Barbara Sykes MBIPDT

Founder Trustee and Chief Executive

A member of the British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers since 1984, Barbara Sykes has had a lifetime of working around animals and from an early age learned to appreciate the skills, boundless enthusiasm and intelligence of the working Border Collie.

With her dogs as constant companions, she has been able to study and observe both pack and individual mentality on a daily basis and at close hand. For over 30 years she has been involved in training, teaching and canine behaviour and from early on realised that training a dog becomes much easier if you understand pack instincts and canine communication. From there developed the concept that to train a dog you first need to teach the handler basic pack rules and body language. This became the basis for her own training technique which was officially named TLC – THINKING LIKE CANINES – in 1998. She has many years of successful behavioural consultations behind her including a client base in Australia, Finland, Germany, France, USA and Spain, who she works with via video, email and phone.

Her books – Understanding Border Collies, Understanding Your Dog, Understanding and Handling Dog Aggression, Dogs and Children, Understanding and Training Puppies and Training the Sheepdog have a worldwide distribution. In 1994 she started a magazine – Freedom of Spirit – which now has a global subscriber base.

No stranger to competition, Barbara is one of the few lady handlers to reach the top in the very male dominated sheepdog trialling world, having qualified and competed in seven English national trials and been a member of the winning English team at the International Trials.

Interest in her work is not confined to dog owners. She has trained dogs to take part in television programmes such as ‘Woof’ (for children); Out of Sight; Prime Time and Peak Practice. Television appearances include Vets in the Country, Countryfile, Great Drives, Pets Part of the Family (in the USA), Dogs with Jobs, and One Man and His Dog (Christmas special featuring Corporate Collies). In the 2007 series of BBC Natural World she demonstrated her ability to work with any breed in The Bloodhound and the Beardie when she turned a sheep eating Bearded Collie, Herbie, into a model citizen. She absolutely refuses to appear on any programme that she believes to be detrimental to dogs and their future and the key part of her decision to be involved in the Natural World series was an agreement that Herbie would be given a permanent home with her.

The Times, Times Educational Supplement, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Daily Express, Sunday Mirror magazine, Telegraph and Argus, Wall Street Journal, Dalesman, Country Living and most recently the Yorkshire Post are just some of the newspapers and magazines that have featured Barbara, her dogs and her work.

Barbara Sykes believes passionately in what she does and the benefits people can get by looking to the canine spirit for inspiration. She cares deeply for the welfare of animals and, in particular, the future of the working Border Collie. She has always been involved with the rescue and rehabilitation of Border Collies and in 1983 she joined forces with Hazel Monk, who started the first Border Collie Rescue, with a rehabilitation programme for dogs that were too difficult to rehome.