What are the opening hours?

Monday 8am - 7pm Tuesday 8am - 7pm Wednesday 8am - 7pm Thursday 8am - 7pm Friday 8am - 7pm Saturday 9am - 5pm

Animal Education

Home
Australia
Gympie, QLD
Animal Education

At Animal Education all animal training and behaviour problems are dealt with using balanced methods.

19/12/2024

It was Santa Paws photo time today. I took 5. They behaved well. Stay tuned for the photo. Post any you have of your animals with the Christmas spirit too.

12/12/2024

I've been teaching my stallion to play keyboard. This is lesson 5 and he has figured out how to activate the rhythm button. There is an end game we are working towards.
Never underestimate how smart our animals are. Their learning capacity is directly relevant to how good we are at communicating what we want, both good and bad.

04/12/2024

December is Christmas photo time. Crosby was a bit hard for his mum to handle when I met him. Now he can sit with Santa and say he has been a very good boy this year and deserves all his presents. ☆☆☆☆ Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas. ☆☆☆☆

04/12/2024

Pan BGSD doing service dog training today in the chemist. Formally this exercise is called a Tuck, where the dog has to curl under the handlers seat, so as to keep out of other people's way. Pan is a big dog and did a great job, staying calm and quiet while we waited.

03/12/2024

Nice working python hanging around the kennels. I don't see many rodents as I don't like them and proactive in discouraging. So I welcome Monty and his nightime forays.

30/11/2024

Beebee is such a sweetheart. 12 months old and showing more intelligence and calm character every day. Desexed and ready for her forever family

30/11/2024

It's a hard life as a guard dog here at Animal Education. Out for a walk to check the trail cams.

27/11/2024

If you want to keep your dog's teeth clean, feed soft raw meaty bones. Clean on the inside and out. Plus the benefit of calcium, phosphorus and potassium for their own skeletal health.

24/11/2024

Especially if you have a small suburban yard and a full time job.

The problem with gatekeeping breeds

Anyone who has spent more than a minute online in dog world will have seen the rhetoric of how it takes someone very special to own a power breed such as a Belgian Malinois or a Cane Corso or an APBT or the like. Social media platforms are filled with posts either showing these breeds doing incredible things, or posts about how you should never get a breed like this unless you are going to work them and unless you are able to fulfil their needs. These posts are spot on and I couldn’t agree more. But they are creating a problem.

Everyone thinks they are special.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

As humans we have an ego and our ego often leads us to believe we are more capable than we are. The problem with gatekeeping breeds is that it makes them more desirable. People want to say ‘yes I can handle my Belgian Malinois because I am special’. We desperately need approval and admiration from others, especially in a world that is chronically online.

We saw it happen real time with the XL Bully. People saw this incredibly powerful breed and said ‘I’m special enough to handle one of them’ and then promptly bred them in the hundreds of thousands leading to many ill equipped homes owning a dog they absolutely could not handle.

The truth is, that to own a truly intense, working bred dog, you actually need to have an incredibly small life. You need your entire being to be obsessive about training, handling and working with the dog. It’s a full time career in itself to truly meet the needs of these dogs. You need to be absolutely addicted to it. That level of obsession however isn’t ‘cool’ or ‘sexy’. It doesn’t make for great online content either. That level of obsession however is what makes the dog easy to live with.

Even as I’m writing this, I know someone out there will read it and go ‘yes I can do that’. If you’re that person, please really look inward and be truly honest with yourself. Confront your ego.

I work at a rescue centre and years ago all we had was bull breeds, terriers and lurchers. Now all we have is fad colour Frenchies, Cane Corsos, Shepherds and Malinois/Dutch Shepherds. It speaks volumes.

I don’t know what the solution is. The more we say ‘not everyone can handle this breed!’ The more that is perceived as a challenge to the ego, and the more the ego grabs at a chance to prove itself.

We are heading down a very dark road of breed bans and dog legislation and those of us in the industry can see the patterns unfolding. We don’t know how to stop it, or even if stopping it is the right answer.

The issue is that our human egos and our desperation to be seen as ‘worthy’ is ruining our dogs and creating real danger for the general public.

Look inward. Really question why you want a certain breed. Take pause from the online rhetoric on both sides. Choose a dog that you and those around you need, not just one that you want.

- Kahla

📸 Alison Bowkett

22/11/2024

Yesterday I did lesson two with a cute Aussie Shepherd and her mum Dannielle. She had an issue with black dogs, so guess who we chose to train with. Using a real life situation which was a walk through the paddock to check some sensor lights. Then a drop and relax while we pretended not to pay attention. Good girl Bowie.

