Gladstone Dog Agility

06/08/2025

It's not that what I’m about to write is a secret.
It's just that it can go very, very wrong...so I tend not to go into this in detail.
Even describing this is tricky.
Here goes.

You can challenge them by lessening that distance.
You can, in fact, work with dogs right up to, and yes...even just over that tipping point.
However, to do that successfully, you must have a solid history of repeated success in the green and yellow states, at distances they're comfortable with.

When you both have that...those consistent and repeated "low level wins....you can sometimes challenge a little more.

It will not work if you don’t have those multiple successes behind you.
For many reactive dogs, that's not "just a few" sessions.

They can learn to bring themselves back down.
Shake it off.....nothing bad happened and confidence can grow!... see how tricky this is to describe?

This won’t work for every reactive dog.
Many can be challenged to that point...with that success behind them, but not all.

So how the heck do you know?

Body language.
In between green and red are multiple, consistent signs your dog will give.
They can subtle and slow...or "crack of the whip" fast... easily missed, but they’re there.

I cannot stress this enough ⬇️
Body language is the key to working with reactive dogs.

If you want that progress you’re yearning for... it’s crucial to learn.

If you are struggling....go back to the green and the yellow but don't try or even attempt what was described until ....

✅You can read your dogs body language "like a pro" and understand the emotions your dog is feeling in every stage.
✅You have a solid and repeated history of multiple "wins" at those lower levels.
✅You have a full understanding of your dogs triggers AND trigger stacking.
✅You know what to do and what to watch for in every stage.
✅You are confident both you and your dog can handle this.

If you’re only working with your dog in the orange... it’s going to be a very, very long road.

12/07/2025

Ziggy’s pet portrait finished! What a lovely journey this was. ❤️

02/07/2025

Chippie learning the foundations of his running dog walk. For non-agility (weird) people, the dog has to touch a section at the bottom of the dog walk or they get course faults. They aren’t just running randomly. (Hopefully 😆)

First I had to teach him to drive ahead of me over the jump, then we added in the contact zone and now I’m moving to half way up the dog walk.

He’s also had to learn proprioception (where his legs are!) to turn on a plank. So he’s done lots of exercises to teach him awareness of his back end. This keeps him safe on the equipment when it gets high.

My position behind the dog really tempts him to come off the end sideways and not touch the contact zone, as dogs tend to want to turn towards you. Here he’s learning to stay straight and touch the contact zone and keep driving over the jump.

The biggest challenge in learning this is him learning to run ahead while I stay still, or am in the wheelchair. This is good learning for all of his distance training. For a lot of dogs this is a centimetre by centimetre journey while we work on their confidence to drive ahead! This is a great method by Hayley Laches.

24/02/2025

Does your dog need mental and physical exercise? Our next online lesson is now available! 🎉

This month we’ll be teaching our dogs how to WALK BACKWARDS!

Walking backwards is one of our foundation gym lessons that teaches your dog how to use their bodies correctly. It’s suitable for pups from 12 weeks old, right up to our senior dogs!

For puppies it’s all about body awareness and setting them up to use their bodies correctly for life. For adult dogs it’s a fantastic exercise to strengthen their core and front end but really focuses on the rear end muscles - especially those that support the knees. No prior training skills are needed and no equipment is needed.

This method will teach you correct, even steps with no strain on the dog’s neck or spine.

HOW OUR ONLINE LESSONS WORK:
🐶 online lessons are just $25
🐶 join in any lesson at any time!
🐶 your theory notes and video instructions will be emailed to you and you’ll be invited to join our private fb group where you can post videos of your training and get unlimited feedback!

*Last month’s HAND TARGETING lesson is also available to join in at any time. A fantastic focus exercise for all dogs*

20/01/2025

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO MORE WITH YOUR DOG?

🎉 We are excited to announce our new ONLINE ACTIVE DOGS CLUB! 🎉

This year we will be releasing a new online lesson every few weeks! Lessons will cover a wide variety of topics, such as:

🐶 focus games
🐶 impulse control games
(Life skills to help your dog learn self control, and learn to focus on you in different environments)

🐶 agility foundation games you can do at home with minimal equipment

🐶body awareness and strength exercises to teach your dog to use its body correctly and help to minimise injuries

🎉🎉🎉

Lessons are suitable for all dogs from 12 weeks of age and and will provide your dog with mental and physical exercise as well as creating a beautiful bond between you and your dog.

