MacRae Sheepdogs

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United States
Abbeville, SC
MacRae Sheepdogs

Our passion is to increase the mutual understanding & bond between sheepdog handlers and their dogs. Please visit us www.macraeway,com/academy

Our positive, proven methodology is based on our dogs natural instinct to want to get to balance point; it is a system rooted in making a connection with our dog instead of a correction. We breed, train and trial Border Collies as well as provide on-line sheepdog training, and in-person clinics, lessons & custom training.

08/23/2025

Big Congratulations to Chris Toner and Niro Mace, Scottish National Champions (again)! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👌🏆🥇

Very well done to all who made the team and heading to Wales💪👏🍀🥂

Scottish National RESULTS:

1. Chris Toner and Mace
2. Wullie Welsh and Fletch
3. Neil Campbell and Moss
4. Hamish Mitchell and Dan
5. Chris Toner and Nap
6. Duncan Robinson and Roy
7. Alan Wilkie and Mot
8. Cameron Dickerson and Tom
9. Sandy McCullough and Juno
10. John Mackillop and Garry
11. Ian Brownlie and Lark
12. John Allen and Joe
13. Ian Wilkie and Leah
14. Neil Mcvicar and Mark
15. Micheal Gallagher and Bee
Reserve: Fraser Shennan and Belle

08/12/2025

🤷‍♀️😅🤣...

Have a great week everyone🐾🥂

07/25/2025

Grateful for our dogs in so many ways 💜🐾 Hope you all have an amazing weekend🙌🥂

07/15/2025

There are very few shortcuts that don’t cost double later—

The key to training success isn’t found in achieving the perceived next step, employing a more sophisticated technique or trying a new gimmick. A dog achieving his best, directly correlates to the quality of his foundation training and your mindset.

When trainers don’t see the progress in their dog they expect or desire, they sometimes get frustrated; their response is often to press harder, hyper focus on the specific area or force their dog….the exact opposite of what many dogs need.

We see this with young dogs or when teaching a new concept.
Specifically, handlers believing when their dog makes a mistake, it is the chance to ‘correct’, instead of recognizing, it is the chance to teach.

While everyone knows it’s not reasonable to correct for something your dog doesn’t yet understand , handlers can, inadvertently, do just that.

Whether it’s a shout, a yell, a “no”, or other correction, when a dog doesn’t yet understand a concept, doing this isn’t productive and can be detrimental.

‘Correction’ is defined as a rebuke or punishment, assumption of comprehension to know differently/better.
It doesn’t offer explanation, foster understanding and worse, it can deliver the message that trying (offering behavior), has negative consequences.

Dogs can develop an unpleasant association with the behavior that was ‘corrected’ such as:
a wrong flank direction, attempt at the shed, heading the sheep, shape of the flank, lifting off of a person, turning back, the list is endless.

It can affect overall enthusiasm, enjoyment, understanding and the willingness for a dog to want to try.
While the intent of the ‘correction’ is to speed up the learning, it can actually slow it down and cause many additional problems.

It’s ok and even productive, to let your dog be wrong when learning a new concept—
and also important he understands, it is not a big deal.
Instead of correction, employ connection; it’s a teaching opportunity.

Dogs, and trainers alike, learn from being allowed to make mistakes.
Training epiphanies are not common; the majority of the time the ‘sudden improvement’ is actually a reflection of the body of work that preceded it, which includes being wrong.

Mistakes aren’t the opposite of success, they are part of it and overcoming them helps develop confidence and mental fortitude.
Every dog learns at a different speed and the training time is dependent on the individual.

Understanding mistakes are inevitable and ultimately, pave the road to excellence empowers your bond and partnership.
macraeway.com

07/08/2025

When I first started to get to know Alasdair he told me his mentor Kenny Brehmer said,
“Not enough dogs are good at taking a single on the fly” ….

‘On the fly’ means, the sheep and dog both in motion, the last sheep heading towards the others and the dog on a flank, yet without breaking stride, still able to come in fluidly and take the single on the head; much more difficult then when sheep and dog are both stopped.
I went to work on it that day with Max, some 20 years ago; even though I hadn't yet met Kenny, it framed my beliefs about a good shedding dog.
Here Alasdair does it with Bute ❤

07/01/2025

Working a single is one of the truest tests of a dog….

I love Moss’ confidence and mental fortitude to stop a single sheep right between the eyes 💪💪🔥🔥

Many dogs in this position would over flank, apply too much pressure, grip, turntail or another form of avoidance that might result in the sheep hitting the fence.

