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The Complete Canine Dog training and behaviour, bootcamp programs, groupclasses and online courses!
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I'm really excited about this one (i feel like I say that all the time).. but if you've been following me for a while yo...
23/06/2025

I'm really excited about this one (i feel like I say that all the time).. but if you've been following me for a while you know I endlessly harp on about 'You need to practise AWAY from triggers until you see blue in the face'. And yet I still get a TON of people that will disagree that this doesn't work for their reactive dog etc.

In this video I have Willow and she's reactive to dogs and cats. She has super high prey drive - not so high food drive. Yet I started with all my usual basic traning steps anyway to start to create some muscle memory.

Then in this session a few things happen:
I introduce 3 different triggers that I am in control off, one of which sets her off like she would with a cat.
I introduce a spray bottle correction for the first time and you see the instant change of 'oh s**t im not supposed to do that'.
And at the end you see her instead looking at ME for direction.

AFTER this - dogs will come into play that I control, know the temperament off and can walk past about a 100 times.

If you solely base your reactive dog training on that ONE random pass on your walk, that you have NO idea WHEN or IF it is coming and you have NO idea about the temperament of the dog that may randomly appear like a wild pokemon - you will forever struggle to improve your reactive dogs responses.

enough talking - here is the video (8 min).

https://youtu.be/FIJWZrTzDqI

This is the second session with Willow and I'm slowly introducing triggers that I can easily control to teach her the right behaviours and impulse control.If...

Dogs are creatures of habit, and structure gives them the clarity they need to feel safe and secure in their world. When...
22/06/2025

Dogs are creatures of habit, and structure gives them the clarity they need to feel safe and secure in their world. When the rules are clear and consistent, dogs don’t have to guess what’s expected of them—they know.

This predictability lowers anxiety because they can trust that their environment and the people in it will be fair and reliable. Whether it’s knowing where they’re allowed to rest, waiting calmly at doors, or understanding how to behave on leash, structure helps dogs feel confident in their choices.
Without it, dogs are left to make decisions in situations they don’t fully understand, which often leads to stress and problem behaviors.

Structure doesn’t mean being strict or controlling every move your dog makes—it means providing a framework that sets them up for success.
With structure, dogs earn more freedom because they’ve learned how to handle it responsibly. A dog who knows how to calmly greet visitors, walk politely on leash, or settle when asked gets to enjoy more of life’s privileges.

In short, structure isn’t about limiting your dog—it’s about helping them become a confident, well-adjusted companion who can navigate the world without chaos.
This is where we have to set aside thoughts of 'but that's not fair, and I don't like telling my dog no' and actually see the bigger picture by telling them NO, eventually they get a let more YES.

How to caption this look 🤣
21/06/2025

How to caption this look 🤣

19/06/2025

Can you hold dogs accountable? Or is it Bull💩? What do we think?

Our new puppy school pups are just so cute 🥰😍
19/06/2025

Our new puppy school pups are just so cute 🥰😍

In todays Episode of She Gets Sit Done we discuss 3 different cases. 1. Is it fair to expect a child to raise a dog and ...
18/06/2025

In todays Episode of She Gets Sit Done we discuss 3 different cases.

1. Is it fair to expect a child to raise a dog and have full responsibility?
2. Should I return a rescue dog I adopted a day ago but it killed one of my pet ducks? The rescue said it was duck friendly!
3. Is my dog trainer being mean to my dog or am I over-reacting?

We’d love to hear what you think!

As usual find the episode on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts

14/06/2025

I thought it may be worth it showing you what Consider The Dog looks like if you sign up as a member.
They have a bunch of free stuff too, but there is premium content from a range of different trainers on all sorts of subjects with playlists specific to Aggression, reactivity, obedience, beginners, for dog trainers you name it.. it is there.

As mentioned before it's basically netflix for dog training!

Obviously my course is on there now too and more to come!

Have a look! I'll post a link to CTD in the comments!

This comic is a good addition to my post a few days ago about how some dog trainers blame all behaviour on assumed traum...
14/06/2025

This comic is a good addition to my post a few days ago about how some dog trainers blame all behaviour on assumed trauma…

This is exactly my approach to dog training.
Yes - SOME dogs come to us with trauma or troublesome pasts - but that doesn’t give them a free pass to just do whatever they want, whenever and however.

That also doesn’t mean I’m not there to constructively support, teach and coach. But I’m not going to sit there saying awh hes so sad it must’ve been terrible past experiences that’s causing this and lets do nothing about it because of it.

