Hooked On Hounds

08/12/2024

Congratulations to Dan and his 2 main boys 🎉🎉

07/12/2024

🐾 November Boarding Recap 🐾

November was a fun month here at Hooked On Hounds, with plenty of swims in the dam and playtime in our undercover running area. 🌊🐕 We welcomed a colorful mix of guests, including Rottweilers, Shepherds, a Cavoodle, a Cocker Spaniel, and, of course, our beloved Cattle Dogs, Kelpies, and Border Collies. ❤️

Now, we’re gearing up for Christmas! 🎄 While we pause training sessions during the festive season, our kennels will be bustling with both familiar and new faces. We can’t wait to celebrate the holidays with this full house of furry friends! 🐶✨

06/12/2024

🐾 Dog of the Month – November 🐾

Say hello to Goku, the fabulous Cocker Spaniel who has stolen our hearts this month! 🐶✨ Goku came to us with some serious resource guarding challenges, but his quick learning and love for training have been incredible to watch. His eagerness to grow and his lovable personality make him a joy to work with.

Our favorite quirk? Goku’s love for water! 💦 He’ll sit like a statue in the middle of the dam, roll in the dirt, and head right back for another soak. A true water-loving, dirt-splashing champ! 🌊🐾

We love you, Goku! ❤️

17/11/2024

For all those radio listeners out there 🥰

Listen when we chat to Daniel Camilleri ambassador for RuffTRACK this morning on “In Topic”
iHeartRadio
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Hawkesbury City Council

14/11/2024

We are proud to announce that Hooked on Hounds has won the Pet Care Category at the Hawkesbury Local Business Awards 2024!
We are only a small team and all hands on with the day to day care of our amazing clients and their canines. Thank you for making this achievement possible through your ongoing support and trust in our passion.
We are looking forward to welcoming many familiar and new faces in the months to come. Keep those tails wagging! 🐩🏆🐾

10/11/2024

You could help a young person get their life back on track as well!! 🐕 🐕

RuffTRACK Hypro Group Hooked On Hounds DogTorque

09/11/2024

🐾 October Boarding Recap! 🐾

October was a month full of fun, friendship, and a whole lot of character! We had the pleasure of welcoming a wonderful mix of guests, each bringing their own unique personalities. We saw a lovely increase in beautiful Malinois visitors—always a joy to work with their smarts and energy! Cattle Dogs kept us on our toes with plenty of playtime, while two lovely Maltese Terriers joined us, making fantastic strides in learning to be more responsive and less reactive. Watching their progress was truly rewarding!

Thank you to all our October guests—can’t wait to see who comes through next! 🐶💛
Premium

08/11/2024

🎉🐾 Congratulations to Max, our Dog of the Month for October 2024! 🐾🎉

Max, a resilient and joyful Labrador, has won this month’s title for his incredible journey and inspiring transformation. Coming to us from the rescue system, Max has shown how remarkable dogs truly are—he left his past behind and embraced every opportunity to learn and grow. During his stay, he has amazed us with his ability to pick up new skills, proving again that with a little guidance and a lot of love, dogs can truly thrive.

We're so proud of Max’s progress, and he’s a wonderful reminder of why we love what we do. Congratulations, Max—you’re a superstar! 🌟🐶

23/10/2024

Hey everyone! Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of young people? Do you have the energy, creativity, and dedication to inspire and support youth on their journey on a farm environment? If so, RuffTRACK has the opportunity for you!

We are on the lookout for a dynamic, strong and fun personality Youth Worker to join our team. At RuffTRACK, we believe in empowering young individuals by providing them with the skills, support, and guidance with a full wrap around support. The Youth Worker will provide hands on program support to clients within the farm environment, including participating in and facilitating agricultural group work activities such as animal care and training, farmyard maintenance and horticulture, skills in using hand tools, sporting and other recreational activities and community events.

If you think this is you please check out the link below and apply with a cover letter addressing the position description and current resume.
Send all details to [email protected]
Must have current WWC and police check.

https://au.jora.com/job/Youth-Worker-100bbeefe5a22b44e8a06b6013df2483?utm_campaign=jora-employer-share-link&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=copy

23/10/2024

Please 👏 Do 👏 Your 👏 Research 👏 Before 👏 Committing

20/10/2024

04/10/2024

▶A Balanced Approach to Dog Training: Setting the Record Straight

When we first embarked on our dog training journey, we were unaware of some of the divisiveness within the industry. While dog trainers should unite in their goal of improving the lives of dogs and their owners, we’ve observed a trend of bullying and shaming from certain individuals within the community. A group that identifies as "force-free" or "positive-only" trainers has unfortunately become known for being particularly loud and antagonistic toward other training methods. This raises a key question: can you still call yourself “force-free” or “positive-only” if you consistently apply pressure and force toward other people?

It’s important to acknowledge that the concept of "positive-only" training, while appealing, is somewhat misleading. Consider this: applying a harness, using a Halti, or even basic restraints like fences, doors, or limiting physical contact—these could all be perceived as aversive if the dog has not consented to being restricted. But because these tools and methods make us feel better about avoiding perceived harm, we are happy to use them, yet we've come to demonize all forms of pressure or other aversive techniques without fully examining their role in the real world.

When it comes to dog training, we must talk about control—yes, control. In situations where a dog's prey drive takes over, rational thinking can go out the window, potentially putting the dog in danger, whether it’s running into traffic, getting lost, or reacting inappropriately in public. The idea that we can manage such instincts by merely offering a treat or toy as a reward every time the dog makes the right decision is romanticized and often unrealistic. Positive reinforcement is indeed an effective tool to teach a dog new behaviours, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle.

