Angle -B Stockdogs

09/30/2026

Zip’s starting to figure out that working stock isn’t just about getting to the sheep.
Right now we’re putting more pieces together where I want him, respecting my pressure, giving me the down when I ask for it, waiting until he’s released, and learning that he doesn’t get to make every decision just because his instinct tells him to go.
You can see there’s still plenty to clean up. He’s young, he gets excited, and sometimes that brain gets moving about three steps faster than the rest of us. But that’s exactly why I like showing these sessions instead of only posting the finished product.
I don’t want to take the stock sense or independence out of him. I want to put enough handle on him that we can use it.
A dog that wants stock is great. A dog that wants stock, can think for himself, and will still listen when you need him to, that’s what we’re trying to build.

09/28/2026

Meet Newt: one of our newest client dogs at Angle -B Stockdogs.
We’ve spent about the last week working on our foundation and sanctioning work, but today it was finally time to answer the question I’ve been waiting for:
What do we have when we put him on stock?
This is Newt’s very first session on stock with me, and I’m not looking for perfection on day one. I’m looking at what comes naturally where he wants to be, how he handles pressure, how he reads his livestock, how much help he needs finding the right position, and whether the control we’ve been building away from stock holds together once that instinct kicks in.
There are mistakes in here. There are moments where I have to help him. There are moments where he isn’t quite sure of the answer yet.
Good. That’s why he’s here.
I’m not interested in making a first session look like a finished dog. This gives us our starting point, and now we can start building from it.
For his first time, I saw plenty that I liked and I’m excited to see what Newt looks like after we get some more miles underneath him.

Session 1. Let’s see where this dog goes.

09/27/2026

It doesn’t look like Zip is doing anything here…and that’s exactly what I want.
This is one of my favorite ways to end a training session.
Zip is laid down with sheep right in front of him and I’m clear over in the corner. If he decided to break that down and go after them, there is absolutely no way I’m getting there before he gets to the sheep.
So at this point, the decision is completely his.
I put him down. He knows what that means. Stay there until I tell you otherwise.
That’s something I want out of my dogs. I don’t want a down that only works because I’m standing close enough to enforce it. I want a dog that understands the command, respects it, and makes the decision to stay there even when the thing he wants most is sitting right in front of him.
When I finally gave him “that’ll do”, our command that says we’re done working stock it took me saying it twice before he decided, “Oh, okay, we’re actually done,” and came over.
We walked back to the gate, I laid him down again, and that’s where we ended the session.
Sometimes the part of a training session where nothing happens tells you just as much as the part where everything is happening.

09/24/2026

09/24/2026

Last night was less about teaching anything new and more about getting everything a little sharper.
We started out working her whistle commands and then switched back to voice. My biggest goal over these next couple weeks is getting Harper to the point where she can still use her own stock sense, but when I ask for something, my command overrides what she thinks we should be doing.
On the ranch, I want a dog that can think for herself. In a trial, with obstacles to hit and a clock running, sometimes I need a little bit of a robot.
We also found something else I want to work on. One of the heifers slipped by her and Harper left her feet trying to bite it. I don’t mind a dog using its teeth when the situation calls for it, but I don’t like seeing them leave their feet to do it. I’d rather see her stay on her feet, hold her ground, and use the appropriate amount of pressure.
The tricky part is building that confidence when all of our heifers respect the dogs and move off of them. That’s a pretty good problem to have, but it doesn’t give her many opportunities to learn how to handle one that turns around, faces her up, and says, “Nope, I’m not moving.”
So we’ve got two weeks. We’re not trying to rebuild Harper, we’re just tightening everything up, getting those whistles dialed in, and making sure she’s listening when I need her to listen.

Then we’ll head to Blackfoot and see what we’ve got.

09/20/2026

A little late posting this one, but Dan is officially California bound!
On September 11th, Dan headed off to his new home where he’ll be putting his training to work with a targeted grazing company in California.
That’s the kind of home we love seeing these dogs go to, one where they aren’t just buying a stockdog, they’re buying one because there’s a job waiting for him.

Dan was a fun dog to have around and train, and we’re excited to see what he does in his new operation. Good luck down in California, Dan!

09/19/2026

Harper can go do a job. That doesn’t mean Harper is finished.
She’s one of my more trained dogs, and I trust her when there’s real work that needs done. But videos like this also show me the little things we can still clean up, sharpen and make better.
I had a gentleman who commented on another video, “The only finished dog is the one you put in the ground.” The more I think about it, the more agree with it.
There should always be something we can improve. Better positioning. Better timing. Cleaner commands. More confidence. More independence. And sometimes it’s not the dog that needs to improve, it’s the handler.
My goal isn’t to get Harper to some imaginary point where I can call her
“finished” and quit teaching her. My goal is to keep making her the best stockdog she can be.
Because the day I decide I have nothing left to learn, or my dogs have nothing left to learn, is the day we’ve failed ourselves.
A working dog can be good enough to do the job and still have room to become better.

09/17/2026

Still plenty to work on, but this is why like showing the process instead of only posting the finished product. You get to watch a young dog go from not understanding what I'm asking to gradually figuring out pressure, position and where he needs to be on his stock.
The rake will probably get plenty of attention again, but it isn't the end goal. It's a tool I'm using right now as an extension of my body to help control space and make pressure and release clearer to Zip. As he understands more, 1 should need less of it.
He's nowhere near finished and that's the point. This is training session #4, not the finished product.

09/14/2026

Third time on stock since Zip came to us, but only his second actual training session, and this young dog keeps surprising me.
Zip had been exposed to/stock-tested on livestock before we bought him, but as far as we know he’d never had any actual stockdog training. Hell, he’d never even been taught to walk on a leash.
So we’ve spent the last couple weeks starting from the ground up. Leash manners, handling, barrel work, giving to pressure, and now we’re beginning to put those pieces together on stock.
What I’m liking most so far isn’t just his desire. It’s his mind.
He wants his stock, but he’s also starting to listen and figure out what I’m asking. And so far when he does use his teeth, he’s been pretty clean about it, bite and release rather than grabbing and hanging on.

We’re TWO actual stock-training sessions into this dog, so I’m definitely not going to pretend I know what he’ll become yet. There’s a whole lot of training and miles between here and a finished stockdog.
But there’s something here.
Now it’s my job to take what came naturally and see what we can build out of it.
I’m pretty excited to see where Zip is after another 30, 60, and 90 days.

09/12/2026

First time putting Dan on cattle with us today.

He’s primarily been working sheep, so this was about seeing what he’d give us when we added a little more pressure and put him on something different.
There were things I liked, he was willing to engage, showed some bite, and didn’t completely back away from the challenge. There are also things we’re going to work on, especially getting him to keep his attention on the stock and trust himself instead of checking back with me for an answer.
That’s why we put them in these situations. Find what they’ve got, find the holes, and start building from there.

Definitely some work to do, but I think Dan showed us something worth building on today.