HOW MY ONLINE ACTIVE DOGS CLUB WORKS:
🐶 A new lesson will be announced on this page every few weeks.
🐶 Message the business page (Gladstone Dog Agility) if you’d like to join in the fun with this topic. A lesson costs just $25 and usually consists of several videos and detailed notes, which will be emailed to you.
🐶 You will have exclusive access to our Online Active Dogs Club FB page, a small and supportive private group where you can post videos of your learning and be coached with UNLIMITED and highly dedicated feedback and support!
🐶 You can join in any lesson at any time and learn completely at your own pace!

🎉🎉🎉

Our first lesson is how to teach your dog HAND TARGETS!
Hand targets are:
- A really simple focus game you can use out and about when your dog’s distracted
- A lovely reset instead of always getting your dog to sit
- A foundation game for more advanced agility handling
- A lovely active game that will provide mental and physical exercise

This lesson consists of 3 videos and detailed notes and will take you from the basics of teaching the game to your dog, to a more active and exciting version of hand targeting.

Send me a message if you’d like to join me for this lesson and have some fun with your dog! ❤️🐶 Please share this opportunity with your dog loving friends, I currently teach students all over Australia and America and we have a lot of fun with our dogs together!

16/01/2025

Wide open spaces like the park are such a great place for Chippie’s reactivity training. For the most part I can control his distance to other dogs and keep his excitement levels where I want them.

I was thinking today he’s like water on a stove top at the moment! We get around the park and the waters are pretty calm. When we see another dog at a distance he can play focus games with me really well now but boy you can feel the excitement and adrenaline in his little body build and build.

My job is to recognise this and well before he’s too excited that he can’t focus we turn and go in another direction, decompress and reward calm behaviour. This way I can avoid his excitement boiling over and him reacting. This way he learns that he sees other dogs, only good things happen and it’s not overwhelming.

Well done Chippie! Thank you for sharing your journey with me ❤️

10/01/2025

IMPULSE CONTROL - one of the most important life skills for our dogs!

Here is Porky Chops doing a little more advanced version of the it’s your choice game.

When I present my hand with food in it, instead of trying to get the food - he knows to move away from the food. ATM I’ve added in a new rule that he also has to LOOK away from
the food! You’ll see his understanding progress in the footage.

At the moment we are working on increasing duration with this! He also has to hold his position while the dogs in the peanut gallery also get a treat! **So disengaging from the food is what gets the food. **

So cute 🥰 but I put a lot of work into Augie learning to control himself around food as he’s been a severe resource guarder since we was 12wks old (perhaps earlier).

We believe it is linked to the part of his brain that didn’t develop and we’ve had to trial medications and see specialists about it. It’s such a challenging behaviour but I feel like anytime we can help him learn to have more control of his emotions it’s going to help him.

I love his little excited sound effects. I’ve certainly never met a dog that tries harder in his training! Bless him ❤️

Here Porky Chops is working on a more advanced version of the it’s your choice game. So if I place my hand out with food in it, instead of trying to get the ...

07/01/2025

Blessed to have some time in the arena with Bonnie! I’m working on some longer sequences with the big kids but trying to handle them from all different positions around the sequence with limited handler movement.

We’re making progress with single and double layers of obstacles and the big kids are confident to double layer the 6 weaves now. With the less experienced dogs I’m breaking the sequence down to suit their own confidence levels.

I love the independence Hayley Laches training system is teaching me, and the dogs no longer depending on my body to run with them around the course.

I’m loving the journey of putting all the pieces together and the challenge of learning distance handling.

Here Bonnie and I are working on about half a full sized course! My goal was to handle it from all different positions around the sequence with minimal handl...

19/12/2024

Today was definitely Christmas Day in our rehabilitation journey with Ziggy Zag! (Zig was severely abused for the first 7months of his life and he was a dog that couldn’t be touched, couldn’t be in the same room as me and couldn’t get out of the car even in an empty park.)

I can’t express the joy it was today for him to finally be ready to go to east shores cafe with Link and I (and support doggie BooBoo).

I spent some time with him on the grass outside and waited for him to tell me if he was ready or not. To my surprise he actually walked to the entrance by his own choice and pulled to go in! We sat in a quiet corner but a few times he actually wanted to have a little walk around and explore!

We had to be mindful to protect his confidence and really monitor his body language in case he needed to leave. Bonnie taught him how to eat a PupCup in less than 0.1 second and he definitely enjoyed lots of treats under the table! I think Lincoln even shared his steak!

It’s so nice to achieve a milestone I never thought would be possible for him. The proudest mother in the world today is me!