19/11/2024

Hudson the Golden Retriever has done 3 lessons with his mum Jodie. I was told Hudson was hyperactive, couldn't continue a command and would not do a stay at all.
I found him to be quite smart and was just doing what he thought his owners wanted. A little bit of teaching mum how dogs communicate and he was a different boy.

19/11/2024

This is Beebee. She's 12 months old, desexed and a sweetie. This month she has made the transition from kennels to sleeping in my room and being a house dog. She is brilliant. Very affectionate, smart and a great watch dog. Ready for her new home. Only available to people prepared to do 2 days handover training with a fenced yard. 2.5k +gst.

01/11/2024

26/10/2024

This is a message I got yesterday that made me very proud. Casey had a big boy she was struggling to handle out in public, despite previous attempts to get control. Casey needed someone to give her the lead and teach her what to do. She put in a huge effort to change her German Shepherd Crosby's whole life and as a result, she changed her own life too. Yesterday Casey and her husband had an important appointment and took Crosby into the office with them. He sat quietly while they did what they had to, then had a picnic in a park on the coast and behaved perfectly on a 5hr drive down there and back.
Good on you Casey. I knew you could do it.

26/10/2024

Three more Daschunds rehabilitated for rescues. Previously with behaviour problems, all have got new attitudes. Moses has found a new home but Charlie and Willow have only just left and are looking for their forever homes.
Remember. Very very few dogs are bad. This applies to all breeds. They are just very confused by what we do as humans. Given consistent and understandable guidance, their personality changes completely.

Address

Gympie, QLD
4570

Opening Hours

Monday	8am - 7pm
Tuesday	8am - 7pm
Wednesday	8am - 7pm
Thursday	8am - 7pm
Friday	8am - 7pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.animaleducation.com.au/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Animal Education posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Animal Education:

Videos

I've been teaching my stallion to play keyboard. This is lesson 5 and he has figured out how to activate the rhythm button. There is an end game we are working towards. Never underestimate how smart our animals are. Their learning capacity is directly relevant to how good we are at communicating what we want, both good and bad.

I often talk about the value of big breaths out when training. Listen carefully in this clip and you can hear my horse and I exchanging them. If you can't hear, look at his nostrils. BTW, he was watching himself in the phone camera.

Yesterday I had a play with my two Rotty girls I have retained for a future litter. Fourth and fifth generation bred here. As usual, my own dogs are the ones who get the least work, because I'm always training clients dogs first. This is Priscilla's first bite at the gate, and I think Tulip's third. As they progress, bites go further up the sleeve. These girls have the right stuff genetically. Good health and confident loving temperaments. I'm looking forward to finding the right boyfriend for them.

A bit of fun on Tuesday with Pan and son Pepsi at home, practising working as a team. Because I am always working with other people's dogs, my own are usually the last to get work. This was only Pan's third time working the bite at the gate, and Pepsi's first. Pan has got the goods and just needs more repetitions to strengthen his bite. But I like the swift bite and retreat because it reduces the chance of them being hit with a weapon or sprayed. Pepsi is learning to focus on the man and not interfere with other dogs working. I particularly liked his focus at the end. I'm happy with their progress considering they have done very little.

Service dog training with Kola yesterday. Learning to negotiate an escalater in the shopping center. Freaky moving ground mummy !

I had training at Dayboro today. These ladies have a rescue Malanois Bailey and a black Shepherd from me called Anubis. Bailey had some reactivity towards other dogs on walks and in town and Anubis had decided it was fun to bite the goats and bully the cat. These sort of problems require a home visit to deal with in the actual situation. Both issues were sorted pretty quick, so off to town we went and had a delicious sorbet while passer-by stopped to chat. All was good and the sorbet was deeelicious ! Pan came along as distraction and also mentor. In the video, retired police dog Kaos provided a suitable barking dog distraction. The girls told me Kaos was famous for being stabbed while aprehending an offender and he survived. What a super dog !

We had a lovely training session with Chris and Blackie today. Previously Blackie came from a rough start and she had a whole lot of issues and really considered humans were pretty mean. This morning we revised foundation and then went out in the paddock to tidy up recall. My three dogs were hunting rodents in the logs, the horses were by the gate, rabbit odour criss crossed the paddock and Blackie was very much in season, so plenty of real time distractions. Today I can see a change in her mindset. Well done Chris !

Everything is a training opportunity.

Another common enquiry. My dog is so excitable, what should I do ? Well, you can establish that calm behaviour is what you expect right before you even let then out of their pen. Both these boys are For Sale, only to the right homes, having been raised as Watch Dogs. They would suit a home in the country best, but could do more training for a suburban home.