Moss’ back is flush to the fence line and still, he never considered gripping (as he wasn’t attacked)
and never took notice of the sheep in the pen 🩵

I was at the top near pen when the ewe broke and let camera run until she turned to rejoin the packet I was holding; it's a bit long but wanted to show it all.
We were without much of a signal last month traveling, we're recharged, home and connected now.
Hope you all are having a great summer🐾🥂😍
macraeway.com

06/12/2025

Having a blast in Colorado😍🐾🥂🎉 great sheep, beautiful vistas and generous hosts.
Lost our cell signal after Tabletop but on wifi today,
here’s a few sheds from that trial & heading to Mindy Bower's trial this weekend.
Grateful for our time in such a beautiful place doing what we love.
Hope you all have an amazing weekend!🙌

06/02/2025

Tabletop SDT: Yay Moss, Cymro and Nite🏆🎉🐾
Nite won Open 1, his son Moss won Open 3 and Cymro tied for 1st Open 2 and was 2nd in Open 3, proud of them all😍😍
Open 3, 62 dogs judge Neil McVicar
Bute was 3rd,
congratulations Karen Karkow and Bran 4th
Micheal Mcnutt and Win 5th
Bev Lambert and Annie 6th, well done👏👏
(separate post on Mich’s win Open 2)

Brilliant 4 days of trialing so far with 2 days of double lift still to go .
Grateful for the tremendous sheep, beautiful, vistas, fun atmosphere, everyone’s hard work and the long judging hours🥂🥂
Full results dogtrialentry
(Alasdair and Moss had a brilliant shed and only completed course so far, Bev w Lee and me and Nite got shed no pen, about 15 more dogs to go today and 25 tomorrow for DL)

05/31/2025

Tabletop SDT: Big Congratulations to Mich Ferraro and 10.5 year old Quark, Open 2 winners🏆🙌🐾🤩 Cymro and I tied them for first and they won in the runoff.
Both dogs handled the sheep great all 4 runs. Very happy for them and love seeing older dogs working at such a high level 😍

Well done to the all the winners. 👏👏

Open 2 Judge: Neil McVicar 62 dogs

1. Mich Ferraro and Quark 89
2. me and Cymro 89
3. Angie Coker Sells and Pepper 86
4. Bev Lambert and Lee 86
5. Alasdair and Moss 83
6. Lise Andersen and Tom 82

Very pleased with Bute who finished 9th and Nite again ran well, handled the sheep no bother but I missed the x-drive.

Young dogs today.
I judged the first nursery and sheep were quite testing. 23 dogs and 4 qualifiers,
Congratulations to Tommy Wilson and Mirk 1st, Angie Coker Sells and Nick 2nd, Larry Burch and Fern 3rd, Micheal McNutt and Mickey 4th🥇🎉
Another nursery and Open Ranch today and Open 3 tomorrow!
📸Thank you Dee Penatzer Bailes for the great pic!

05/30/2025

Tabletop SDT: Yay Nite, winner Open 1🎉🐾💚
Congratulations to all the winners👏👏
Fantastic and testing range sheep, great atmosphere and fair consistent judging—having a blast in Colorado Springs.
We get to do this 3 more Opens, including a double lift over 2 days and tomorrow is a day of young dogs.
I walked early with Cymro after a poor start and Moss had a difficult sheep that was costly, we’ll try to do better today. Very excited for Bute and her first time on range sheep😍
Full results at dogtrialentry.

Judge:Neil Mcvicar 62 dogs

1. me and Nite 84
2. Fernando Loiola and Gary 80
3. Tommy Wilson and Tess 75
4. Libby Neider and Lyric 74
5. Alasdair and Bute 74
6. Beth Murray and Petra 72
7. Beverly Lambert and Lee 70

05/27/2025

Hope: WTF muther...this is how trust issues are born
😆😅😂
Have a great week everyone!

05/21/2025

Huge congratulations Rose Kane and Aggie, Bluegrass Amateur Nursery Champions! 🎉🥇🏆🐾🥂🥂

They had a brilliant week of trials 🍾👏👏; this is an award we sponsor each year recognizing the highest combined pointed nursery dog handled over the 4 days by a competitor who has YET to win an open trial—

Rose bred Aggie herself and we’re excited to watch this very promising team, well done!!

Address

Abbeville, SC

Telephone

(434) 955-3767

Website

http://www.macraeway.com/

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The MacRae Way: Putting Dogs First

Our passion is to increase the mutual understanding between handlers and their dogs, making training more enjoyable for both, and helping dogs reach their full potential.

Alasdair won the coveted Supreme in 1993 with the legendary Nan, and with 12 US National Championships, and a Scottish National, he is by far the most accomplished handler in North America. I attended my first novice trial in 2002 and won the US National in 2012. Our lives have been immeasurably enriched through the journey with our dogs.

In 2014 , we launched, MacRae Way Online SheepdogTraining Courses to make our intuitive, positive training methodology accessible to handlers throughout the world. Our courses are timeless in their relevance and are available via live streaming and can be delivered on any device.

In March 2018, we launched MacRae Way Academy. The Academy is a supplement to our courses, and a platform for learning and sharing information on sheepdog training, trialing, judging, handling and more. We believe that sharing our knowledge will empower improvement, enjoyment and understanding between handlers and their dogs.