The FAQs about my training and the questions I wish you would ask about training in general.
** Frequently asked questions! **
What would you teach my puppy?
Basic Life Skills are a must! Where to wee and poo. Waiting at an open door/gate. Walking on a loose leash. Socialisation, when to be calm, how to relax. Being calm in the big wide world and at the vet. What is and isn’t okay to chew on (chew toys v’s the furniture). What is and isn’t okay to bark at (a thief v’s the postman).
What would you teach my dog?
It depends on what your dog knows and what you need your dog to learn. The most common issue for teenage dogs is pulling on lead! If your dog is a rescue, we start at the beginning and see what your dog already understands and build skills and behaviour from there. It may be that the “Basic Life Skills” were never taught, so, where to wee and poo. Waiting at an open door/gate. Walking on a loose leash. When to be calm. How to relax. Being calm in the big wide world and at the vet.
My dog is aggressive what can you do for me?
Knowing that past learning and experiences influence what your dog does now in current situations, I help you teach your dog how to understand they are safe and don’t need to react in that way in those situations, using scientifically backed worldwide, positive reinforcement training techniques such as classical counter conditioning and desensitisation, nose work and choices. You will be surprised at the behaviour changes your dog chooses to make.
How old is too old for training?
Dogs are never too old to learn! My most understood response to this is ‘ the RSPCA wouldn’t exist if you couldn’t teach old dogs’ new tricks’.
Why don’t you do group training?
Each and every dog AND their families are different, with different requirements, needs and wants. Teaching positive reinforcement techniques means all families and their dogs are able to learn at different speeds and teach their puppy all kinds of different behaviours that other families choose not to teach. I also found sticking to a ‘same time, same place for weeks was not realistic’ for busy working families.
If you don’t do group puppy classes, how do I socialise my puppy?
Socialisation is about so much more than group puppy classes. Socialisation is about your puppy experiencing the world they’ll need to live in, in a safe and controlled manner. Socialisation is a basic life skill which you can easily do yourself.
What socialisation isn’t: it isn’t letting your puppy play with any and all dogs they see. It isn’t being patted by any and all people they see.
How much does training cost?
I don’t expect you to pay an arm and a leg for possible future needs. Pay for what you need, when you need it. Packages are available.
– In person: $180
– Virtual (Online Live): $140
– Online video modules and downloadable notes emailed directly to you $120
– Online video modules and downloadable notes emailed directly to you $120
**Training sessions consist of:
Initial Session: 1hr session, consists of theory and practical training.
Follow up Weeks: 1hr session, consist of a recap/check-up and practical training.
General Obedience and behaviour Issue training.
– In person: $230
– Virtual (Online Live): $190
– Online video modules and downloadable notes emailed directly to you $140
**Training sessions consist of:
Initial Session: 1.5hr session, consists of theory and practical training.
Follow up Weeks: 1hr session, consist of a recap/check-up and practical training.
** The questions you should be asking the trainer you are thinking about employing!! **
How would you teach my puppy/dog?
I will be teaching you how to positively motivates your puppy or dog, then teaching you how to use what motivates them as a reward. That reward will then be used to motivate them, to do what you want them to do, when you want them to do it.
How would you punish my puppy/dog?
I will be teaching you that punishing your dog is not needed. Why, I hear you ask? Firstly, your dog doesn’t know that what it is doing is the wrong thing to do. 2nd you don’t know what your puppy or dog is thinking when you punish it. 3rd, and most importantly, research shows that using punishment (including treating it as a mother dog would) during training doesn’t make training any faster, but does however have the side effect of making your dog fearful of you or the learning process. This can make dogs aggressive. Lastly your puppy or dog is smart enough to know you are not a dog and that teaching your dog as a ‘mother dog would’ isn’t interpreted that way by your puppy. Physical punishment when done to children and adult humans is abuse. It is also abuse when inflicted on puppies and dogs that don’t speak your language or think the way you do. Coercion, using e-collars, check chains, slip leads and prong collars when wanting your dog to stop behaviours isn’t training. It is punishment and abuse! TRAINING is teaching a dog what you want it to do and helping it be calm and confident enough to do that newly taught behaviour in situations that no longer elicit a fear or stress response.
How long will it take to fix my dog?
There is no such thing as a quick fix in training. Training is teaching something new, which like learning to dance yourself, takes time. You and your dog need to practice the steps and build muscle memory. The word fix is commonly used to imply what happens when people use aversive tools to force dogs to stop doing something due to fear, anxiety or stress from their current environment. What we want to do is change their emotional state and the dog can then choose to give a behaviour they have recently rehearsed, because we have taught it to them. The dog is then able to choose to give an appropriate response in that environment and situation.
What makes this new way of training better than the old way?
The ‘old way’ was once widely used because we didn’t know any better. We didn’t know electric shock therapy made some people worse and others became suicidal. Slavery, where we once beat people half to death to make them do things they didn’t want to do, was banned in first world countries because we understood we got better, lasting results without it. Once the realised we were doing the wrong thing, we started to move away from punishment with humans. Animals have been trained for hundreds of years to do things for us. Dogs did things like pull carts and protect and herd. Now we want them to just be with us, walk on lead, be quiet and do less.
Positive reinforcement training isn’t a new way of training; it is used world-wide with humans (work for money) and has been working for a very long time. Positive reinforcement training is being used in zoo’s all over our big, beautiful globe with many different types of animals, lots of whom would rather eat us than work with us. Check out this blood draw from a lion’s tail, checking a polar bears teeth and training with crocodiles. This type of training ensures the animal lives a long happy and healthy life as free from stress and fear as possible. I teach you using this same method of training ensuring your puppy od dogs makes a trusting relationship with you enabling them to do for you what you want them to do when you want or need them to do it.
Positive reinforcement training isn’t a new way of training; it is used world-wide with humans (work for money) and has been working for a very long time. Positive reinforcement training is being used in zoo’s all over our big, beautiful globe with many different types of animals, lots of whom would rather eat us than work with us. Check out this blood draw from a lion’s tail, checking a polar bears teeth and training with crocodiles. This type of training ensures the animal lives a long happy and healthy life as free from stress and fear as possible. I teach you using this same method of training ensuring your puppy od dogs makes a trusting relationship with you enabling them to do for you what you want them to do when you want or need them to do it.
