Positive Paws

21/11/2025

Stardards we must raise!

Every industry has its quirks, but when it comes to dogs and owners, those “quirks” can have real consequences. These are things I see far too often and they genuinely impact fairness, progress, and results.

We owe our clients honesty.
We owe the dogs clarity.
And we owe the industry integrity.

18/11/2025

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲.

This interaction is not balanced social play, it’s a polite but tense negotiation between an older dog (Albie) and an entire male who is trying to test social boundaries (Max).

Albie repeatedly communicates “I’m not fully comfortable, give me space,” and Max repeatedly tests those limits, attempts to come over the top, and escalation into mounting.

Left to their own devices, this could have tipped into Albie correcting Max with intensity.

Albie (Red Boxer) Stiffening & Stillness

Every time Max approaches too directly, Albie stiffens, freezes for a moment, or holds himself tall. This is not play, it’s a warning signal.

•Head turns / looking away

•He attempts conflict-avoidant signals to de-escalate, small head turns, glancing away, or stepping out of the pressure.

• Weight shifts backwards rather than forwards

• He’s not actually engaging; he is bracing and tolerating, not inviting.

•Muzzle tension

•His mouth becomes tighter the closer Max gets. A closed, tight mouth = discomfort.

•Albie displays those little “don’t” behaviours, small posture changes, slight lifts of lip, quick stillness, signalling Max to back off. These are warnings, not invitations.

What It Means -Albie is saying

“I’m coping, but I don’t trust this energy. Keep your distance.”
He’s older, more experienced.
He is not comfortable with Max’s frontal pressure or attempts to take control.

Max (Brindle, Entire Male)

•Posturing / Upright frame
Max moves with vertical pressure and confidence, typical of adolescent or entire males testing hierarchy.

•Neck-over-back behaviour
Placing his head or neck across Albie’s shoulders is a control behaviour. This is often a precursor to either mounting or a challenge.

•Moving directly into Albie without curve
Instead of polite, curved approaches, Max advances in straight lines, signalling more “social testing” than play.

•Attempts to mount / come over the top
Mounting isn’t sexual here, it is:“I want control, and I’m testing whether you’ll allow it.”

Pushed arousal
His energy tries to climb past where Albie is comfortable, meaning he’s not reading Albie’s cut-off signals well.

What It Means

Max is saying:

“I want to see where the line is. Are you going to let me be over the top of you?”

And he’s missing (or ignoring) Albie’s early warnings.

Interaction Breakdown

•Albie shows early distancing signals

• He tries subtle avoidance first (head turns, stepping away), but Max continues pushing forward.

• Max escalates into neck-draping and attempts to mount

• This is the exact moment where both dogs stiffened a major red-flag behaviour unless both are socially fluent.

• Albie stiffens sharply

• When Max’s neck comes over his shoulders, Albie’s entire body tightens.

This is “I do NOT consent to this.”

With a different dog in Albie’s age or threshold, this could have triggered a over-the-top correction.

Louise and I interrupt both dogs.

Because left unchecked:

Albie would likely have escalated into a higher-level correction

Max would likely have kept pushing, due to being entire and immature in his social reading

Why This Isn’t Play

Signs it’s not play

Stiffness> softness

Approaches in straight lines

Neck draping

Mount attempts

Lack of mutual role reversal

One dog tolerating, not engaging

Discomfort signals from Albie going unacknowledged

13/11/2025

When dogs react quickly or “without thinking,” it’s not a behavioural choice, it’s an instinctual survival response. In moments of stress, pressure, or uncertainty, the thinking brain switches off and the instinctive brain steps forward. This happens automatically, long before conscious thought kicks in.

Dogs move through three instinctual responses, freeze, flight, and fight. These aren’t learned behaviours; they’re hardwired into the nervous system. Over time, if a dog rehearses them repeatedly, they can become patterned or reinforced, making the reactions feel even more automatic.

