Board and train for working and herding breeds

The AKC says every breed in its Herding Group shares an instinctual ability to control the movement of other animals, and that the group was developed to gather, herd and protect livestock; it adds that the Belgian Malinois and the German Shepherd are now common in police and protection work. Its Border Collie page is frank too, calling the breed a remarkably bright workaholic that may be too much dog for owners without the time, energy or means to keep it occupied.

In a training stay that drive is an advantage. These dogs learn fast, work happily for food or a toy and like a clear task. The risk is the opposite of a slow learner: a herding dog rehearses whatever it is allowed to do just as quickly, including circling, staring down another dog, nipping heels and launching at anything that moves. The plan decides which habits get rehearsed during the stay, and which never get the chance.

Place, stay and impulse control are on the Foundation list, and for these breeds they are the headline. The dog learns to go to a cot and lie down while things happen around it: a ball rolling past, another dog moving, a door opening. Calm is rewarded quietly and often, so lying still becomes a way to earn rather than a gap in the earning. The AKC's advice on herding behavior points the same way, asking for a calm sit or down before fetch or tug.

Movement triggers get their own work. The AKC suggests teaching a watch-me and a leave-it to pull a herding dog's attention back when something moves nearby, and both run through the stay's impulse-control blocks. A dog that circles or nips in a playgroup is given another job, a retrieve or a settle, and its group time stays short until it can share the turf without trying to herd it. Advanced then tests the same cues outside the building.

Keep the rhythm from the stay at home: short training games, a sniff walk, then rest, instead of one long ball session. Dogtown Academy, $89 a full day or $69 a half, gives a working dog a structured day with a training session, treadmill and agility work, scent games and the sensory garden. Canine Campus runs 2, 4 or 6 weeks of day training with nights at home, and the Pup Van collects in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea for $10 each way.

For running, choose open ground and a long line until the recall is proven. Gloucester's beaches take dogs off leash outside the summer, Good Harbor on even-numbered days from October 1 to March 31 and Wingaersheek on odd-numbered days through April 30, and the gulls lifting off the sand make a fair test of a fresh leave-it. Gloucester's rules keep every dog under its owner's control, so the line stays on until the cue works every time.