Victorian Dog Training Academy

08/10/2023

Just want to thank A Waggin' Good Time - Pet Resort for hosting our snake avoidance training a few weeks back. Very generous of them. If you need your dog boarded near Shepparton, look no further.

01/10/2023

We are in the Daylesford area on the 10th of October for Snake Avoidance training. 2 spots remaining.

20/09/2023

Could anyone who has had the benefit of completing snake avoidance training with us please do us a favour and head over to the surf coast community page and weigh in with their experience? https://www.facebook.com/groups/391285307920922/permalink/1919785131737591/?mibextid=W9rl1R

Please reply directly to Melanie Rockmans comments. She is claiming animal cruelty and negligence with our snake avoidance program. Dogs need us.

14/09/2023

Dogs do no not digest rice very well. White rice in particular has a high glycemic index, meaning it will cause a rapid spike in blood glucose levels. White rice is too starchy to be part of any dogs diet, especially when suffering from GI tract inflammation.

When your dog is unwell or suffering from a stomach upset whether it's in the form of vomiting, diarrhoea or IBS, it is essential to look at the diet as the first cause of the issue. Diet can also be first point to help cure the problem. The most common causes of vomiting and diarrhoea are from either something your dog has eaten, a virus or a food intolerance.

It's important that your dog gets onto a bland diet to help them recover from their gastrointestinal illness. The most common recommendation for a bland diet for a dog is boiled rice and chicken. Rice is suggested as it's classed as a carbohydrate and therefore a starchy food that is supposed to help bind the stools together, reduces diarrhoea and not irritate the stomach, 𝐁𝐔𝐓..

White rice is probably one of the worst foods to feed your dog! Why? White rice has very little nutritional or hydrating benefit for your dog. It's processed into sugar by the body. It's a refined carbohydrate which means it has been stripped of it's nutrition. It's been calculated that 97% of all white rice is genetically modified food.

Another option that's recommended is using brown rice instead of white as it has more nutritional value and takes longer to digest but a dog's digestive system hasn't been designed to digest rice in any form so the nutrients in brown rice aren't available to their body. If you're dog is unwell, it's digestive system is already compromised so adding a hard to digest food into their diet at this stage is likely to cause more irritation and inflammation.

Your dog requires a clean, high quality diet that helps naturally replace lost fluids, electrolytes, nutrients, to help them quickly recover.

08/09/2023

It’s estimated dogs hear 4 times better than us. This one can hear an electric gate open from 85 meters while indoors sitting on the couch. (It doesn’t make a lot of noise).

05/09/2023

Camperdown snake avoidance day, Sunday the 24th of September.

https://www.vdta.com.au/services/snake-avoidance-dog-training/

Please email [email protected]

Here’s a latest of many great snake avoidance results, thanks Justin for texting on Monday. See photos in comments. Justin’s dog was trained on the 23rd of August.

A nightmare for every dog owner, snake bites are a tragically dangerous and costly event. If your dog is bitten by a snake you can expect to be paying in excess of $3000.00 for treatment at the vet, and there is no guarantee of survival.

22/08/2023

Did you know that dog crates are banned in Switzerland?

22/08/2023

Posting to help a friend find good homes for 2 of these remaining pups.

Black German Shepherds.

Please direct all questions to Sandra at [email protected] or phone 0498919999.

I won’t be fielding questions on this post.

17/08/2023

On the 28th of August we will be in the Broadford area for snake avoidance sessions.

There are spots available for 6 dogs.

15/06/2023

Since I was a little kid and probably well before there was always a recommendation in dogdom….

“Choose a breed that suits your lifestyle”

It seems a common sense approach to searching for your prospective family pet.

Now with education and understanding of behavioral issues in pet homes I can easily elaborate on this old adage.

With the attempted watering down of genetic instincts there seems to be a growing trend in well meaning people giving themselves a challenge and purchasing or adopting a dog that is painfully unsuited to their lifestyle. If we like the look of something we seem to make excuses and convince ourselves we will make it work. Some breeders could also do a better job placing pups.

Very commonly behavioural issues come from the frustration experienced when the dog is not fulfilled in a way that satisfies its biological drives and or desires. Dogs that don’t have strong biological drives are inevitably easier to manage. Herein lies the reason for the old recommendation above.
A hunting, herding, biting, running (take your pick of breed types) dog will be a lot of trouble if it doesn’t get to perform, or at least perform surrogate activities that satisfy that urge. It’s not only more trouble for you, but it’s a poor mental state to exist in for the dog as well.
There are individuals within breeds that don’t have strong biological urges but it’s hard to know this when the dog is 6 weeks old. Choosing an appropriate breed negates the risk better than hoping you are getting a soft and quiet German Shepherd for example.

So it does ring true, considering your living and yard space, your vehicle, your amount of free time, your own fitness and activity level, your strength, your age is all very important.

