Outdoor Paws

17/01/2025

Peach had a great time at Kambah adventure playground and surrounds, where she explored, played, and was well-behaved around shrieking kids running past us 😇 This bit of video is her chilling at the end of the session as an off lead dog passes by. It's not the most action-packed bit! But being able to switch off and settle down is important too 😌

17/01/2025

I can't get Peach's video to post on Insta, so it's up over on Facebook, and here's a Peach action snap instead ✈️

11/01/2025

Kevin helped the volunteers assess lots of dogs at DAS today, and he didn't let a bit of rain dampen his spirits 😁

20/12/2024

Drunk fu***it vs puppy owner (and vs his own poor embarassed kids by the end 🤦‍♂️)

I know the owner and bloody good on her for advocating so well for her puppy. If anyone knows the obnoxious bloke, tell him he's a pleb 🙄

14/12/2024

Whatcha got in that pouch, huh? 👀

Kami (guess what that's short for?) eyes off the treat pouch and considers launching a raid...

07/12/2024

Looking for trouble 👀

26/11/2024

"What is safe when handling dogs is universal regardless of training ideology. ... Flawed ideologies should never put the safety of staff or the community at risk."

I was recently involved in a court matter as an expert witness which, by the tendering of a procedures manual, put handling and training methodology before the court. That is, positive only, force free (so to speak) handling and training methodology.

The hearing spanned over 14 months in court. I have been an expert witness in many court and tribunal matters but this was by far the longest and most challenging for various reasons. Most are concluded in a day or two.

The matter was in relation to a contested Destruction Order of a dog which had, without provocation, sustained an attack on a person resulting in injuries extending from the legs to the head. The dog was re-homed back to the rescue from which it was adopted after the incident.

I am deliberately not naming the respondent in this matter as this is not about naming and shaming any person or organisation. That would detract from the message I am attempting to convey. This post is about awareness of potentially dangerous handling and training protocols. If anyone knows the respondent in this matter, I would ask that they do not name them on this thread.

I am only providing information in this post that has been provided in an open court.

There are other concerning aspects of this matter which I will not explore. Again, I do not wish to detract from the purpose of this post.

Last year I was approached by a Council to perform a temperament assessment on this dog and prepare a report to be tendered in court. I performed the assessment. It was videoed in totality. I prepared a detailed report explaining what I observed and potential risk. The bottom line, I found the behaviour of the dog to be problematic. The dog displayed unsafe behaviour multiple times during the assessment. I was critical of the handling and management of the dog during the assessment and questioned the procedures of the rescue in relation to the training of staff. I was also critical of documented incidents which occurred prior to the dog being adopted from the rescue and questioned what had been done to reduce the risk of future incidents. It was my belief the dog posed a significant workplace health and safety risk to staff.

Prior to my assessment of the dog, the respondent in this matter (the rescue) had retained a veterinary behaviourist, or more accurately a registered specialist in behavioural medicine, to compile a behaviour report. Contrary to my assessment, the behavioural report noted no issues in relation to behaviour or handling (it was later disclosed in court that the report was only concerned with the welfare of the dog being permanently housed at the rescue).

The matter proceeded to court and the respondent introduced their procedures manual into evidence; seemingly in an attempt to alleviate concerns with handling, training and management of the dog. Court was adjourned and I was asked to prepare a report on the procedures manual.

The manual confirmed my concerns in relation to handling and management of this dog. I would describe the procedures as substandard and potentially dangerous, especially when dealing with dogs with serious behaviour issues. I prepared a detailed response to the manual and other additional evidence introduced by the respondent; including a supplementary report from the respondent’s expert witness.

The respondent’s expert witness’ supplementary report detailed no shortcomings in training and procedures and maintained the past and current handling, training and management of the dog is appropriate. This is despite several highlighted incidents which had occurred at the shelter, conceded behavioural issues and shortcomings in training outcomes. Even after viewing the video of my temperament assessment, it was maintained that handling protocols were appropriate for the dog; despite the dog lunging/attempting to attack a person three times during the assessment without provocation.

At the hearing under cross examination I had labels put to me that I was an aversive trainer, a punishment trainer and a balanced trainer. I have never put a label to the training methodology I choose to adopt. This suggested to me that the respondent’s solicitor had been well briefed on the propaganda the positive only community use to misrepresent anyone who doesn’t except their emotive ideologies. I had it put to me I wasn’t a “positive only” trainer. I quite rightly agreed and went on to assert that positive only methodology is impossible to achieve; it’s always a matter of the level of the aversive. I highlighted the LIMA principle (least intrusive, minimally aversive) as what many ethical trainers adopt.

