K9 Tutor

13/01/2024

With Dart World Australia – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

04/03/2023

HDK - Don’t get a working breed if you are not prepared to deal with a working breed.😁🫵
LIVE HARD PLAY HARDER. HARDOG
Please check out web page. https://www.hardogkennels.com
Mobile 0459288396

03/03/2023

27/02/2022

These dogs are not pets. This one is highly trained. Read and understand and do the breed a favour, don't get one.....

27/02/2022

Wolves are essential. So is coffee 😉

12/02/2022

Came across these photos while I was clearing out some stuff.
What do you think?
Gotta laugh at Snapp trying to catch the piece of chicken 🐔

08/09/2021

Discovering new places, Ferntree Gully Quarry 👌🐾

02/07/2021

Exactly feedback needs to be given with the motivation to foster growth and improvement. It also encourages team members to ask for guidance when needed.
Don't just point out the problem - help with the solution!🐾

💡 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, if you don’t have friends that you can trust to have the hard conversations with you as they see the need, then I’d suggest upgrading your friends.
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💪 As a dog trainer my real friends - those that would speak openly and honestly with me - have been a 𝗛𝗨𝗚𝗘 source of development of both my craft and my character, and I actively cultivate people like this in my personal and professional life.
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👎 Over the years I have had friendships with folks that didn’t have the care or backbone to share with me their opinions about my direction, actions, manner, friends and associations, etc. - even where they felt that I was at a disadvantage.
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🤷‍♂️ In my experience these folks are often also the first folks to chime in after the fact and say in some format “I told you so / I never liked him or her / I didn’t think that would work”.
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Shared by
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A culture of learning in which constructive and honest feedback is welcome is essential in becoming the best version of ourselves and creating high-performance teams. Honest feedback, however uncomfortable in the short term, promotes greater meaning and a long-term fulfillment.
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Research has shown that employees who learn to value honest feedback in which they are confronted with uncomfortable truths are 3 times more engaged at work and view their supervisors as 5 times more effective.
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Individuals also find honest communication to be more enjoyable, meaningful, and socially connecting than they first anticipate.
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Honest feedback can be uncomfortable but requires individuals who can give honest valuable feedback in an appropriate manner and individuals who are capable of confronting their short-term limitations.
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25/06/2021

Here to pick up our photo canvas from Artist photography, hope it lives up to my expectations!!

28/05/2021

BOOM!!!

27/05/2021

Couldn't have said it any better myself!🐾

Many dog owners believe that having your dog meet other dogs is a vital part of socialization.
It is not.
On-leash greetings will actually have the opposite effect.

Here's why I will always say "No" to on leash greetings and why you should too:

1. Leashes get in the way of communication.

When dogs greet each other naturally, they will approach from the side. They will circle each other while sniffing, and then they will either move on, initiate play, or fight.
On leash greetings are unnatural. Meeting face to face is considered rude or threatening in dog language. On leash, dogs only have about a 6 foot radius to do this little greeting dance and this can result in mixed signals.

2. Tension causes reactivity.
Forced greetings can trigger a fight or flight response, but because of the leash, the flight response is taken away. Even the sweetest dog can buckle under the tension and try to create space. Dogs create space by barking, growling, lunging, and biting. Getting repeatedly pushed over the limit will result in this reaction whenever they see another dog.

3. It reinforces poor behavior.

Lets pretend that you let your child pick out a toy every single time you go to the store.
Then one day you decide that they have enough toys so you tell them "no".
This will probably result in a tantrum right?

Well now lets compare this to a dog.
Lets pretend you let your dog meet another dog every time you go out.
Your dog is so excited for the interactions and pulls towards the other dog because they learned that this is an acceptable behavior. (and you're reinforcing it by letting them interact with what they're pulling towards)
But one day you just want to go for a nice walk instead of meeting someone. While you're pulling your dog away to avoid a greeting, your dog throws a loud barky temper tantrum.

4. You don't know the other dog.

You also don't know how well the other dog owner knows how to read body language. The other dog could be aggressive or unsocialized.

5. It teaches your dog to value other dogs over you.

If you let your pup greet others whenever they want, they will learn to value these greetings over you. This can put a strain on your relationship and cause frustrations for you both. Forcing your dog to repeatedly meet strange dogs that make them uncomfortable makes them lose trust in you as a protector.
You should be the most important thing in your dog's life and they should be focused on and listening to you.

