Mr Pooch Dog Training and Behaviour Sutherland Shire

08/11/2024

Friday fun! 🤩 🤩🤩🤪

06/11/2024

This is a great article about meeting our dog's needs and keeping them happy! Definitely worth reading it!

How do you know if your dog is happy? Here's what to look for in your dog's body language, behavior, and breed characteristics.

01/11/2024

Little Bambi is 12 weeks old and we started doing some puppy training with her.

Her owner reached out for help with toilet training, crate training and building indepedence.

One of the biggest mistake dog owners make is to make no effort to do some training before leaving the dog in the crate and to allow the dog to follow them everywhere around the house when trying to teach the dog independence!

Too much freedom too soon can cause more harm than good when it comes to puppies and it is always easier to start training when they are young than having to change bad habits later down the track!

Training should start the day you bring your puppy home!

If you need help with your puppy or older dog please reach out!

29/10/2024

For all the Labrador owners out there lol 😂😂

24/10/2024

This is little Billy!

Billy is only 6 months old and has been with his owner for around 3 weeks! His owner was really surprised when she brought Billy home and introduce him to the rest of the family to see Billy showing fearful defensive behaviour towards the other members of the family and being scared of a lot of things when out and about for a walk!

The issue here is that Billy comes from a rural area and what it seems to be an unethical breeder who did not expose Billy to anything during his critical learning period and the result is a puppy who is very insecure, scared and unsure about everything.

We are working hard in teaching Billy independence, building his confidence, teaching him to trust people and navigate some of the stressful situations that every dog will encounter throughout life!

This is just an example of how important it is to safely expose your puppy to the environment, different noises, traffic , different people and dogs etc so your puppy has the opportunity to experience things and make a positive association about the world around them.

Did you know that Mr Pooch offers private puppy training in your own home?

If you like help with your puppy please reach out! We would love to help out! 🐾 🐾

18/09/2024

30/08/2024

This is little Indy!

Her owner contacted us to help with her fear of strangers on walks! Regardless why Indy feels threatened the two most important things to accomplish should be for her owner to advocate for Indy and show her that she won't allow anyone to invade her space unless Indy shows she wants the interaction!

The other important aspect is to change how Indy feels about strangers by using counter conditioning and building her confidence!!

Providing we are consistent with training we will see results! The aim should always be progress and not perfection!

Would you like help with your dog?

Mr Pooch would love to help! 🐾🐾🐾

26/08/2024

Happy International Dog day!! Life would definitely not be as much fun without dogs in our lives! 🐾🐾🐾🐾

23/08/2024

Who can relate ? 😂😂😂

17/08/2024

💯 per cent 🥰🥰🐾🐾

15/08/2024

Love this photo of Duke licking his lips after some yummy treats 😍😍

I had the pleasure to work with him for some recall training and we had fun together!!

Are you making these mistakes when doing recall training?

- expecting your dog to know what " Come " means without teaching/ showing your dog the behaviour you want.

- calling your dog in an angry manner or only calling your dog when is time to go home

- not using high value treats when out and about

- not making training fun for your dog

-letting your dog off leash to early in training and not being able to enforce the behaviour

- exposing your dog to highly distracting environments without the foundation needed for your dog to listen to you.

These are some of the common mistakes dog owners make when training recall but with guidance and patience your dog can learn and have a bullet proof recall!

Need help with your dog? Mr Pooch would love to help you out! 🐾🐾🐾🐾

02/08/2024

Friday fun 🐾🐾🐾🐾

05/07/2024

Can Hugo possibly be any cuter? 🥰🥰

I don't think so! Hugo is a beautiful Golden Retriever puppy who is very smart!

During our private puppy training session we noticed that Hugo was more motivated by play than by food and that is ok! While we do want to ensure that food is valuable to the dog and we need to adjust our training around feeding times or use their meals during training as rewards, we also want to get our puppies to love play.

Some dogs will be more play motivated than food motivated naturally and when we combine the physical exercise from play with the mental stimulation from training you get a great combination to fulfil your dog's needs!

What is your dog's biggest motivator and are you using that to improve your training?

If you like help with your dog's behaviour Mr Pooch would love to help!

25/06/2024

😂😂😂😂

21/06/2024

This is little Freddy! A smart 12 week old cavoodle pup who had a lot of energy to burn!

During our Puppy class we spoke a lot about the most important things we should focus on during the early stages of puppyhood!

One of the things that I find that is normally underestimated is the importance of playing with your puppy (and dogs in general).

Playing stimulates the brain, encourages physical activity and strengthens the bond between you and your pup!

It helps both dog and owner to learn to communicate better! As your pup gets older we should introduce the use of markers and rules during play which will help your dog to develop impulse control!

Get your dog to love play,then reward your dog by playing with him when out on a walk when he chooses to focus on you! By providing something your dog loves in a distracting environment you become more interesting than all the other distractions out there!

Our goal is to be the strongest motivator for our dogs in the presence of lesser motivators like other people, other dogs, birds and anything else in the environment.

Would you like help with your dog?

Mr Pooch would love to help 🐾🐾🐾🐾

12/06/2024

Do you have a personal stalker at home?

While we think this is really cute and our dog loves us so much that he needs to follows us to every room in the house this behaviour could be one of the signs of separation distress!

Dogs are pack animals and independence is not something that comes naturally to them!
It is something that we need to teach them! It's a skill that needs to be developed in order to have a confident dog!

It's something we should work on since they are little puppies! There are different techniques and tools that will help along the way.

By not giving the dog the option to follow you everywhere by managing your environment you are helping on building independence. Providing enough physical exercise and mental stimulation and fulfilling your dog's needs are also essential.

And last but not least be mindful of what type of behaviours you are reinforcing!

09/06/2024

Little Max is learning that the deck of his house is not the right place to go toilet!

When toilet training puppies is important we don't get angry with them when they go toilet in the wrong place as this can make your puppy fear you and he will still go on the wrong spot only when you are not around!

Positive reinforcement is essential for the dog to make the association of where the desired location is!

Supervising your puppy and managing your environment are also essential so the puppy doesn't get to rehearse toileting in the wrong spot!

By giving your puppy lots of opportunities to do the right thing and being rewarded when that happens you will be on the right track to have no accidents inside the house!

Need help with your dog? Mr Pooch would love to help 🐾🐾🐾🐾