Billyswagtails Dog Trainer - Positive Rewards for Positive Outcomes

14/09/2025

SAVE THE DATE!

🗓️ Date: Sunday, September 14th
⏰ Time: 11 am - 1 pm
📍 Location: 26 Aegean Crt, Keysborough, VIC 3173

No appointment needed—just bring your heart ready to be filled with love!

Important: The dogs available for meet & greet will be confirmed closer to the date and may change due to adoptions and animal welfare needs. We can’t wait to share the love and joy of AAPS with you! For more, visit > https://aaps.org.au/events/

12/09/2025

What if your animals are mirroring the pain you’re hiding?
Many of us live with silent struggles, chronic pain, stress, exhaustion, while still pouring all our love into our animals. But when we don’t tend to ourselves, they feel it too.
If you’ve ever noticed your companion reflecting your stress, anxiety, or low energy, it’s not your imagination. They’re emotional mirrors. And when we carry silent pain, physical or emotional, it can echo in them, too.
This September isn’t just Animal Pain Awareness Month, it’s also Human Pain Awareness Month. Both matter. Both deserve compassion.
This month, as we raise awareness for animals, let’s also raise it for the humans who love them. Because caring for ourselves isn’t selfish… it’s part of the circle of care.
Read the blog to explore how caring for ourselves is actually caring for them.
Link in the comments below

08/09/2025

Only 2 spots left!
Call or email Karen to secure your spot asap
0411 822 756
[email protected]
Classes starting this Saturday

Qualified Positive Dog Trainer
Teen Dog Training Classes - 6 months to 2 years
Cranbourne South
Call Karen to book on 0411 822 756, or
email [email protected]

04/09/2025

I NEED TO FEEL SAFE!

Like all living creatures, ourselves included, dogs need to feel safe – it’s a basic need for survival.

It’s hard wired into our brains to keep asking and checking – “Am I safe?” or “Is this safe?”

When we think about feeling safe it’s natural to just think about not being harmed or being in danger, but it’s not just about physical safety - feeling emotionally or psychologically safe is just as important.

While physical safety may be obvious and simpler to address, emotional safety is far more complex and not always easy to recognise or identify.

The same applies to our dogs – they are sentient beings whose behaviour is triggered and driven by emotions.

So many behaviour problems that we see in dogs stem from the brain saying– “I don’t feel safe!”

A dog that lunges and barks or behaves aggressively with another dog or person is very likely doing so because they feel unsafe. They are trying to make the scary thing go away.

A dog that is guarding resources is doing so because they are afraid that the resource will be taken away – they don’t feel safe when another animal or person approaches that resource.

A dog that is reacting to fireworks or thunderstorms or other noises is doing so because they don’t feel safe.

The same can be said for separation distress – the feeling of intense panic when left alone – “I am not safe!”

Some dogs may never get over a specific fear, but doing all we can to help dogs feel safe in our world is one of the most important gifts we can give them.

Our first responsibility should not be about training, obedience or trying to change behaviour, but to focus first and foremost on building trust, self-confidence, resilience, creating a safe and secure base and being the person that our dogs can rely on and trust.

In the words of Dr. Gabor Maté - "Feeling safe is the treatment and creating safety is the work".

In my words (as it pertains to dogs) – It is our responsibility to put in the work to enable our dogs to feel safe and when they feel safe, this will be part of the treatment or the solution to the problem.

01/09/2025

01/09/2025

Try Now👉

31/08/2025

‼️There’s no such thing as a bad dog‼️
…. Is a dangerous thing to say! Same as “it’s how you raise them” it’s simply not true!

It encourages people to make unwise choices in the hope of “loving a dog better” but the harsh reality is that genetics and the first weeks and months of a dog’s life are crucial!
The most realistic statistics I’ve seen are 60-80% genetic traits and therefore 20-40% environmental factors (including you, the owner) that impact a dog’s behaviour.

So when you visit a litter of puppies and the mum is showing fear, aggression or behaviours you don’t like… you need to walk away! Because you don’t have enough influence to change the pup’s genetics!

If we could all start saying “there are bad dogs and mostly they’re badly bred from genetically unsound parents”
Then breeding would have to improve because breeders wouldn’t be able to sell puppies!! And therefore people would be forced to really consider the true temperaments of the dog (along with health) before breeding!

It’s hard to break good genetics and likewise it’s hard to fix bad genetics!!
The clues are there from the start!

However - when we assess dogs that have aggression issues that are caused environmentally (by the owner 😂) these are relatively easily fixed by changing the factors that are causing the issue!! Exercise, diet, mental stimulation, equipment etc

29/08/2025

Can my dog be a pawssenger on PT? Yes, in most cases they can!

Find out more at https://transport.vic.gov.au/plan-a-journey/public-transport-tools-and-resources/travel-tips-and-resources/bringing-items-on-public-transport/animals-on-public-transport

29/08/2025

bit.ly/3Ul1tTW
Sometimes dogs get a little weird. 🐶

27/08/2025