Petra Edwards Animal Behaviour Consultant

27/03/2025

Have you thought about taking your puppy to Bunnings for socialisation?

Take a moment to read the pros and cons from our friends at Canine Interaction 😍

(Ps. These pros and cons can apply to most outings with puppies!)

🛒 Puppy School Conversation: Taking Your Puppy to Bunnings – Is It a Good Thing or a Bad Thing?

Taking your new puppy on outings like a trip to Bunnings might seem like a fun and harmless way to socialise them… but is it really the right kind of exposure for every pup?

Let’s unpack the pros and cons of outings like these so you can make an informed decision that supports your puppy’s development, confidence, and future behaviour.

✅ The Potential Benefits

Thoughtful Exposure: Bunnings can be a great place to carefully expose your puppy to a variety of sights, sounds, smells, and surfaces—trolleys, cement floors, sliding doors, people wearing hats or work gear.

Safe Social Observation: Before your puppy is fully vaccinated, they can safely observe the world from a trolley or in your arms—gathering experiences without the physical risks.

Real-World Prep: For future working or assistance dogs, practicing neutrality in public spaces like Bunnings can help lay the foundation for calm, focused behaviour in busy environments.

⚠️ The Possible Downsides

Too Much, Too Soon: If your puppy is overwhelmed, overly excited, or fearful, the trip may do more harm than good. Puppies need positive experiences, not just new experiences.

Invaded Personal Space: Well-meaning strangers often rush in to touch puppies. If your pup isn’t ready or you're not watching their signals, this can quickly escalate from subtle signs of discomfort (head turns, lip licks) to growls or even defensive snapping.

Unintentional Learning: If a puppy learns that growling makes scary things go away, we’re reinforcing that behaviour. Instead, we want to be proactive and step in before they feel the need to escalate.

Misunderstood Socialisation: Socialisation isn't about meeting everyone and everything—it's about building confidence, choice, and comfort in a variety of situations, with your support.

🎯 Conclusion: Be Strategic, Not Spontaneous

Taking your puppy to Bunnings can be a valuable experience—but only if it’s done with intention, awareness, and a strong understanding of your puppy’s stress signals and threshold.

The goal isn’t just “get them out and about.” The real objective is to support their emotional resilience, build trust in you as their guide, and set them up for a lifetime of appropriate, confident behavior.

So before you pop your pup into a trolley and head out the door, ask yourself: Is this about my needs or my puppy’s wellbeing? If it’s the latter—and you’ve got a thoughtful plan—then it could be a fantastic opportunity.

13/01/2025

I am so excited to be able to share some of the work I did as part of my training and development role with the RSPCA South Australia in this webinar with The Pet Professional Guild! 😍

20/11/2024

A wonderful opportunity to learn more about the latest research from PhD student, Tracey, at the University of Adelaide on canine cognitive dysfunction and how it affects our older dogs!

28/10/2024

Thursday morning, Australian time! 🎉

27/06/2024

We LOVE this!! 😍

Rabbits often get overlooked as people assume they are easy pets. They may be small, but they still require your care, consideration, time and resources!

What an excellent resource from the RSPCA South Australia on all things rabbits! This is a great little handbook containing everything you need to know about caring for a rabbit and meeting their needs!

If you have a rabbit, or are thinking about getting a rabbit, take a moment to download this handbook and don't forget to factor in the cost of desexing!

Our new Rabbit Handbook is out and just in time for Rabbit Awareness Week! 🐰🙌

For impawtant insights and tips to keep your bundles of joy happy and healthy, hop to ➡️ bit.ly/rspca-rabbit-care-guide.

17/06/2024

As trainers, we always want to measure how well our training intervention is working.

This is an excellent infographic from the team at Behavior Vets listing some of the common things we look for to gauge success. This is true for dogs on behaviour meds as they say, but also on basic training plans.

Changing a dog's behaviour takes time and sometimes success can be subtle. Just like when we try to improve our own habits of exercising, eating healthy, going to the gym or putting our laundry away the day it's dried! Small steps toward the end goal are great!

Practice makes progress!

As a pet guardian or professional, it can be difficult to measure improvement once the pet starts medication.

Medications, both daily and fast acting, can help improve behaviors. Here’s what you should watch for:

11/06/2024

I am absolutely thrilled to share that I am now a Certified Applied Animal Behaviourist (CAAB)🥳 One of only 2 (so far!) in Australia!

