Think Canine Training & Behaviour Toowoomba

24/08/2024

It has just been brought to my attention today that email enquiries that have been sent through our website have NOT been received at my end this week.

Apologies if you have been waiting for a reply! Hopefully it will be fixed asap next week (I have to wait until the website people are back at work), and I will be able to receive them all through then.

I thought my emails were extra quiet this week! 😅

Otherwise, you can email me direct via [email protected] (I'll be back in the office Monday to reply).

Thanks for your patience! Gotta love technology 🙄

23/08/2024

Congratulations to last week's Puppy Preschool graduates 🎓

Tank
Darcy
Gus
Mabli

19/08/2024

🥳 VACANCY!! 🥳

We now have a spot available in our next FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE course starting this Saturday:

Saturday 24th August
9:30-10:30am
7 weeks
$345 course fee

First lesson is an owner-only behaviour theory lesson, then the dogs join us for the remaining 6 practical lessons

Come & discover why our classes are unlike any other in Toowoomba!

15/08/2024

Little "Gracie" was recently adopted at 4 months of age from rescue. After a hard start to life, she has found a loving family 🥰, but she has been left feeling very fearful and lacking in confidence, towards strangers, sounds, machinery etc.

Thankfully, her owners quickly recognised that she needed help and reached out for a Private Lesson with Trainer Katrina.

They learnt how to implement the structure and consistency that Gracie needs to feel confident and secure in their leadership, how to socialise and expose her safely and effectively to the world around her - especially to other people.

Not understanding how to socialise a fearful puppy to people, is one of the biggest causes of fear aggression developing layer on, which we often see resulting from owners being given incorrect socialisation advice. Gracie was growling and barking from fear towards Katrina when she arrived for the lesson, but a new friendship quickly blossomed.

Gracie also learnt to start choosing to go into her crate as a safe space, and to start trusting and following her owner on the lead, in preparation for heading out into new environments 🐕

Gracie has a long road ahead of her, but with patience, understanding and commitment from her new family, she will thrive ❤️

10/08/2024

Fun in the sun this morning with our Obedience classes. Our Intermediate Class started the morning ultilising play druve to work on impulse control and listening under high arousal

07/08/2024

If you have completed our 7 week FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE course (or equivalent through Private Lessons with us), don't forget that you are welcome to attend our casual

OBEDIENCE & LIFE SKILLS classes!

✅️ 45 minutes
✅️ Pay as you come ($30/lesson)
✅️ Saturday mornings @ Wilsonton State High School

✅️ Obedience, loose leash walking, other practical life skills for family dogs, relaxing around other dogs, confidence building activities, basic tricks & other brain games

For dates and times, and to RSVP for individual classes, join our FB group "Think Canine - Obedience & Life Skills" or send us a message 😀

(Please ensure you answer all the questions and we can identify you - as only clients who have completed a Family Dog Obedience course, or equivalent in Private Lessons, will be accepted)

05/08/2024

Thank you to Off The Chain K9 Rescue Qld for your kind words and support. It has been wonderful working with your team over the many years. Thank you to you, and all our rescues for all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears you put in to saving so many lives ❤️ 🐶

Shout out to the team at Think Canine Training & Behaviour Toowoomba for all that you do in support of our rescue. ❤️

The team have a wealth of knowledge in family dog training and their input has been absolutely invaluable to us over the years. 🫶

We can’t recommend them highly enough for old and new dog owners alike. They offer private in home puppy lessons, group puppy preschool, private behavioural consultations and group obedience. 🐾

Our recently adopted pup, Quince recently completed the Family Dog program and we are so happy to see him doing well! 🤩

Whether you want to get your puppy off to the best possible start; would like to continue with general manners and obedience; or you are dealing with more complex behavioural issues of fear, anxiety, and aggression, Think Canine can help you! 😊

31/07/2024

Congratulations to our recent Family Dog Obedience graduates!

27/07/2024

Enjoying a warm Toowoomba winter morning, training with Mayor, Geoff McDonald, and his lovely family!

