This site is all about training the wonderful little doggies also know as Border Terriers. I'm simply going to run through what we have done - that while still work in progress has given us a great family pet who seems to delight in making us happy - and in return gets a lot back from us I hope.

For anyone who doesn't know about this brilliant breed here is a quick owner biased summary of the "little old men"

OK I'm incredibly biased...but look at the photos of my son, no I mean, boy, er, pet dog/junior family/pack member Gunnar (an old Swedish man's name) and you do have to agree that Border Terriers are a very cute cool breed.

We like to call them little old men with bushy moustaches, and they do indeed have funny bristly moustaches which is part of the charm.

And as a part of the very varied Terrier family they share that common trait of all terriers - Total Determination and focus on the cause of having fun and hunting - Hunting = Anything will do as long as it can be "hunted"

In the case of Gunnar that means sticks and balls mainly. With these he takes an unholy joy in chasing and then playing dodge and catch up with me (and I can tell you if he doesn't want to be caught then there is NO WAY I'm going to get him)....I've see him out run young fit German Sheperds at our local stable...not bad for a little chap!

Until that is I call for him to hold at which point, apart from dancing a few more steps away (out of principle I think) he'll stop and let me have whatever it is he has...to be thrown again normally.

I think you could say with some justification that the breed gives you the cuteness of smaller Terrier breeds like Yorkshires mixed with size, energy, stamina and strength from the larger terriers. I'm not saying for a moment that a Border could go up against a Staffordshire or Pit - But I am saying that they have a similar true hunter mindset. Indeed I know that Gunnar's brother lives up in the far north of Sweden now and hunts mink - and Mink are not soft targets!

Their stamina and endurance makes them a great choice for anyone who is, like me, limited on house space but wants a dog that can go for very long walks and spend all day out in all but the worst weather. My longest so far is 20km (take water when going long especially if it's warm)

They're also a good breed from a training point of view which is what I'll look at now.

We picked up Gunnar at age 12 weeks, gad he was tiny, a real cute little sausage! This is what we did - and it worked -

Actions - Space and peace when he wants it -

We have 2 comfy dog boxes for him. One tucked away in a quite darker area in our case next to our bed. He can go here anytime he wants to rest in pace and quite. Very handy when you have kids and their friends running about. This is a good way we think to get rids of stress build up. It's good to let him know he can have some personal space if he wants it. In practice not very often but good to do.

Start house training right away - but very softly softly

Don't ever ever raise the voice or act stressed when they pee or poo on the floor. As I said this is just what we did and there are zillions of opinions on this subject. But we are lucky in that we have hard floor so we allowed him to go on it and just made sure to clear up afterwards right away - But with no sign of fuss or bother. Objective - Not to make him think there was anything special about this subject.

Let him know it's OK to ask to go out at 3am

As he slept by our bed and we sleep light we'd hear when he woke anytime day or night and went tapping about on the hard floor. And so we were ready to take him out anytime of night to let him go. No fuss, no problem.

Reward successful outdoor poo n' pee

And when doing this, and during normal daytime outings, give small reward sweetie and warm praise when he goes as we want him to.

And that's all we did and it worked.

Gunnar came home on October 11^th 2007 and did his last indoor pee-poo on December 23^rd...I remember this specifically as my parents came to see us for Xmas. We'd picked them up at the airport and were telling them that we thought he was 100% house broken...and came into a neat little package on the floor. But that was the last time.

Next - Sit, stay, Lie down etc!