6. Dogs don't need to make dog friends all the time.

Would you want to shake hands with every person you see?
Then your dog doesn't need to sniff every dog they see.
Many dog owners are under the impression that dogs need many friends but that is not the case.

Better ways of socialization:

- Training in the same space. Use other dogs as a training opportunity and reward your dog for focusing on you and remaining calm

- Parallel walks. Walk alongside the other dog and it's owner without letting the two meet. They will get familiar with each other in a safe and structured way.

What about off leash greetings?

Off leash greetings are more ideal and less restricting, but for all the reasons stated above, I choose to not let dogs under my care meet any dogs we don't know.

I don't trust the handling of the other dog owner if I don't know them.
But also I want my dog to value me, and greetings are not in the best interest of my goals.

21/05/2021

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much fun do you have training your dog?

Because if you’re not making it a 10 every day…

You’re likely taking this too seriously.

Here’s a little tough love…

If training your dog feels like a chore…

It’s probably because you’re taking their behavior personally…

You’re making your dog’s mistakes…

Their missteps…

The training hiccups…

Or the setbacks about YOU.

Making them MEAN something about you.

Rather than seeing them for what they are…

OPPORTUNITIES.

Think about the last time you played a video game (I’m not much of a gamer, so I have to think ALLLLL the way back to when Ninentdo was a thing).

When my little character fell off of a ledge…

It got me HOOKED.

I played again….

And again…

And again…

Until I figured out how to press all the right buttons at the right time to make my guy successfully nail that jump that kept ending my game.

What if we looked at training our dogs the same way?

Where setbacks mean nothing other than “Try Again”?

Where they stoked a fire in us to change how we played the game until we won?

And then to find a new game, so that the challenge could continue?

Listen…

When it comes to training your dog…

On the fun scale…

Make it a 10 every day.

Stop taking your training so darn seriously.

Your relationship with your dog will be better for it in the end.

15/05/2021

Super advice. Thanks Striker and Inca 👌🐾

Never underestimate the value of mat training and teaching your food driven dogs the difference between their food and yours.

Striker and Inca both laying calmly here while Aliyah and her friend have their lunch in front of the TV. Everyone happy.

Important note: This is still supervised and the result of ongoing training.

14/05/2021

Just finished another photo shoot with Artist photography and silly Snapp. He hates me taking photos but somebody else, well he laps it up! Such a confident and curious boy, always keen to explore new environments, can't get enough. Love any adventure with him and so proud of the compliments he gets. 😊👌🐾

13/05/2021

💖

09/05/2021

🐾⁣
𝐏𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑. 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑. ⁣
⁣

09/05/2021

05/05/2021

You cannot outrun or out train genetics!

05/05/2021

Overfeeding your dog is not love!!

05/05/2021

Very well said, and very bloody true!!👌🐾

👇 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝’𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚍𝚘𝚐 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚜:
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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘𝗥:
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If a dog owner is working with a coach that doesn’t champion strong basics, including the building of desirable behaviours using profound reinforcers and clear markers, then it’s very likely that long term success and a continued trajectory of improvement is going to become elusive.
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Of course the above becomes even more relevant when working with dogs that have emotional and or behavioural problems.
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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗥:
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In that typically human way, aspiring dog trainers tend to want to become highly proficient overnight.
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High levels of proficiency will take many, many years. I’ve often said that I was only starting to really get a bead on things after about a decade.
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Often these folks see their industry role models using a piece of equipment, or doing a certain exercise with their dog, and come to see those things as synonymous with being perceived as highly proficient.
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It would be far more for productive for these folks to focus on how these role models do the most basic of things, and endeavouring to understand the why of what they are doing.
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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚:
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Many become frustrated that their dog’s behaviour does not reflect their level of investment in training. Most often this frustration is found when the dog is on the obedience field on training day.
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In almost every case we’ll find a bunch of situations where their dog’s on-field behaviour is correlated to the dog’s general perception regarding the owner’s lax expectations in day to day life.
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As an example, if you have to tell your dog to go to it’s bed 4 times, and even then the dog makes his own decision about when to get up or go and do something else…then it sets a strong tone for the work you do outside the home.
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04/05/2021

⚠️ 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻:

✅ You develop a strong pattern of your dog seeking high levels of stimulating interactions with it's external environment;

❌ In absence of having first convinced your dog that the things (and feelings) it most loves can be reliably achieved and/or accessed by working together with you.

🔥 Food and prey based stimulation (balls, tug, etc.) as well as interactive play are great examples of the kind of motivations that set most dogs on fire.