Applied animal behaviorists are specialists in animal behaviour who are scientists, educators, or other animal professionals with both an applied (industry) and formal, methodological study (PhD) background. There are two organisations in the world that offer a behaviourist certification – Animal Behaviour Society for the CAAB, and the Animal Behaviour and Training Council with the Clinical Animal Behaviour certification.

Many may not realise that the dog training industry is unregulated. This means that dog trainers (technically) don’t need a qualification or any experience to be able to charge for their services.

Good trainers will have at least one qualification, years of experience, continued professional development, and memberships with professional organisations that require adherence to moral and ethical codes of practice and conduct.

A commitment to ongoing professional development is a critical aspect of our industry. There is a big difference between 20 years of growth in skill and knowledge, and simply repeating the same years’ experience 20 times ‘because that’s how we’ve always done it’. When you're looking to hire a trainer, don't just look for experience!

08/06/2024

The Dog and Cat Management Act in SA is still open for consultation - they have proposed major amendments to breeder reforms amongst some other significant changes.

You can have your say here: https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/breeder-reforms
The Consultation closes THIS Tuesday 11 June.

We feel most changes are positive but there are a few things to note:
🐕 the breeder reforms raise questions about funding and enforcement as they significantly overlap the space between welfare (currently government funded) and animal management (largely funded by dog and cat registration fees). The enforcement of these reforms will be very challenging for whoever it's saddled with. Also, the maximum number of fertile female cats or dogs a breeder can have a license for is 50.
🐈there are no meaningful changes proposed to cat management in any capacity (other than the breeder reforms) to reduce roaming cats, cat nuisance or even to give Councils more powers to deal with complaints

If you have any opinions in the animal management space, please submit your feedback!

We are inviting you to share your thoughts on proposed changes to dog and cat management laws in our state. What's being decided? We have drafted a Bill to improve dog and cat management in South Australia. The draft Dog and Cat Management (Breeder Reforms) Amendment

20/05/2024

What a wonderful opportunity to learn from Australia's 1st official Fear-free groomer (and SA local!) Emma at The Funky Foxhound!
This is a great webinar for pet parents wanting to learn more about grooming, as well as trainers or others in the pet industry!

MAY WEBINAR - join us on May 30th for this great webinar on all things Dog Grooming. Whether you do this yourself or go to a professional groomer, or would simply like to learn more about grooming your dog in a kind, fear free way - this Webinar is for you! And it's only $20.

For all dogs, a level of regular grooming is a requirement for their health and well-being. For some, this may simply be bathing and nail trimming; for others, it may involve clipping, sc******ng and extensive brushing. Unfortunately, many dogs find this process difficult to some degree and as a result, may experience high levels of stress or show undesirable behaviours which can be dangerous to both themselves and those who are grooming them.

In this webinar, Emma Cook will explore how we can utilise a low-stress handling approach and environment during grooming to increase the safety and welfare for all involved. She will discuss some common problems that may arise during the grooming session and how to address them, as well as how to get pet guardians on board with the low-stress grooming process. Understanding how to utilise low-stress grooming procedures will make sessions less of a chore and more of a bonding experience between caregiver and dog - something many groomers and guardians have only ever dreamed of.

https://www.ppgaustralia.net.au/event-5654025

18/04/2024

Felt absolutely privileged to present a low stress handling workshop alongside dear friend and incredible trainer / vet nurse Felice (Puppy Partners) yesterday at the Vet Nurses Council Australia conference!!

What an opportunity to brainstorm and share with such a passionate and insightful group of nurses committed to inproving welfare for animals in their care!

18/03/2024

Check out the latest blog from Pets of Charles Sturt about keeping kids and dogs safe!

11/03/2024

Beautifully said Dog Solutions !!

Working with reactive dogs shouldn't look like working with reactive dogs. It should look calm and relaxed, which makes boring TV.

As a general rule of thumb, it pays to be highly sceptical of famous trainers on TV.

And I'd add - it provides unrealistic expectations. No one finds it easy to change ingrained habits- otherwise we'd all meal prep, eat healthy and exercise more - and its the same for dogs. Behaviour is complex. Yet TV shows also often overlook the months of hard work family's need to put in to change their dog's behaviour.

** Myth Buster Monday **

Celebrity dog trainers are the best of the best.

Are they? Who do you place on a pedestal?

It's a strange time to be alive. I will not lie I do not understand how easily influenced people seem to be. I know what I like. I know what I think. I consider the decisions I make and I scrutinize information. Apparently not everyone does.

One of the most insulting things that was ever said to me was that I was just like one of the celebrity trainers they watched on TV. To break this down the "trainer" had no formal credentials, the TV program featured some of the most questionable and unethical training I have ever seen. I know the comment was not meant to offend. But it cut me to the quick. I would like to think that I was nothing like that "trainer".