We have working through a Private Training Program together, along with a Walk & Train Package, to work on general manners, loose leash walking, not reacting to traffic, and recall, with little "Luca".

This family's commitment to training has really paid off, now they are enjoying a much calmer walks!

23/07/2024

Congratulations to last nights Puppy Preschool graduates at Highfields Veterinary Surgery!

Lots of fun, learning and confidence building was had by all 😍

✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️✅️
If you and your pup would like to be part of the action, our next course starts next Tuesday 30th July from 6:30-7:30pm each week!

$250 will get you 5 in-person classes, our Puppy Behaviour & Socialisation ebooks, extensive written homework notes and online training videos.

BOOKINGS: Email [email protected] or phone Highfields Vet Surgery 4630 8399

23/07/2024

What a perfect winter's day to be out in my outside "office"!

Today I was lucky enough to have 3 lessons in the beautiful Bontanic Gardens, and an outdoor in-home lesson.

🐶 PUDDING - Walk & Train
Pudding started training with us through our online Puppy Preschool course during the Christmas holidays, and her owners have then continued on with a Private Training Program - conscious of not developing a reactive or aggressive small breed dog. They also added some regular Walk & Trains, while they are busy with work, to help maintain and continue developing Pudding's obedience & loose leash walking

🐶 POPPY - Walk & Train
Poppy is having Walk & Train lessons with Trainer Katrina, to help build confidence, loose leash walking and general manners & obedience. Her lack of confidence has led to some reactivity when out on the lead, so her Walk & Train lessons haven't progressed to out in public yet. We are currently working on building her confidence & trust in the person on the other end of the lead, while also building strong obedience and leash skills, to prepare her for progressing further from home!

🐶 BENJI - Private Follow Up Lesson
Benji came to us, very anxious and reactive towards other people and dogs. His owner has put in the work, and today he was a new man - confident and non-reactive, as we explored the park.

🐶 BALTO - Walk & Train
Balto's owner has done an amazing job with his loose leash walking, but he is still struggling with some over-stimulation and reactivity, so he started some Walk & Train lessons today with Trainer Katrina, to help progress his behaviour modification a little faster

Busy days! 🥰

19/07/2024

Cold days are always brightened up with a Private Puppy Lesson!

Like many puppies, little Malibu has been getting a little over-excited and biting the children. We set up a plan for providing more appropriate outlets for this normal puppy behaviour, by discussing which food toys will provide the most effective outlet, as well as play techniques that will tire him out both physically and mentally, while also providing chasing, mouthing & biting. We also introduced the use of safe spaces the puppy can hang out in and relax while there isn't an adult available to supervise her with the children.

16/07/2024

How's the weather at the moment!? 🥶

Big shout out to our 8am FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE class students on Saturday who enjoyed a cold, foggy morning for their final lesson!

It didn't stop them acing their calm Sit-Stays 😍

10/07/2024

Our next FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE COURSE starts:

🐶 Saturday 20th July
🐶 8:00-9:00am each week for 7 weeks
🐶 Wilsonton State High School
🐶 Pups & adult dogs from 5 months of age

✅️ Experienced, Nationally Accredited Trainers

BOOKINGS: [email protected] or message this page 😀

09/07/2024

Congratulations to last night's Puppy Preschool graduates!

This group started with some very timid puppies! So it has been wonderful to watch them grow in confidence each week. These are the types of pups that, if given the wrong socialisation advice, or had attended a poorly run Puppy Preschool, would end up more fearful, and potentially develop fear-based reactivity/aggression long term.

Unfortunately, we see this with pups coming to us from these types of Puppy Preschools, more and more frequently, especially as more of these classes start up around town.

The other big reason these pups progressed so well, is that they had committed owners who took on board our socialisation advice, and practiced correct exposure and confidence building during the week BETWEEN classes. A group class once a week class is NOT enough for a pups socialisation and exposure to the world around them.

