Thinking Like Canines is about natural communication - a day on the farm going back to basics and working with nature. Guiding the instincts of working dogs, reading their body language and adapting to their needs in order to gain optimum performance.

Dogs in a pack work together in harmony for the good of the pack. They don’t argue about their position, they don’t waste time scoring points from each other; they accept and respect leadership but can use their initiative whenever the need arises. They focus on the task in hand and they don’t allow an outside thought or sound to interfere with their concentration, unless such an intrusion could affect their work in which case they will deal with it quickly and efficiently.

For over one hundred years shepherds and their dogs have worked together, neither one afraid to take responsibility or to delegate. They form a partnership that has strength in its silence; peace in its simplicity yet is formidable in the face of adversity. Corporate Collies takes you into this world of observation and communication.

Our TLC Pack to Profession techniques are unique, each day is adapted to suit individual client’s needs, from the sole trader to team building, from management and leadership skills to confidence and focus. For clients who may have a concern about working in close proximity to dogs and sheep we can adapt your day accordingly to ensure that your team still work together balancing each other’s strengths.

Imagine you are given a small number of sheep in a ring fence and you and the dog have to keep them locked in the circle, the dog can understand human commands but not in your tone of voice. What do you do? You move and the dog immediately ‘reads’ what you have said and moves accordingly, but you don’t know what it was you said. Now you have to work really hard to try and decipher the dog’s language to enable you to communicate and you also have to learn all the moves of the sheep so you can tell the dog what you want.

This fascinating study of body language, the interaction of man and dog and the relevant parallels between pack and profession has been developed by Barbara Sykes MBIPDT at Mainline Border Collie Centre in West Yorkshire.