I had it put to me that I was embellishing what I observed during the assessment and my opinions on protocols in the procedures manual. This was definitely not the case.

The respondent’s expert witness, under cross examination, maintained her position that the handling of the dog during the assessment and the previous and current handling and management protocols were in line with recommended procedures (it was not established who recommended those procedures).

I stayed in court to hear the judgement. I don’t normally do this but I now had a vested interest in the outcome.

At the start of reading her judgement, the magistrate made the statement “as judge of the facts …..” This is a term I’ve heard many times before in 27 years of being involved in the legal system. This time it resonated with me as this decision was only about the dog and if it was safe to be managed in its current environment and with the current handling and training protocols; that is, not about propaganda, fiction and unsubstantiated propositions.

In short, the magistrate did not accept the respondent’s evidence. The respondent’s expert witness’ qualifications were recognised but her evidence in relation to handling and training protocols was not accepted. The magistrate made reference to my “decades of experience in dealing with aggression in dogs”. The magistrate made several references to opinions I made in relation to handling and training protocols and agreed with me. The magistrate agreed with my criticism of the handling during the assessment stating “it was plain to see what was going on”.

The decision was in favour of the applicant and costs were awarded.

The gravity of the decision should serve as a warning to those who want to implement emotive handling and training methodology at the expense of staff and community safety.

I do safe handling and bite prevention training for a number of positive only shelters and organisations (some are now referred to as “fear free”). What is safe when handling dogs is universal regardless of training ideology. A dog displaying unsafe behaviour is universal regardless of training methodology.

The respondent made this matter about training methodology to their own detriment. On a level playing field before a judge of the facts, their evidence was not accepted.

Flawed ideologies should never put the safety of staff or the community at risk.

24/11/2024

Who's getting a brand new super cute designer bred puppy for xmas?! 🥰🥳

Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But.

Before you do.

Consider:

All the things you could learn about dogs and how to bring out their best to help them be the best pets possible... by fostering first ❤️‍🩹

Then, when you get your "perfect" puppy (spoiler alert: they're fu***ng not!) you'll be so well placed to raise and train them well.

Think about it 🤔

16/11/2024

Services & Prices 🧐 This info is all available via the Outdoor Paws business page on Facebook, but I'm putting it up here too for ease of reference 🙂

28/10/2024

Is it a dog? Or is it a lamington? 🤔

20/10/2024

What's the cleverest canine breed? The Border Collie? Well, here's a chance to find out who's the Border Collie of the Canberra canine business scene, at ARF's Trivia Night 🎓 Tag your favorite Canberra canine business, encourage them to get their paws up on a table and claim wagging rights as the trivia top dogs!

A fun evening of trivia awaits you and as an extra bonus, all funds raised on the night go to supporting ACT dogs in need.

06/10/2024

Guinness and his sky friend 🦅

03/10/2024

Lovely to watch, and wise words too, by Skypuppy School

There was a quote kept popping up in my social media feeds recently: "Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet." Said by Bob Marley, or maybe Bob Dylan, or maybe neither, nobody seems to really know, but it captured something about dog training I'd been struggling to express even to myself, let alone craft into any kind of public post.

I still don't think I can quite do the idea justice.

It's like, don't see training your dog as just the process you have to go through to fix their problems so you can finally enjoy life with them. That's just getting wet. Your dog is your dog, their " " problems are part of who they are, and figuring out how to vibe together, that *is* life with your dog.

Anyhow, as one or other of the Bobs or someone else entirely said, feel that rain.

29/09/2024

Us volunteer temperament testers have joked about putting together an calendar featuring all the best outtake/blooper photos... this one would make the cut I reckon 😚

29/09/2024

Dog first aid day hosted by , taught by Tamara and her excellent demo dogs, including the very stoic Poppy! ❤️‍🩹

23/09/2024

This Sunday?! 😱 It's somehow crept up on me but I can't wait to go to this ❤️‍🩹 If you also want to learn or freshen up on dog first aid, maybe see you there?

21/09/2024

The Corgi Cup 🏆 I dunno what counts as winning here 😂 If it's first to get n**e then congrats to #4 👏