Little Winnie was so scared of other dogs that she'd scream if another puppy come within a couple meters of her - with careful and controlled exposure and greetings, by Week 6, she was happily interacting and playing with the other pups.

Little Bundy was so terrified the first week, he couldn't even participate in any of the activities. His fear had shut down his food drive. The most important socialisation lesson for him initially, was just to sit with the safety of his owners, and just WATCH the other people and pups. This allowed him to start to see that he was safe around other people and dogs - no-one was going to approach him or "threaten" him.

By Week 6, he was moving around the group, approaching and investigating other puppies (who even had scary people on the end of their leads), taking food rewards and participating in all the activities. While he still has a lot of confidence still to build, his progress so far has been huge for him!

Thanks to the whole group, for a great 6 weeks 😍

NEXT START DATE:
Monday 15th July
6:00-7:00pm each week for 6 weeks
$275
Indoors at Rockville Scout Hall

25/06/2024

Woohoo! We've had a couple spots come available in our next FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE COURSE!

🐶 Saturday 29th June
🐶 9:30-10:30am each week for 7 weeks
🐶 Wilsonton State High School
🐶 Pups & adult dogs from 5 months of age

✅️ Experienced, Nationally Accredited Trainers

BOOKINGS: [email protected] or message this page 😀

21/06/2024

Great news! We have a couple spots available now, in our 6 week PUPPY PRESCHOOL starting this Monday.

If your pup is between 8-14 weeks of age, and had their FIRST vaccination, they are welcome to join 🎉

Don't miss your pup's Critical Socialisation Period. Our Puppy Preschool provides a safe place for your pup to meet other puppies and learn appropriate greetings, as well as positive exposure to different surfaces, objects and sounds.

Along with all this, you & your pup will also learn:

✅️ calm handling
✅️ basic obedience skills
✅️ intro to the lead
✅️ engagement & focus
✅️ how to communicate effectively

✅️ how to address common puppy behaviours such as chewing, biting, jumping, over-excitement

✅️ toilet training
✅️ crate & puppy pen training

BOOKINGS & ENQUIRIES:
Message us, or email [email protected]

Classes are held INDOORS at Rockville Scout Hall, and the 6 week course is $275.

You will also receive additional online video lessons, as well as our Puppy Behaviour and Puppy Socialisation Ebooks.

20/06/2024

Hang in there everyone! It's nearly the weekend 😆 😍

20/06/2024

PRIVATE PUPPY LESSON

5 month old Golden Retriever, Poppy, recently started Private Lessons to help with common puppy behaviours such as chewing, jumping, biting and over-excitability, as well as pulling and reactivity on the lead (due to a lack of confidence).

We spent her first lesson, introducing the structure and boundaries that Poppy needs around the home, to help her show her best manners, as well as starting Place Training - so that she can come inside and spend time with the family - calmly, without running around out of control! Poppy also had lots of fun learning how to play tug, as an appropropriate outlet for biting and chewing, and an effective way to burn some physical energy.

We look forward to continuing Poppy's training, where we will start to build her confidence out in the world, her obedience and leash walking skills 🐕🐕

18/06/2024

Congratulations to last nights PUPPY PRESCHOOL graduates from Highfields Vet Surgery!

🐶 Ruby
🐶 Rufus
🐶 Lucy
🐶 Smudge (away)
🐶 Toby (away)

Our pups finished with a fun night of:

✅️ exploring our confidence building obstacle course

✅️ conditioning to handling and grooming,

✅️ adding distance-stay to their PLACE command

✅️ structured pup 2 pup greetings

Don't miss our next course starting next:

TUESDAY 25th JUNE
6:30-7:30pm each week

BOOKINGS: [email protected] or phone Highfields Vet Surgery 4630 8399

17/06/2024

Congratulations to last nights PUPPY PRESCHOOL graduates from Rockville Scout Hall!

