Ben Means comes from the old school of cowboys and cow dogs. His standard for selecting and training dogs is based on the Code of the West.
“Write it in your heart. Stand by the code, and it will stand by you. Take pride in your work, finish what you start, do what’s necessary, ask no more and give no less than honesty, courage, generosity and fairness.”
Ben developed his training program based on sound, common-sense training methods cohered with 60 years of experience. He has been one of the leading cattle dog trainers in this country for nearly all those years. Over the years he has trained or helped people train many of the herding breeds and various cross-bred herding dogs with his methods. Ben appreciates a good working stockdog regardless of the breed, particularly cattle-working Border Collies.
“WHATEVER YOU DO, WORK AT IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART…”
_________________________________________________________________________
TRAINING – Ben’s “Retired*” (2019)
You can use the following GUIDELINES for COMPARISON, but most trainers do charge more than Ben.
- We took a select number of outside dogs for training.
- Ben’s trained just about all herding breeds, but is a Border Collie man at heart. So, in the last few years of taking outside dogs, he limited the dogs he took to Border Collies or BC crosses.
- At the time that Ben quit taking outside dogs, we were charging $400 / 30 days Deposit required.
- Ben only kept a dog for 30 – 45 days. They weren’t just here for that amount of time, he worked them each day.
- Owners were responsible for transportation arrangements for the dog to and from our place.
- Our definition of a started dog, depending on the dog’s aptitude, is one that has all his commands on him within 30 – 45 days, obeys those commands, and has been trained on cattle.
- Ben believes in starting them right with a concrete foundation on which to build with working experience.