No one gets hurt when I am working. My work with highly reactive dogs is boring to watch. When working reactive animals keeping them calm is great work. Waiting for them to act out is not good work. But damn if it doesn't make great TV.

Some of the worst "trainers" in the world are extremely good at marketing. Here's a hint. If it's dramatic it's not great work.

Good work isn't just getting the result. It's getting the result ethically and with the welfare of humans and animals taking priority. Quick fixes that result in worse issues further down the track are not wins in the long run.

If it causes fear or pain it can be done better - including the seriously dangerous dogs!

Don't be a victim of slick marketing.

01/03/2024

Puppy School Is Essential🙌

Thanks to our friends at Puppy Partners for this awesome post!

Choose your puppy school wisely!

Ensure the trainer is qualified and experienced, there is only a few pups in the class, and that any play is carefully supervised and regulated! Everything should happen at your pup's pace (unless they need help calming down, then that should happen too!)

You should be learning about socialisation and body language, dealing with mouthing, toulet training and enrichment, some basic manners like recall and polite greetings, have new experiences every week, and some play each week if all the pups are suitable!!

🎓 Invest in your puppy's future with our Puppy School! 🐾

Enrolling your puppy in a Puppy School is highly recommended for both seasoned puppy pros and first-time puppy parents. It is crucial to provide proper socialisation (not just puppy play) and guidance to puppies in their first 16 weeks of life as it lays the foundation for them to become confident adult dogs. At Puppy Partners, we understand the importance of the early phase of puppy development. That's why our experienced trainer is always there to offer unparalleled support and guidance to help you through the process. Every puppy deserves special attention and expertise to thrive, and we are committed to providing just that because we aim to see them grow into well-rounded, happy dogs.

By joining our Puppy School, you'll give your pup a head start and become a part of our community of passionate dog lovers. So, what are you waiting for? Enrol your puppy today, and let us be your trusted Puppy Partner! 🐾

27/02/2024

Very excited to be presenting on my research for the The Pet Professional Guild!

Upcoming PPG Webinar -
'Less Stress for Dogs at Vets: How the research can help inform best practice'
Presented by: Petra Edwards, PhD
⏰March 26, 2024, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm ET
Details & Registration: https://www.petprofessionalguild.com/webinars-events/webinars/less-stress-for-dogs-at-vets/
📩Can’t make it to the live webinar? No worries! Webinar recordings are emailed to registrants 48 to 72 hours after the live sessions.
🤓Learning Objectives:
• Understand the current status of the research on low-stress handling in dogs
• Identify opportunities to reduce stress during handling in veterinary contexts
• Identify potential challenges to implementing low-stress handling practices

10/02/2024

📣 Feeding treats before surgery or sedation does not increase the risk to dogs!! 🙌

Preach CattleDog Publishing - The Legacy of Dr. Sophia Yin!!!

Lovely to see evidence informed, useful information for low stress handling and cooperative care practices!

Please advocate for your pets and be sure to find a vet (and /or vet clinic) who is open to changing their behaviour to help your pets feel more comfortable each and every visit (without compromising their safety of course).

Research articles in the comments of the original post.

Research indicates that giving dogs a small amount of food during venipuncture, catheter placement before surgery, and sedation does not increase the risk of gastroesophageal reflux. Fasting may in fact increase that risk. Also giving treats prior to a blood draw is unlikely to cause lipemia affecting results. Resources are listed in the comments.

02/02/2024

Work in the animal management space?
Interesting in learning more about dog behaviour and handling?

We still have some spaces free in our new workshop with a core focus on low stress handlings and safety!

Details:
📅 Friday 16th Feb
🕘 9am-5pm
📍 Puppy Partners: 28B Dewer Avenue, Ridgehaven
💲 $450 per person (includes lunch)
(Contact us for a discount for multiple bookings from one organisation)
Please register via the website: https://www.petraedwards.com/upcoming-events

13/01/2024

We love this! 👏

Please don't measure success by whether a service was provided!
How wonderful to have a vet/ vet nurse/ groomer/ trainer who identifies your pet is becoming distressed and takes active steps to reduce that fear and stress!

We can redefine what success looks like - perhaps less about outcome (in that moment) and more about welfare. Because we know that fear, stress or painful experiences will absolutely impact how your pet experiences their next visits.

Let's normalise expectations around trying again another time when we have more information and a better plan in place, or slowing down from the start!

The pet professionals in your life should always be advocating for your animals. ❤️