Bondi Behaviourist

Is your dog trying to protect you?Unless there’s a guarding tendency in their DNA it’s not that likely. Not impossible, but not that likely.Some breeds really struggle with lots of variables and crave predictability in their world.And dogs whose behaviour that’s gets labelled as “trying to protect their human” are often just doing what they have learned to get rid of variables and unpredictability. These don’t need support in ways that help them desensitise their world, help reduce anxiety and increase their confidence and independence.That plan looks very different to that of a guard dog we’re trying to help learn “you don’t need to guard me” so getting the diagnosis is very important if you want to make significant change in their behaviour Book a free initial assesment if you need help with this or any other dog training issues

If you listen to their whispers they won’t have to shout!

What does your dog tell you subtly?

Socialisation is tricky!

It can be tricky socialising your dog out in the real world! You never know if the other dog in the park is going to be too rough, teach bad habits, aggressive or just not a good influence on your pup. It’s also tricky when you’re not sure what good and bad play looks like, when to keep your dog on leash, when to let them off and how/when to step in and interrupt a game. That’s why we’ve created our socialisation classes. A class in which we focus solely on this There are lots of classes out there that focus on obedience, recall and all of that traditional stuff. And they’re great… but this is different. In these classes we’ll teach you: ✅ how to how handle a leash for on leash introductions ✅ how to regulate play and step in when necessary ✅ what good and bad play looks like ✅ about the best way to socialise YOUR individual dog If you want to learn how to socialise your pup… head to the link in the comments

Port Gut Health + Frustration = Poor Mental & Emotional Health = Unwanted Behaviours

Picking things up with with their mouths is normal for dogs Ingesting non edible items isn’t, especially if it keeps happening If it is, then it’s worth looking into why. Two common factors we see are: 1. Poor gut health 2. Frustration We often see when the gut health of the dog improves this behaviour decreases. When it comes to frustration, we often see people panic when their dog starts doing this and begin to withhold and restrain the dog from natural behaviours. We see people not leave anything out for the dog to chew at all, snatch things out of their mouth, hold them on tight leashes when walking and never letting them off leash, each exasperating the frustration further. The more frustrated the dogs get, the more this behaviour increases and we see things get worse. So instead, we what we can do is supervise them chewing items we know are safe, ensure we don’t give them access to things they can pick up that they shouldn’t (📢 pick up your socks people), watch where they’re walking and teach them to look at you and reward them when walking past things they might scavenge and use a long leash in safe places to allow for freedom of movement. Port Gut Health + Frustration = Poor Mental & Emotional Health = Unwanted Behaviours If we reverse this, we will see the unwanted behaviours decrease by addressing the underlying cause.

Will your dog rest when they’re tired?

Will your dog rest when they’re tired? We see a lot of dogs that “won’t stop playing” or “will just keep chasing the ball as long as we throw it” And this isn’t necessarily an issue Unless, we acknowledge that this dog needs help to settle and relax and that help isn’t provided If we have a dog in our care like this, we will probably have to facilitate environments and situations for them to be able to rest, decompress and recover quite deliberately rather than relying them on just doing so when they’ve had enough Our modern world is stimulating and can be OVER stimulating to many dogs Learning to rest, decompress and relax is a behaviour that can be trained just like any other. Think of it like skills in our life that help us decompress like meditation or reading, it’s possible, we just need to first of all acknowledge it’s necessary and then practice it

Giving our dog physical and mental stimulation and exercise is really important As is time to rest, decompress and recoverToo much exercise will cause stress & exhaustionToo much decompression will cause frustration Both are essential and it’s our role to be aware of what our dog needs are at the time Routine and patterns are great for predictability but sticking to them too rigidly may cause us to do things because “it’s what we always do” rather than what the dog actually needed

Do our dogs need jobs? It’s something that is preached far and wide and many dogs were bred for working purposes! But what do people mean when they say this? Does the type of job matter? Do all dogs need jobs? Do any? Tune into the latest episode of Unleashed & Unhinged where I talk with Dom from @canine_caregivers again The links in the bio to listen 🎧

@sitpretty.training joined me on the latest episode of the Unleashed & Unhinged podcast to talk about her area of expertise… Reactivity! If you don’t follow Vanessa on social media then you’re missing out! Her content is always fun and informative and the pod was awesome too (even if I do say so myself) The link is in the bio to listen in!

🎙️ The latest episode of Unleashed & Unhinged is out now 🎙️ In this episode we had the legend that is Tim Sampson from @allearsnz come on and share his experience of living with a reactive dog! Tim is one of my favourite people in this awesome industry and each time we catch up it feels like we could have kept talking for hours! The links in the bio for this awesome episode so tune in and let us know what you think!

A fantastic day at @santapawseventaus today!

A fantastic day at @santapawseventaus today! We got to talk training and behaviour with lots of people, appear on a morning segment for @sunriseon7 and judge some really fun competitions. How amazing was this routine by @maple_the_border_collie Watching these two have so much fun and be in sync was a real highlight! A big thank you to @kikibermudezteam for putting together a great event ❤️🎅🏻🐕