Missing a couple friends in Week 6, but Hugo, Bonnie & Peanut had fun:

✅️ Building confidence while exploring our obstacle course

✅️ Learning the first step of Sit & Down Stay

✅️ Learning how to stay on PLACE when their owners move away from the bed

✅️ Controlled and safe puppy to puppy interaction

If you want to accelerate your pup's learning & development with qualified and experienced trainers, our next courses start next:

🐶 MONDAY 24th JUNE 🐶
7:30-8:30pm each week at Rockville Scout Hall

And

🐶 TUESDAY 25th JUNE 🐶
6:30-7:30pm each week at Highfields Vet Surgery

Bookings: Send us a message, or email [email protected]

12/06/2024

Little "Odi" was struggling when out and about with his owner:

✅️ pulling on the lead

✅️ hypervigilent & constantly "on the look-out"

✅️ highly reactive (barking & lunging) at people and dogs

✅️ not listening or responding to her owner

Sound farmiliar? This is a common problem in a lot of our young dogs. Unfortunately, if we continue taking a dog that behaves like this, for a walk, all we do is:

✅️ re-inforce (reward) pulling on the lead

✅️ re-inforce not listening

✅️ re-inforce that the external environment is more valuable than YOU

✅️ re-inforce & keep the dog in a state of unhealthy over-arousal

Thankfully Odi's mum recognised these behaviours and sought help quickly, rather than allowing these behaviours to escalate.

Through Private Lessons and a series of Walk & Trains, Odi is now a much calmer pup, learning to walking loosely on the lead, can listen and obey commands, and has progressed to successfully joining our group classes, without any reactivity!

The photos show one of the important steps in Odi's early training, which is constantly missed by owners and many other trainers when working with reactive or over-stimulated dogs -->sitting down and just hanging out in public spaces, learning to do NOTHING around distractions and stimuli!

This simple step will, in turn, help you to be more successful with your engagement, loose leash walking training, listening and obedience out in public, as well as over-coming the reactivity 🎉

11/06/2024

Congratulations to our most recent Puppy Preschool graduates! We were missing a few friends this week, but still had lots of fun!

08/06/2024

Congratulations to last Saturday's graduating Family Dog Obedience Course

Clancy
Lenny
Olive
Juniper
Tilly

07/06/2024

🐕 LOOSE LEASH WALKING 🐕

If your dog can't walk on a loose lead in your frontyard/driveway, then they are NOT going to be able to walk on a loose lead down the street.

Loose leash training starts at home!

If you need help teaching your dog to walk, get in touch, to see how we can help ✅️

[email protected] or message us

06/06/2024

Training is always more fun in PINK!

Trainer Katrina & Pudding have been hitting the streets for their Walk & Train lessons in girly style!

06/06/2024

Yesterday, we started PRIVATE LESSONS with young "Sunny". Sunny is a sweet little guy, who needs some help with walking and reactivity on the lead, his general confidence, and some separation related anxiety.

Sunny's walking is either strongly pulling OR stopping and too afraid to move. With the underlying cause of this behaviour being his lack of confidence, we started activities to help build his confidence & his trust in his owner when on the lead - starting at home, in the back and front yard.

Along with this, we taught his owner how to implement the structure and boundaries he needs in his day to day life, to help him trust and respect his owners in a leadership role, and to help build some positive and healthy independence.

We look forward to working with Sunny, as he continues his behaviour modification training with one of our Private Training Programs.

27/05/2024

Congratulations to our Highfields Puppy Preschool graduates 😍 It was lovely to see everyone swapping phone numbers so these pups can catch up again!

Wilfred
Murphy
Elsie
Domino
Willow

24/05/2024

Here's a snippet of what our FAMILY DOG OBEDIENCE students have been learning in Week 4:

✅️ Sit & Down Stay

✅️ Intro to Loose Leash Walking

✅️ Interactive PLAY techniques that best:

- build relationship

- tire the dog mentally & physically

- provide an appropriate outlet for
chewing and biting!

- build a foundation for teaching "on"
& "off" switches and developing
impulse control