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Monday 9am - 3pm Tuesday 9am - 3pm Wednesday 9am - 3pm Thursday 9am - 3pm Friday 9am - 3pm Saturday 10am - 12pm

Paws Plus Ltd Canine Training & Behaviour, Auckland (2025)

We offer qualified and professional dog training and behaviour modification using modern, science-based methods using positive reinforcement techniques. We are based in South Auckland, but can travel Auckland wide, and provide services including 1-on-1 training and coaching sessions, group classes and solo training walks.

23/01/2025

Welcome our newest addition to the training walk program, Peanut! Upon arrival, I remarked how similar she looked to my dog at home, and when I heard her name was also Peanut, I was so excited! We had a consult this morning where we covered use of markers, application of punishment and reinforcement, importance of management, some foundation skills like leash manners and name response, and typical puppy problems like biting, chewing, crate training and appropriate socialisation. I can't wait to get started with her next week. We're going to have a lot of fun!

16/11/2024

We've had a great time the past 2 days attending the dogmanship seminar, hosted by
There was lots of great theory shared and awesome practical demonstrations, and I was particularly proud of my boy Peanut for attending the second day and being used for a demo. It was his first time in a seminar environment and he had a great time playing tug with Chad and working on a bit of impulse control. I also got to meet some new people in the industry and catch up with a few I hadn't seen in a while.
The skills learnt in this seminar were perfect for coaching pet owners and I'm looking forward to trying some of them in future with clients.

16/06/2024

Last Wednesday we had a coaching session with Ellie and her mum. I filmed the whole process which consisted of 7 training sessions which range from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. We used my clothing/shoes as a prop, allowing her to gather scent information without the need to approach me, as well as to establish a predictable pattern by using it as a physical marker for both the owner and dog. I am very happy with the progress made during this session and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the next one goes.

The video (sped up) and captions are fairly self explanatory, but below are some further details about the choices made in this session.

- Ellie is off leash to allow her to make choices as to how close she wants to be and whether she wants to leave. She is not a bite risk, so we don't need to use leashes or physical barriers for safety. Her dad is in the other room so that she is not stressed when we put her away in between sessions (she has separation anxiety), and she also feels confident to leave the room rather than being conflicted because she wants to get away from me but doesn't want to leave her mum and be alone in the other room.

- Session 2 was an important one and I think it had a big influence on how well the rest of the sessions went. She comes out with no barking and immediately goes over to sniff my shoes by the door. I have mum put her away immediately as that was a great moment and I don't want to wait too long and risk Ellie getting triggered and barking again. In fear-reactive behaviour cases there is often a big focus on controlling distance between the dog and the trigger, and I don't see a lot of consideration of the duration of exposure being a factor to control and vary throughout the session.

- When Ellie does bark at me there is no direct consequence. We don't ask her to stop, punish her, or physically remove her from the room. I want her to recognise that a) barking is ineffective; it doesn't cause me to move away or leave, and b) if she needs space from me she can create this distance herself by simply moving away or leaving the room.
All behaviour serves a function, and in this case the function of the barking is an attempt to create distance. By completely ignoring the barking and providing Ellie with alternative options (leaving the room) we allow her to figure out that she can get the same result (distance from me and a feeling of safety) without the need for barking, and instead by performing a more desirable behaviour (leaving the room).

05/06/2024

FLEXIBILITY IS CRUCIAL!

Meet Ellie. She is a Chihuahua X Papillion, and she has some big feelings about strangers in her home. She is also reactive to dogs and some people while out for walks, which is something we'll eventually be working on, but for now our priority is getting her comfortable with me so that we can then do training around the things that cause her to react, without my presence being an extra trigger.

This consult was a challenge and had me experimenting and improvising to figure out what was going to help her feel more comfortable with me. When I arrived she was confined to another room and I scattered treats on the floor and sat down in the furthest seat from the entrance. When she was let into the room, she ate most of the treats off the floor but barked at me continuously while keeping her distance. Other than tossing treats far away from me, I ignored her and waited to see if she would habituate to my presence, but after about 10 minutes it became clear this wasn't happening, so I had her put away again to decompress.

Over the next hour we would bring her out for very short periods of exposure, and then put her away again. After a couple of repetitions it also became clear that she has some separation anxiety, and therefore having her put away by herself was causing more stress rather than giving her time to decompress like intended. We resolved this by having her owners leave the room and stay with her for a couple of minutes and then bringing her back out.

By the end of the session she was able to enter the room without barking and there were even a couple of times she approached me and sniffed my foot before starting to bark again. I then had the idea to remove my headband and place it away from me, so that she could sniff it and gather scent information without needing to get close to me.

This consult really highlighted the importance of flexibility when working with extreme fear or reactivity. There is no set process for these cases and the ability to adapt the plan as you go depending on how the dog is responding is so important. Moving forward, we will be doing short training sessions of no more than 30 minutes.

27/12/2023

This morning we had a second day of group coaching with Cruze, Buddy and Bear. Today generally made exercises more difficult than yesterday with the 3 'D's; Distraction, Duration and Distance. We'd have one or two dogs in down stays while others moved around, did some recalls past distractions, dropped treats during stays, worked in closer proximity to the other dogs, and increased duration of eye contact. I am beyond proud of how well these guys are doing.

Address

Auckland

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 3pm
Tuesday	9am - 3pm
Wednesday	9am - 3pm
Thursday	9am - 3pm
Friday	9am - 3pm
Saturday	10am - 12pm

Telephone

+64212968149

Website

http://www.pawsplus.co.nz/

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