4D Dog Training - Dee's Diggity Dogs

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Australia
Sydney, NSW
4D Dog Training - Dee's Diggity Dogs

Balanced Dog Trainer - specialising in reactivity, behaviour modification & dog psychology I am more of a canine translator than anything.

I am a balanced dog trainer specialising in behaviour modification and reactivity, servicing Sydney. Meaning my aim is to work on reestablishing a healthy working relationship between you and your dog first in order to help you tackle your dog's behavioural issues for the best results. Miscommunication is the biggest part of the problem I see between dogs and their owners. I help you find the root

cause of your dog's problems and explain their behaviour and psychology to you before setting you up with the skills, techniques and knowledge you need to resolve and manage their issues going forth. You will always have my ongoing support moving forward, any time you need. If it's a small question, big question, or something as simple as an update on how everything is going! I offer help with:
- Dog Reactivity
- Human Aggression
- Leash Pulling
- Resource Guarding
- Impulse Control
- Recall
- Jumping on guests
- Excessive Barking
- Counter surfing
- And so much more! My mission is to help keep families together through education and compassion. Ultimately the goal is to keep dogs as far away as possible from being abandoned, surrendered or euthanised.

12/02/2024

Unpopular opinion but so true. When training or handling dogs, do you let emotions lead your approach or logic? As humans it’s hard to seperate the 2 as we are emotional creatures. But when it comes at the cost of your dogs well-being, you need to put aside *your* feelings and truly understand your dog’s needs and what’s best for them. Not what you *think* is best because it makes you feel good emotionally. Not everyone will agree with this, and that’s probably because they’re using emotion 🫣

30/01/2024

Training is about strengthening yourself. It’s how to prepare yourself for the ‘big event’. Whether that’s a big game or a big test or a big marathon…

It’s about practising, building endurance and increasing your skill. It requires repetition, consistency and discipline. So when it’s time to face the real deal, you’re ready to ACE it and it’s a total breeze 💪🏼

When we train our dogs, their ‘big event’ is REALITY! We train them to prepare them for the real world, which for a canine is hella confusing with all our complex human rules and social etiquettes and whatnot 😵‍💫

But just like we would start training for a 10k marathon (starting small and building up) we have to remember to have the same approach for our dogs. Don’t expect to start training and reach perfection on the first or second day and get disheartened.

*But more importantly*
🚫 Don’t wait until your dog is off leash at the park or escaped their collar to train recall.
🚫 Don’t wait for someone to unexpectedly ring the bell or for the mailman to show to train your dog not to go barking like crazy.
🚫 Don’t wait for your dog to try and sn**ch up something poisonous or rush onto a busy road before the lights change to train impulse control.

✅ DO set aside the time and plan to create these staged situations and training scenarios to practise so that you and your dog are ready for when it really happens.

www.4ddogtraining.com

28/01/2024

Before I bring out a real live decoy dog to help my client work on their dog’s reactivity, I like to first bring out my “Buddy”.

If I bring out a real dog too early on it can sometimes have a negative affect on everyone depending on the level of training we are at, so now my helpful Buddy has been helping me take things at the owners’ pace.

This gives my clients a lot more confidence and a bit more of a practise run which in turn helps their dog feel more confident too.

Dogs can pick up on our energy and are very intuitive. If you are anxious, that energy can easily radiate to your dog who needs LESS anxiety from you and MORE confidence.

If they sense we aren’t confident, capable leaders, they’ll find it next to impossible to trust our judgement during high stress situations let alone listen and follow our lead - hence their reactive behaviour.

But I also appreciate how challenging it can be to calm your nerves when you own a reactive dog and are still learning new techniques! It’s like learning how to drive a manual car. Throw in a real dog too soon, it could turn into a 4 car pileup leaving everyone worse off 🫣

You’ll also notice how far Chewy and his owner were in this video. This is because thresholds are so important, in the beginning we always try to expose the stimulus *under* a dog’s threshold before working our way closer to set them up for SUCCESS!

Need help with your reactive dog? Contact us at www.4ddogtraining.com

12/01/2024

Harley is a beautiful Border Collie pup with an amazingly proactive owner! BE LIKE HER!!

She’s been working on so much with Harley and for a first time owner they are both doing an incredible job and are already on their way to having a great family dog but also a solid bond and relationship, which is the most important thing 🙌🏼

We’ve gone over things like
- excessive leash pulling
- jumping on guests
- desensitisation to scary sounds, strange people, birds, dogs, cars and bikes (which she loved to try and chase)
- impulse control
- recall
- listening skills and obedience
- biting
- boundary training and so much more over the last several weeks

Puppies are not easy work and NEED to be shown the rules of our world and how to navigate them. Expecting a different species to just know how to fit into the human world is setting them up to fail.

It can feel almost like a full time job in the beginning. But if you invest in your pup from the start, like Harley’s owner, you will both reap the benefits of a well-adjusted, confident, calm dog and a happy family.

I mean c’mon, look at that face 😃

25/12/2023

Yesterday was Zeus’s birthday 🎉 I am so lucky to have this guy in my life even though I don’t get to see him very often 🥹

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!! 💚❤️🐾

20/12/2023

Do you have a dog who’s super territorial in and around the house but totally different outside of their property?

This is another client named Buddy,
who gets very reactive and vocal if he sees and hears dogs or strangers passing on the street while he is inside his own territory.

