encounters to be overall positive for him as Ive read one can ruin a BC early on so theyll never get over their fear of sheep.
Him and I have bonded very tightly. He accompanies me every time I go to do farm chores. I figure that even if I mess up his sheepdog training, he'll be a great farm hand companion wherever I go on the farm.
I'm trying to figure out the best way to initialize Away to Me, and Come By, without using sheep... or maybe its best trained using corraled sheep?
Also looking for a BC sheepdog training book with a monkey-proof training approach similar to that Richard Walters used for gun dogs. Step by step, easy for me to visualize and understand... monkey-proof. Any recommendations?
April time frame, Mick'll be 5 months old then, I'm hoping to go to a clinic for BC pups. Hopefully by then he'll have a solid base with which to work.