Best Paw Forward Dog Training

Best Paw Forward Dog Training Dog training and behaviour modification in the Greater Springfield and Ipswich region. We offer one

Halloween is this Friday!Whether you celebrate or not, it is worth considering how to set your dog up for success for th...
29/10/2025

Halloween is this Friday!

Whether you celebrate or not, it is worth considering how to set your dog up for success for the changes that can take place.

If you will be having visitors to the house for trick or treating, some tips are:

- Exercise your dog before hand so they aren't pinging with energy
- If they are an enthusiastic greeter, have a lead handy that you can quickly pop on to prevent your dog from jumping all over everyone if that is something that you are working on
- If your dog is a runner and will leg it at the first sight of freedom that they have, have them on lead or in a secured area so no mistakes happen
- Have some treats nearby to reward your dog for good behaviours if that is something that you are working on

Tomorrow we will be sharing some tips for if you have a nervous/anxious/reactive dog!

Playing outside with my dogs during storms (when it is safe to do so) is something that I do as much as possible, but pa...
28/10/2025

Playing outside with my dogs during storms (when it is safe to do so) is something that I do as much as possible, but particularly when they are puppies in their critical socialisation period.

It can be hard to convince our dogs to go outside to go to the toilet in bad weather when we accidentally make a big deal about us not wanting to go out there.

Do I like being outside in the rain? No. I hate it, so, so much 😂 BUT for me the benefits of getting rained on occasionally for the trade off of my dogs going to the toilet in the rain without issue is a fair compromise for me.

Halloween is this Friday! We are going to put together some tips on how to set your dog up for a relaxed afternoon and e...
27/10/2025

Halloween is this Friday!

We are going to put together some tips on how to set your dog up for a relaxed afternoon and evening with trick or treaters out and about.

Did you have a question about setting your dog up for success on Halloween that you would love answered?

... This is why my dogs aren't allowed balls inside 😂This isn't the "right" way, but what works for me and my household ...
24/10/2025

... This is why my dogs aren't allowed balls inside 😂

This isn't the "right" way, but what works for me and my household for my sanity and peace is that inside for my dogs means it is chill out time, but outside is where we play and they can run around like lunatics.

One of the things that I do for this is we have separate inside/outside toys.

In the indoor toy box the boys have a variety of plush toys that they can play with/chew on/de stuff on their own.

Outside they have interactive toys that I am involved with for play sessions like balls and tugs.

On the day that I took this photo of Havoc, I had left the back door open for him to come in and out as he liked. He decided to try his luck while I was doing admin by bringing me a ball 😂

If you are having issues with your dog being too chaotic and excited inside and you would like them to be able to chill out indoors, thinking about ways to set up inside as a relax zone instead of a play zone can be helpful.

Little baby Havoc 3 years ago! On his first outing to Bunnings ❤️A puppy's critical socialisation period caps out at 16 ...
23/10/2025

Little baby Havoc 3 years ago! On his first outing to Bunnings ❤️

A puppy's critical socialisation period caps out at 16 weeks, so it is SO IMPORTANT to get them out and about to expose them to the world during that time.

We want to be safe and sensible about it, but we only have one chance at developing a puppy. Keeping them at home until they are 16 weeks old increases the risk of puppies developing fear based behaviours like reactivity due to a lack of exposure during the most critical window of time in their lives.

While Havoc wasn't fully immune he still got out and about in the world by being carried or pushed around in a trolley. He was also able to be on the ground in safe places like friends and family members houses with vaccinated dogs.

What you feed your dog matters. As a disclaimer, I genuinely believe fed is best. The cost of living at the moment is pr...
22/10/2025

What you feed your dog matters.

As a disclaimer, I genuinely believe fed is best. The cost of living at the moment is pretty crazy, and if budgets only allow for whatever food is on special at the supermarket, I will never judge that.

When there is flexibility in the budget for higher quality food, or incorporating some fresh food toppers, that is great though.

Diet impacts behaviour as well as health. We all know that when we eat a minimally processed, fresh food diet full of a variety of healthy ingredients that we feel better and it positively impacts things like our mood, attention and focus. Our dogs are no different.

I like feeding a variety of brands for nutritional variance where possible. Havoc doesn't have any food allergies so he gets fed Lyka, Big Dog and Spot On Nutrition for his meals, and I usually used diced up Prime100 rolls for training treats.