Mind you, being protective of their home is a very natural thing for Tenterfield terriers and many dogs, but too much of this behaviour has started causing Buddy a lot of anxiety in his life and began negatively affecting him and his family as it also started leading to many other problem behaviours.

His owners have been working hard to lay down the foundational work and now we’re showing Buddy how to calmly watch people and dogs pass by without getting worked up.

We always want to build neutrality to the stimuli, work on keeping your dog engaged with you through training or play, and then positively reinforce at the right time to build calm and neutral behaviours.

We’re not going to force or even expect Buddy to love every stranger or dog who passes, he has a right to be a dog and feel protective of his home. Dogs will always have some level of alertness that’s innate to them.

But we’re teaching him he doesn’t need to panic or overreact and go off his rocket if strangers pass the house on the sidewalk which helps build his confidence and dissolves his anxiety.

If you have a reactive or anxious dog, reach out today at www.4ddogtraining.com

🐾

19/12/2023

What’s best for some dogs might not be what’s best for yours!!
I saw this meme and had to make a PSA 😆

Context is everything! Without knowing more about you, your dog, your relationship, their environment and much more, you might be starting at the wrong point.

Before applying someone else’s training onto your dog, it’s important to firstly understand your own dog and what drives their behaviour.

Is it from anxiety, insecurity, fear? If so, we need to dig deeper to find the root cause of these emotions.

Could it be from under stimulation, over stimulation, too many limitations, not enough limitations? Genetics, breed, hormones, health? Maybe it’s as simple as miscommunication or your handling techniques?

So many factors can play a role. Without assessing and reading your dog to understand their intentions, feelings, temperament and personality, you could end up applying the wrong training approach which could potentially make matters worse.

There is SO much to learn from the internet these days, but watching other owners/trainers work with dogs that aren’t yours (even though they seem similar) and trying to mimic them can backfire and in some cases even be dangerous.

I encourage everyone to educate themselves, research and learn as much as they can from different sources, but also be mindful - dog training is NOT a one-size-fits-all.

Understand your dog first. If you have trouble with this, that’s okay! They don’t teach you this stuff in school. Don’t feel bad if you need direct tailored help from a professional ❤️

www.4ddogtraining.com

11/12/2023

I hate to burst anyone’s bubble but… not all dogs want to be friends with every dog they meet - and we really need to normalise that 🙌🏼

Let’s spread the message and understanding that dogs have individual personalities and respect the fact they’re not all happy-go-lucky extroverts.

Many dogs I meet are introverted, dog-selective or straight up terrified of dogs. Sometimes they’re sociability also changes with age, but not all dogs tolerate or like every single dog they meet. (And that’s okay)

Of course there are some who are social butterflies and love and tolerate everyone. But having the expectation that all dogs are like that is not fair or realistic.

PLEASE be respectful whenever you’re out and see another dog. ALWAYS ask permission, don’t assume you can just greet them. Even if you have a sociable friendly dog, teach your dog social etiquettes and teach them how to give other strange dogs space.

Whether you’re in your apartment lobby, on a walk, in a parking lot or an open field, don’t allow your dog to invade another dog’s personal space without express permission from you & the other owner & reading both dog’s body language to know whether it’s appropriate or not.

This applies to humans too! Don’t pet a strange dog you don’t know without asking their owner, and if the dog is disinterested in saying hello to you, that’s clear communication the dog doesn’t want that interaction 🙅‍♀️

www.4ddogtraining.com

04/12/2023

The trickiest part of my job actually has nothing to do with dogs but all to do with educating humans *no offence y’all* 🤪

Simply put, some dog lovers just don’t want to hear the truth and have become so misguided about what they 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 their dog needs VS. what their dog 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 needs.

Their perception of dogs are blemished with their own human needs and emotions which, unknowingly to them, has become detrimental to the wellbeing of dogs and is a HUGE contributor to their own pet’s behavioural issues.

I get lots of owners reaching out for help yet when I share the knowledge and truth about dog psychology and what their pet needs from them, some don’t find it to be convenient for their own emotional needs.

It’s hard to help if people aren’t open to learn. Sugarcoating and falsifying doesn’t help anyone.

It’s not always convenient, quick fixes. Trainers don’t have magic wands that’ll fix the bad for you so you can keep enjoying the good.

The truth is, your dog needs YOU to educate yourself in their language.
They need YOU to open your mind and be willing to face the hard truths.
They need YOU to understand how they work, think, learn, behave so that YOU can do what’s going to be best for THEM 💜

www.4ddogtraining.com

22/11/2023

If your reactive dog isn’t crate trained, NOW is the perfect time to start! Before Christmas and before you start having lots of guests and visitors.

Whether you’re a teenager hiding in your bedroom from your family…
A parent hiding in the laundry room from your screaming kids…
A partner hiding in the garage from your angry significant other…
We all sometimes just need a break and a safe space when we’re overwhelmed. Cocooned safely where we know we won’t be bothered.

If your dog struggles when you have guests coming over - whether it’s excitement, fear or anxiety, teaching them they have a personal space they can retreat into to decompress will be doing them a HUGE kindness.

But also teaching your guests not to bother, excite or overwhelm your dog is JUST as imperative. It is our duty to advocate for our dog and ensure they also feel safe.

You’re not leaving your dog out or being cruel, you’re helping them cope and feel safe in a stressful situation that can otherwise turn dangerous if they become frantic! 😵‍💫

What are your thoughts on crate training?

Address

Ryde
Sydney, NSW
2112

Telephone

+61422936933

Website

http://www.4ddogtraining.com/

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