Comic by Other Perspectives

The demand for emotional support dogs for neurodivergent children seems to be rising. I don’t have hard stats, just what...
12/06/2025

The demand for emotional support dogs for neurodivergent children seems to be rising. I don’t have hard stats, just what I’m seeing more and more of in local groups and on Reddit. The need is real. The approach, though? Often deeply flawed. The result is often disappointment or a rehomed puppy before 6 months old.

Let’s clear something up first: most of the dogs being brought into families to help neurodivergent kids aren’t actually therapy dogs. They’re emotional support dogs—and that’s an important distinction.
Therapy dogs are trained to provide support to others (like in hospitals or schools), and they work with a handler. Emotional support dogs (ESDs), on the other hand, offer comfort to one person, usually their owner. And unlike service or therapy dogs, ESDs don’t have public access rights in New Zealand. They're not legally permitted in shops, cafes, or on planes just because they provide emotional support.

Here’s the pattern: a family decides their child would benefit from an emotional support dog. Understandably, they want to help. But instead of going through a structured process, they buy a random puppy—often from a backyard breeder, or they adopt a rescue pup—and hope for the best.
But that rarely works out the way they’d hoped.

Sometimes the child is afraid of the puppy. Sometimes the puppy is too mouthy, too energetic, or just generally overwhelming. Sometimes the pup isn't particularly interested in the child. Sometimes the puppy actually overstimulates the child. Or vice versa.
And sometimes, the puppy itself is anxious, fearful, or lacking confidence—especially in the case of rescues or poorly bred litters—which means they aren’t emotionally available to support anyone else. Because how can a dog be a calming presence when they’re still learning how to feel safe themselves?

And that’s the core issue: these are puppies. Babies. They’re untrained. Emotionally immature. Not yet equipped to handle the mental and emotional load of supporting a human, let alone one who may already be navigating sensory, emotional, or social challenges.

There’s a reason certified service and therapy dogs are carefully bred, temperament-tested, and put through 12–18 months of structured, intensive daily training. They’re selected from bloodlines that are specifically bred for sound temperament and low reactivity. They aren’t just “good dogs.” They’re the result of years of intentional planning.
Backyard breeders, unfortunately, don’t offer that. The focus is often on looks or profit—not health or temperament. And when temperament isn’t a priority, you run a much higher risk of raising a fearful, anxious, or reactive dog—none of which are a good fit for an emotional support role.

And rescue puppies? While I’m absolutely pro-rescue, it’s important to remember that many have unknown backgrounds, early life trauma, or unstable temperaments. They can absolutely make wonderful pets—but should not be given the job of emotionally supporting a vulnerable child without serious evaluation and training.

If we truly want our children to benefit from the amazing potential of dog companionship, we need to stop romanticizing the idea of “puppy heals child” and start approaching it more realistically. That means seeking expert guidance, choosing the right dog on purpose, and understanding that dogs—especially puppies—aren’t therapy tools. They’re living beings with their own needs.
Done right, this can be a beautiful partnership. But done carelessly, it’s a fast road to disappointment, confusion, and stress—for the child, the family, and the dog.

My advice for anyone looking for an emotional support dog for themselves or for their child is look at a dog that’s already out of puppyhood. Maybe a dog that flunked out of ‘guide dog’ school for some reason but is still a really solid dog.

If you do want to start with the puppy road make sure to enlist a trainer that knows how to train for ESD’s and be prepared to see training this dog as an additional job to your schedule for the next year or so.

A Force Free Trainer the other day posted:"Assumptions create bias, which can distort judgement, which can distort empat...
10/06/2025

A Force Free Trainer the other day posted:
"Assumptions create bias, which can distort judgement, which can distort empathic responses."
Then, and I quote:"For example, assuming a behaviour is ‘attention seeking’, when the dog is desperate for reassurance, can easily lead to ignoring a dog when he needs us the most."

Now, let’s move past my initial eyeroll response and actually dive into why I think this is a weird statement.

It’s kinda ironic that the trainer says we shouldn’t assume—and then immediately assumes the dog is desperate for reassurance. How exactly do we know that? Where’s the data? Or are these just... assumptions?
Let’s stick with their example: attention seeking.
According to this logic, when a dog is nudging you or being clingy, we shouldn’t label it as attention-seeking because it might be a cry for emotional support.

But how is the average dog owner supposed to tell the difference? Are we now saying every time a dog wants affection, it’s experiencing emotional turmoil and we must comply?
Doesn’t that just feed the cycle—what came first, the nudge or the attention?