Hexxus has IBD and currently can only eat crocodile, so Hex gets the Prime100 crocodile rolls and slow cooked cartons along with treats.

If you are considering introducing fresh food to your dogs diet or transitioning completely, it can be easier for dogs stomachs to adjust from heavily heat treated kibble to a lightly cooked food like Lyka instead of just jumping straight to raw. If you want to give Lyka a try, we are allowed to share a discount code which is: https://lyka.com.au/join/BestPaw

Following on from our post yesterday about playing with your dog, the one game that I avoid in excess is fetch. 1. Fetch...
20/10/2025

Following on from our post yesterday about playing with your dog, the one game that I avoid in excess is fetch.

1. Fetch is terrible for dogs joints. The sudden, repetitive explosive takeoffs, stops and turns are great at causing injuries like tearing ACL's.

2. It isn't really a game where you and your dog are engaged together, or where your dog has to think. They can be pretty mindless while chasing a ball and bringing it back over and over.

Do I throw toys for my dogs? Yeah absolutely. Do I do 50 reps in a play session? No.

Play for each dog and person will look totally different (which is actually really great!). When I'm incorporating fetch into games with my dogs it usually looks like us doing some obedience exercises, throwing their ball on a rope, then when they retrieve it we play a game of tug. Over a 10-15 minute training/play session I probably throw their toy 3 -8 times at a push.

If one of your goals is to have a well behaved dog who listens to what you ask, playing with your dog in a way that they...
19/10/2025

If one of your goals is to have a well behaved dog who listens to what you ask, playing with your dog in a way that they enjoy is often beneficial as a piece of the puzzle.

Even though it feels easy to take your dog to the dog park to "let the other dogs tire them out", your dog is probably just learning that other dogs are way more fun than you. It won't improve your relationship, your dogs listening skills or their behaviour.

Playing a game with your dog that they enjoy will help "tire them out" as well as improve your relationship together. Once your dog enjoys the game with you, you can also add in obedience skills to your play sessions which helps with the training reliability side of things too.

Each dog is an individual and needs different areas focused on for them to thrive in our human world. Using my dog Havoc...
16/10/2025

Each dog is an individual and needs different areas focused on for them to thrive in our human world.

Using my dog Havoc as an example, he NEEDS really high intensity activity where he gets to feel like a big tough boy and that's why he plays the dog sport PSA.

But, Havoc also needs the opposite. Calm, controlled activities for him to potter around and practice being a well behaved member of society and not a 24/7 crack head. One of our favourite activities together to meet that need is going for a walk through a park on his flexilead so he can trot around and sniff, followed by a pup cup for him and a coffee for me while we sit and he gets to practice patience watching the world go by.

If Havoc only did the high intensity sport side of things, he would be really challenging to live with and would need a lot of management, which would honestly be a pain in the butt for me. That's not how I want to live with him.

But if he only did the calm "pet dog" activities like sniff walks and puzzle toys, his needs wouldn't be getting met and he would also become a demon.

It's all about balance, but that looks different for each dog.

Do your dogs pose for photos? I was absolutely holding a ball behind the camera to get Hexxus to look at it 😂
15/10/2025

Do your dogs pose for photos?

I was absolutely holding a ball behind the camera to get Hexxus to look at it 😂

I am an advocate for fulfilment over just trying to tire a dog out. Exercise is definitely important for both mental and...
15/10/2025

I am an advocate for fulfilment over just trying to tire a dog out.

Exercise is definitely important for both mental and physical health, but it isn't the only consideration.

I have 2 working line German Shepherd Dogs who I affectionately refer to as my "crack heads". They enjoy "normal" activities like going for walks and playing fetch, but I could take them for a 2 hour bushwalk and at the end they would go "that was a cute warmup, thanks, what's next?" but instead I can spend 10-15 minutes doing a training session while playing tug with them as their training reward, and after that they will be satisfied and happy.

Different dogs have different needs. If you are having issues with your dog seemingly never running out of energy, 1. Have a think about what they were bred to do and if you are giving them a replacement for that to meet their genetic needs, and 2. Check that they aren't overly tired because that can cause chaos and frantic energy.

If you have training goals with your dog that you are actively working towards, it is also important to spend time just ...
13/10/2025

If you have training goals with your dog that you are actively working towards, it is also important to spend time just doing fun things with them that you both enjoy ❤️

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