People who make poor choices relating to this end up needing to pivot into finding surrogate activities and spending more time than they realised providing these types of experiences for their dogs mental health. Or spending a truck load on services that help them do it.

14/06/2023

Adorable Coco here is 10 weeks old in these photo’s.

A puppy assessment at home is a great way to get things off to a good start. Did you know puppies this age have the same cognitive ability as an adult dog! They just lack the attention span.

This means there are lots of behaviours and concepts you can begin to teach early on, and if you don’t you may find yourself playing catch-up from then on.

Things to focus on at this age are…
- Independence.
- Toilet training
- Building a clear marker system for communication
- Developing profound reward events.

07/06/2023

Meet Mickey the Boxer.

His dedicated owner was referred to me by Brad Canine Services International. Always nice to get a referral from Brad who’s been at the top of this game a long long time.

Mickey had issues with going off like a frog in a sock whenever he needed to walk past a dog on lead. He also is way to rambunctious when he does ever get the chance to socialise inevitably causing fights. He also wants to eat the family cat.

By the end of our 2hrs he was able to socialise with old Maxy (who really doesn’t appreciate this type of attitude) without any problems.

More work to do but things are looking on the up for Mickey, who is a sweet and good natured boy.

We already started some professional place training exercises and began working on reliable heel behaviour when on walks both of which will be integral to the resolution of the issues causing Mickeys owner’s considerable grief.

I included two photos of an unusual behaviour some may find interesting. I have seen it a dozen or so times over the years but it’s a very acute example of “freezing” behaviour. Mickey hates his harness and halti going on and will perform this freezing behaviour every time they are fitted. He needs to be physically moved out of the position to go for a walk. Very interesting stuff.

22/05/2023

Another snake avoidance success story.

Hi Daniel,

I just wanted to say thank you.

Recently my husband and our dog Alby were out bush. As they were approaching the top of a dam, Alby’s snake avoidance training kicked in with him quickly doing a u-turn to avoid the tiger snake my husband was only inches away from stepping on. If it wasn’t for Alby’s quick action my husband would have almost certainly stood on the snake, potentially being bitten, and a long way from any medical facility.

We are forever grateful to you for offering this training and it’s absolutely a no brainer for us, it’s essential training we will always give our dogs. Alby definitely received some extra special treatment, he is now known in our household as a lifesaver.

Again we just wanted to give our thanks and we’ll definitely see you at the next refresher.

09/03/2023

08/03/2023

08/03/2023

0 Likes, 0 Comments - Scent Horses Australia () on Instagram: "Meet Peggy. She is more than just a pretty face. Is this the worlds first scent detection cow? @..."

03/03/2023

Here’s to a fantastic week!

My first ever shadow experience taking Jools Mobbs of WonderPaws Dog Training around with me for a packed week of dog training sessions with clients. We covered a lot of kilometres and saw a wide variety of cases.

I tried to focus on booking aggression cases because this is what Jools was most interested in learning about.

I have to say though this experience has been just as good for me as it has been for her. The gift of another mind to give ideas and bounce questions back and forth is truly a kick in the backside for your dog training brain.

Thanks for choosing me Jools and thanks for your assistance and conscientiousness throughout the whole week. I was lucky to have you.

01/03/2023

25th Of March, Snake Avoidance near Shepparton Victoria, please direct ALL enquiries to Steph Eisma's facebook inbox.

24/01/2023

Edit: Henry has now found a home thank you for your shares and comments.

Is anyone out there willing to give Henry a home?

Born 17/8/2017

Henry is not a client so I don’t know him personally but by all accounts he is pretty problem free and the purpose of rehoming is not getting the time and attention he deserves.

Please direct all enquiries to:

[email protected]

14/09/2022

Please register your interest for Snake Avoidance refresher day in Hurstbridge on the 5th of November.

This day is only for dogs who have completed initial snake avoidance training.

Email only please [email protected]

24/02/2022

We as the handlers/trainers of our dogs have certain responsibilities to the community and to the public we share our spaces with. We also have a responsibility to our dogs, a responsibility to fulfil them to the best of our ability and to ensure that their behaviour does not lead to unsafe situations.

If our lack of control inevitably leads to self imposed restrictions on our dogs such as no off leash time because the dog doesn’t reliably come back, something should be done about this. Living a life like that can often create issues in other areas.

We don’t get to choose which methods work on a particular dog, we can’t manipulate the way motivation works because we ideologically have a distaste for punishment or consequences. The dog will indicate what is required through its performance, especially over longer periods of time applying well timed and meaningful positive reinforcement and employing management strategies. If you limit your training options you also limit your results.

28/01/2022

We will be in Healesville on the 10th of feb for snake avoidance.

Email [email protected]

05/01/2022

Torquay snake avoidance training day.

23rd of January.

3 places left.

Please email [email protected] to register your interest.

20/10/2021

Snake avoidance refresher day, 27th November.

Location TBA

Register your interest by email. [email protected]