A balanced approach combines positive reinforcement with well-timed, fair pressure once the dog fully understands the command and has shown consistency in its behaviour. When a dog ignores a known command, pressure helps communicate that following through is important. This balanced method of kind, patient teaching, applying and releasing pressure, and rewarding good behaviour enables us to offer dogs more freedom in the long run. We can trust our dogs in potentially dangerous situations because we’ve trained them to make better decisions under various conditions, rather than relying solely on rewards.

Moreover, consider the alternative: a life on-leash or, worse, confined indoors or reliant on medication to manage behaviour. Is medicating your dog without its consent aversive? If a medication causes side effects, a dog can’t communicate discomfort like a human can. A dog appearing calm when medicated might be experiencing internal distress, and this stoicism can be easily misinterpreted as contentment. These are critical considerations when evaluating the “positive-only” approach as the sole acceptable method.

We encourage the “positive-only” community to focus their efforts on combating real abuse rather than splitting hairs over the balanced use of pressure in training. And for those who want to be part of a supportive, non-toxic training community, we invite you to explore balanced training methods. After all, we don’t bite—our parents trained us better!☺️

▶www.hookedonhounds.com

02/10/2024

What an incredible September 2024 we’ve had here at Hooked On Hounds! 🌟🐾

A huge thank you to all our wonderful clients for trusting us with your precious dogs. It’s been a month full of tail wags, belly rubs, and new friendships. 🐕💕

We’ve worked with dogs of all personalities:

The playful extroverts who keep everyone on their paws 🎉
The gentle souls who prefer quiet snuggles 🥰
The curious explorers always seeking new adventures 🐾

Some dogs spent time with us for boarding, some attended our board and train programs learning more life skills and growing their confidence.

No matter their temperament, we've loved every minute and we are excited for more fun-filled days with your furry family members! 🐶

Hypro Premium

02/10/2024

Any Kelpie Owners out there? ☺️☺️

When you ask a border collie to do something he happily complies and says ‘what next?’ When you ask a kelpie to do something he considers your request and says ‘what for?’ 😳 An explanation is often required!

Generalisations of course, but Kelpies are independent thinking dogs. We bred them that way.
We needed dogs here in Australia to work the wild merinos in huge unfenced paddocks on sheep that didn’t get handled much.

We needed dogs to cope with the heat, the burrs, and the big distances.

We needed dogs that could be left with stock and continue to work. Dogs that could be sent out to find stock and work without instruction. The kelpie is that dog.

The evolution has continued with the need for dogs to work cattle, work in the yards, to load and unload trucks, to back In the raceways. The kelpie did that.

Independent thinking dogs, tough enough for Australian conditions and versatile enough to work paddocks, yards, cattle, sheep and even blowfly’s if you needed it.

Consider that when your kelpie argues or thinks he can do it better, when he questions your request.

Consider that when he’s one step ahead of you or knows a job so well you are just in the way.

We ask a lot of our kelpie and they are different to many other breeds, but if you understand their thinking and he understands what you’re asking a kelpie is a compliant and very trainable dog.

Training a kelpie is just a little different and sometimes, without you knowing it, it’s the kelpie who’s training you!

Written by Simon Leaning of Marionvale Working Dogs.

01/10/2024

🐾 Dog of the Month September 2024 : Kola! 🐾

Meet Kola, our amazing Cattle x Bull Terrier! 🐕‍🦺 She’s been training with us for a while now, and we’re so proud of her incredible progress. Kola has gone from being reactive to much more responsive in a variety of environments. Her confidence has grown, and she's learning to stay calm in situations that once made her uneasy. 🎉

Kola is a testament to what dedication and consistent training can achieve. We're so proud of you, Kola! Keep up the great work! 💪✨ Hypro Premium

29/09/2024

A big congrats goes to Trick, J, Sting and Dan who did the team proud over the weekend 🥰🙏🏼

We would also like to wish Trick a great retirement from trialling.
You will still be able to meet her as a part of our trusted dog rehabilitation team, but at 8 years old she has more than earned taking a step back from competing. 🥰

The Hooked Team journeyed to The Geurie Golden Collar this weekend to catch up with old mates, make new ones, some trailing and the annual working dog auction.
Hooked on Sting worked very well, completing the maiden yard not far out off finals contention.
Eveready J won the novice yard 94+95 breaking his status to be an improver/open yard dog, came 3rd in the vendor shootout and worked extremely well in the cattle narrowly missing the put-away.
Pilbara Trick won the novice 3 Sheep.
Hooked on Jean found a new home where she’ll encounter a big workload in a mixed farming enterprise.
Soda got to display her biting skills on several brave individuals.
All in all, another successful and highly enjoyable weekend.
We’d like to thank Nikki & Dayne West and their team for hosting a great event, Hypro Group for keeping our pack in top condition and their support of the trial, along with all of the other sponsors, sheep & cattle suppliers and fellow competitors..

It was fitting to see Trick putting an end to her trialing career on a high!

23/09/2024

We are beyond excited to announce that Hooked On Hounds has made the finals of the local business awards for the second year in a row! 🎉

A huge thank you to our amazing clients for continuing to support us as a small business and trusting us with your beloved dogs. Your loyalty and belief in what we do mean the world to us!

We also want to give a massive shoutout to our incredible team, who work tirelessly to ensure every dog in our care is well looked after. From creating fun, enriching experiences for our guests to carefully planning and executing each dog’s unique training journey, you go above and beyond every single day. Thank you for everything you do! 🙏🐾

Here’s to another fantastic year of helping dogs and their owners! 🌟🐶

www.hookedonhounds.com