Wagging School

19/10/2023

19/10/2023

Clancy at Jeralee on Wednesday.

10/10/2023

Had his dorky ears up on Sunday, lol.

10/10/2023

Clancy today at Jeralee Boarding Kennels and Cattery. I miss my favourite little guy.

01/10/2023

My neighbour” in the session.

26/09/2023

I will be leaving Melbourne early in the morning (Wednesday) to fly to the US. I’m excited about attending the Aggression Conference in Chicago, followed by the US APDT Conference in Covington.

21/09/2023

Clancy is a great stickybeak. He also likes his creature comforts. So he has made himself comfortable if a swivel chair, perfectly angled to give him a good view of the back yard. He went sun the early hours of the morning because there was a fox 🦊 outside.

15/06/2023

This is a link to my article about the mentoring relationship.

If you’re interested in submitting an article, let us know! You don’t have to be an IAABC member to write for us. If your article is published you’ll be eligible for a one-off discount on any of our courses, mentorships, or webinars, for you to share or use for yourself. 

31/05/2023

Spectacular sunset here tonight. Clancy has decided it’s too cold to go out and appreciate it.

27/05/2023

Australasian Animal Training Conference had just finished. What a great experience. Our Zoo keepers and animal sanctuary people are so advanced. We wound up with a trip to the Dolphin Show.

22/05/2023

I have arrived at the Gold Coast. Waiting for the shuttle bus to take me to the SeaWorld resort hotel. The wildlife wants to be trained.

13/05/2023

Does anyone know a force free or fear free vet in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, for a client in Carnegie? She can see Louise Flinker in San Remo, who is excellent, but we were hoping for someone closer to her home. Please PM me.

05/05/2023

A question was asked about surgical de-barking (cutting a dog’s vocal chords) to reduce nuisance barking.

I replied:

Having a dog’s vocal chords cut does not result in the dog “not barking as much”. The dog still barks, but makes a raspy noise which has a lower volume than a normal bark.

This might be an improvement for the owner or neighbours, but it does nothing to address the cause - why is the dog barking in the first place?

There are many types of barking and many causes of barking.
Surgical de-barking is unacceptable from the point of view of animal ethics. It ignores the dog’s welfare and emotional state. If the dog is barking as a result of distress, for example, due to being put outside, the dog will still be distressed, only less audibly.

My great mentor was William E. Campbell, who advocated the “causative approach” to behaviour problems. What is the cause? Change the circumstances to remove the cause of the problem, rather than dealing with the consequences.

I was visiting him when he took a call on his phone helpline. The caller said his dog was kept outside and would jump up at the window and bark. So the caller had had his dog de-barked. Now the dog was driving him nuts by jumping up at the window. Was there anything he could do?
”Well”, drawled Bill, “you could have his legs chopped off.”
The simple solution was that the cause of the barking was that the dog was distressed by being kept outside, and wanted to be close to the owner. So bring him inside.
In my experience it is easier to teach a dog how to behave inside the house than it is to deal with all the problems such as barking, destructive chewing, digging, self-mutilation or escaping, which arise as a result of social isolation.

15/04/2023

About dog attacks.

There have been five dog attacks in Queensland in the past week, and three of those injured were small children.

31/12/2022

Parked at Coronet Bay waiting for the fireworks which are due to start in 10 minutes. It’s very crowded. I’m just going to sit in my car. Will still get a view.

Clancy and I have had cold chicken, Turkey and roast veggies. I packed from home, rather than queuing up at the food trucks. Quite tasty. Now opening Ferrero Rocher chokkies (only me). Spectacularly yummy.
Sky is now a Smokey grey / pink.

Clancy is sensitive to little sounds but doesn’t mind fireworks and thunder at all. He is much happier coming with me than being left at home.

21/02/2022

21/02/2022

I AM NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR A NEW INTAKE INTO MY MENTORING PROGRAM.

29/11/2021

21/11/2021

Coming up soon! Wagging School Summer School.