☀️ If you can't outshine the potential motivations that your dog will likely encounter out in the world, then what option are you then left with?

⛈️ Well, you have to find a way to take the fun out of those external motivators! This can become time consuming, difficult, very unenjoyable, and may produce some serious contingencies that you never foresaw.

💎 Spend time and invest effort and resources in making yourself shine like a diamond in the eyes of your dog - wherever you go...it'll pay dividends for you, your dog, and the relationship you share forever more.

04/05/2021

Time and time again we see clients surprised when the dog they purchased expresses breed related traits that make them challenging in a pet situation. Your Staffy may be dog aggressive, your Mastiff may not be welcoming to strangers or your Live Stock Guardian may hurt another dog at the dog park.
There are countless examples of this. Breed is not just the clothing your dog wears. Right down to the DNA level, it defines who and what your dog is. Next time you buy a dog, think past the appearance to whether or not that temperment or those traits are really a fit with your lifestyle.

03/05/2021

What a surprise!! Yesterday we had 3 chickens visit us in the backyard. The lady over the road let's them roam. And yes Snapp was quite excited by them running around clucking and pecking lol.
Got home last night and this little lady was quite at home. Snapp was very calm having a sniff through the flywire, but all of a sudden he backed away??
He was actually so uncomfortable he would not lie on his bed that was under the window lol.
He definitely left his courage at the front door.
Predator?? I think not lmao🤣🤣🐾🐾

01/05/2021

😂😂

30/04/2021

Oftentimes, we don’t give it a second thought…

Our dogs like to play fetch…

So we play.

But truth is, I can’t tell you how many dogs I’ve seen get injured chasing a toy…

The dog will step wrong, leap into the air and land wrong, or come in just a little too quickly and go for a tumble.

Torn ligaments are common with dogs who love the game a little too much and those can be extremely painful for your dog, requiring expensive surgery and extended rest and rehabilitation to repair.

So what’s a dog owner to do?

I mean your dog loves fetch…but you want to keep them safe. Do you need to ditch the game for good?

Listen…

Playing fetch with your dog can be an awesome outlet and a great way for you to bond. Not to mention, you can use games of fetch to break up particularly challenging training sessions, to give your dog a bit of a mental break.

I use games of fetch every day in my training (for the dogs that like it). And my dogs are some of the most reckless around.

So no, you don’t have to ditch the game…

You just have to get strategic…

And set up your toy play in a way that minimizes the risk.

Here’s what I do…

- Choose the proper toy (I like Starmark Pet Products foam ball or foam ball on a rope toys)
- Make sure your dog is properly warmed up
- Play on soft surfaces
- For reckless dogs, make them wait until the toy stops rolling

Is your dog a fan of fetch games?

26/04/2021

“It’s amazing how little you care about what people think.” My client said during our lesson the other day.

“You focus on your training regardless of what people around you are doing.

I mean, the other day, you didn’t even notice the dog that was running around at your feet, trying to get your attention, because you were so focused on coaching your student.”

I laughed. It’s true.

I mean, I’m not going to say I never care about what people think of me - I’m only human after all.

But when it comes to training dogs, I NEVER worry about the opinions of strangers.

Because my dog needs my full attention.

And truthfully, the people who are passing judgment don’t.

But in this case my client was mistaken. Because I DID notice the dog.

Even though I didn’t acknowledge it or say hi…

I knew it was there.

My choice to ignore the dog was intentional.

Because if a dog approaches me, I ignore it…

Every. Single. Time.

And dog owners regularly misconstrue my actions when I do.

They think I’m being rude. They take it personally.

But the truth is…

I don’t do it because I don’t like the dog…

It’s not that I don’t want to greet them.

I ignore them out of respect for their owner.

Because lavishing a dog with attention that is pulling to get to me, or jumping around at my feet, is only going to teach them two important lessons…

- Other people in environment are a great reason to ignore your owner

- Being overexcited, pulling, or jumping about pays big

Not to mention, looming over dogs that don’t know me, making direct eye contact, thrusting my hand out, and touching them without giving them the opportunity to check me out first can make them uncomfortable.

Listen…

Anyone who has worked through behavior challenges will tell you how grateful they are when people ignore their dog.

When people don’t swoon, or touch their dog but instead, give them the space to reinforce their training.

And give them the space to say hi if they want to.

So when I’m in public, I offer others the same respect.

Despite my deep desire to scoop every dog up in my arms and kiss their faces (I am who I am)…

I ignore dogs when they approach.

I put their needs above my wants.

And I wish more people would do the same.