Take my dog Zelda, for example. If nudging you for pets is a trauma response, my dog’s a full-blown tragedy. If I gave in every time she wanted affection, she’d be unbearable. She gets plenty of love, but she’s the kind of dog who would crawl into your skin if you let her. Her idea of affection is sticking her nose up your ear to lick your brain. She’ll lie on your chest, demand you scratch her endlessly, and bark at you when you stop. She’s 22kg of working-line Kelpie—not exactly a lap dog.

Yes, Zelda is a “rescue dog.” I say that loosely because while she was “saved” from something, I have no actual proof of what that something was. She came to us at 3 months old after spending nearly a month in a loving foster home. She’s now 7. So let’s do some rough math: maybe 6–8 weeks of her 365+ weeks of life were as a "rescue." That’s 1.64%. I’m not discounting that early experiences can matter—but let’s not pretend her every quirk is rooted in trauma.

And that’s the bigger issue here: why do so many Force Free trainers always assume that every unwanted behaviour comes from some deep place of fear, stress, anxiety, or trauma?
Not every dog has a tragic past. Not every behaviour is a cry for help. Sometimes, dogs just do stuff because it works.
Dogs are selfish creatures —they repeat what gets them results and what they like and stop what doesn’t.

A dog steals a steak off the counter? Maybe it’s just hungry and the steak smelled good.
Digging up the yard? Could be fun.
Reacts on leash but fine off-leash? Maybe it’s just a lack of impulse control.

Of course, I always assess the full picture. If a dog is digging, I’ll rule out boredom, stress, and anxiety. But if everything checks out, the simplest explanation is probably correct: they like digging.

If we view all misbehaviour through the lens of trauma, we end up excusing bad behaviour and creating unbalanced dogs. I think it’s actually a HUGE problem that some people constantly go ‘Oh but he’s a rescue’. Lady, you got this dog 5 years ago. This dog is not a rescue anymore. Hold him accountable.

Not everything needs a gentle, therapeutic response. Sometimes dogs are just being cheeky. Sometimes they’re taking the p**s.
They’re not fragile little balls of trauma. Some dogs love pulling. Some love barking. Some love chewing your couch. Some dogs even love starting fights with other dogs just for funnies.
That doesn’t make them broken. It makes them dogs.

Please stop assuming trauma is behind every behaviour. It’s not helping the dogs, and it’s definitely not helping the owners. That’s how we end up with dogs unnecessarily medicated or with owners terrified to set boundaries.

This particular trainer keeps repeating, “Dogs who have been abused are not misbehaving, they have survival skills that need to be understood.”

To summarise:It’s a HUGE assumption to think most dogs with behaviour issues have a traumatic past.
Because if that’s your theory... what do you say to the dog with no trauma, no stress, no fear—and still behaving “badly”?

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The Complete Canine Notice the Change in your Dog

Hi!

I’m Sanne (Sah-nah) founder of ‘The Complete Canine’. The Complete Canine came to be because of my own dogs Lenyx and Zelda, who are proudly displayed in my logo. Lenyx and Zelda are my inspiration and my passion. Without them, I wouldn’t have taken the step to go into dog training. Lenyx is this old soul and my heart dog. He is really attached to me and loves his family and isn’t necessarily interested in other dogs (or people) around him. He’s friendly, but selective. When Lenyx was 7 months he broke his toe and became quite reactive and fearful to touch and vet visits. We called in a trainer to help us with his potential aggression with the vet and saw our dog change drastically. I loved our trainer’s work so much, that I decided, that is what I want to do. Help people, help their dogs. Zelda is a joy. She’s our Herd2Homes rescue Kelpie x Koolie. She is as extrovert as a dog can be. She is the typical working dog and exactly what I wanted in a working dog, to be able to go sheep herding and hopefully end up doing agility competitions with her. She’s full of beans and has a huge (weird) character. I thank them everyday for being there for me and making my life richer.

Passion

Teaching and helping people is something that comes naturally to me. I have been a full time primary school teacher for 6 years and the switch to dog training feels like a perfect next step to me, although currently I am balancing it with my fulltime job. I have the right amount of people skills, ability to explain, train and teach and the passion and handling skills with dogs. I strive to learn as much as possible and am thankful for trainers such as Jay Jack, Chad Mackin, Tyler Muto and Pat Stuart to continue to educate and share their practices. I am also very lucky to call Ernie Frappa (The Dog Bloke) my mentor.