Ddog is a working collie working cocker cross. He was part of an accidental litter when a relative's sheepdog escaped for a rendezvous with a neighbour's cocker. She had 3 pups and we kept them all in the family,as she is a very difficult dog and we didn't know if they'd inherit her temperament so couldn't risk them with non family.
I took them to puppy get togethers at the local vets,and arranged for a trainer to come to us to give us some tips,as we didn't want them turning out like their mother. She basically said that they were untrainable,and would be always because of littermate syndrome.
I took my ddog to obedience classes,and spent the first one isolated in the kitchen as he couldn't stand being with the other dogs. At the second class,we hadn't made it through the door when we were asked to leave and offered a refund.Again,we were told that some dogs were untrainable and he was one of them.
He is incredibly clever and picks things up really easily,so I taught him loads of stuff at home and tried to take him to agility training. He loved it, only needed to be shown what to do once,and he'd get it,but again,lost the plot because of the other dogs,so we again had to leave.
I booked him into an outdoor class,with the Dogs Trust,but that got cancelled due to COVID and never rebooked,so I had to try and work with him myself.
We live on a farm,and he helps work the sheep with me,but always on a lead. I've continued to train him at home but never trusted him enough to walk through the sheep without him going self employed.
Tonight I took him off the lead through 6 fields of our sheep and lambs,and he completely ignored them,even when the lambs were chasing each other about. He came back every time I whistled and was an absolute joy.
It's taken over 3 years to get to this point,and I'm very proud of my ' untrainable' dog. I know that tomorrow,if we meet another dog on the street, he'll probably still go bananas,and he'll still try and chase white delivery vans,but today was a quiet triumph.
( I won't ever ever walk him through someone else's livestock off lead though,it isn't worth the risk).
Other family members have managed to train his brothers too,despite being told that it was impossible. In fact Ddog and his brothers are the best behaved dogs we've ever had. It does go to show that experts shouldn't write dogs off,there is always hope.