So if your dog is dropping into these behaviours really quickly, we need to understand why their system is flipping into instinct so fast. And on the other side of the coin, we want to make sure they’re not practising that state over and over again, because the more they tip over, the easier it becomes.

The goal is gaining clarity around the “why” from then you can map out how to move forward.

09/11/2025

Upcoming IGP Trial — December 6th!

We’re gearing up for our next IGP trial on December 6th, and it’s shaping up to be an awesome day!

If you’ve ever wanted to see what an IGP trial looks like, come along and watch Reba and I hit the field again.

🎟️ We’re also running a super fun raffle on the day!
Prizes include a huge meat package, a beautiful hamper, and even a surprise gift 👀 (I can’t tell you what it is, but it’s a good one!).

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s the perfect chance to win something special, a great gift for someone at just a small fraction of the price it’s actually worth! 🎄

💰 Tickets: $5 each or $20 for 5 — enquire directly to grab yours.
All funds go toward supporting our club and future events.

Whether you’re trialling, spectating, or just curious to see what it’s all about, you’re more than welcome to come along. Bring a friend, cheer the dogs on, and enjoy a great day out.

📅 Date: Friday, 6th December
📍 Location: 10 Hall Avenue, Māngere
🎟️ Raffle Tickets: $5 each or $20 for 5 — message to grab yours

05/11/2025

The word “tool” has almost become a dirty word in dog training.

But when you think about it, everything we use is a tool. A lead, a harness, a crate, a slip, an e-collar, a prong, they’re all tools. They’re simply different ways we communicate and create structure.

It’s not the tool that defines the experience. It’s how and why it’s used.

Somewhere along the way, tools became synonymous with punishment, something harsh or unfair. But the reality is far more nuanced.

There are times when I’ll reach for a tool straight away, like when a dog is chasing stock or has no recall and is putting themselves or other animals in danger. In those moments, it’s about safety first. Even then, I still teach the recall first, but the tool is introduced much faster, so the dog gains clarity before the behaviour becomes more dangerous or rehearsed.

In every other case, preparation comes first.

Before a correction ever happens, the dog is skilled up, they learn what cues mean, how to respond to pressure, how to turn it off, and what “yes” and “no” truly mean. Only then does a correction become fair.

If I tell my son, “Don’t cross the road,” he understands because he’s been taught what that means. When I say it again as he steps forward, he recognises it instantly, no fear, just clarity.

But if a child touches a hot stove without warning, that’s confusion, pain, and mistrust. The same happens when we correct a dog that hasn’t been prepared.

When a dog understands the foundation first, their body knows what to do with that information. The correction doesn’t shut them down, it refines their understanding. It becomes part of the dialogue, not a punishment.

Before I hand a tool over, I always make sure the dog and the owner are ready. Timing, pressure, and reinforcement all matter. Because when done correctly, tools don’t take away a dog’s joy or freedom, they create it.

The issue isn’t the tool itself. It’s when it’s handed over without education or purpose. When people rely on it to stop behaviour without understanding why it’s happening or what they’re communicating. That’s when you see fallout.

So maybe the conversation shouldn’t be “ tools.” Maybe it should be about the clarity, preparation, and intention behind them.

03/11/2025

Another board + train finished. Thank you so much for entrusting us to be part of your journey ❤️

Davina has a natural, intuitive bond with dogs that's fused with her formal training in animal behaviour and years of practical experience.

Our Australian Labradoodle • Baxter • has just spent four weeks with Davina and family, returning to us at the weekends. Baxter's behaviour has transformed from feeling he needed to bark at most other four-legged creatures (and many two-legged ones). We were fearful of busy situations. There was no possibility of letting him off the leash.

Across the arc of four weeks, Davina had Baxter off-leash and returning on command. As his freedom has grown, his happiness has blossomed. He now has clarity on what is expected, and he wants to please. Baxter is on 'Outstanding'. His Mum and Dad are working toward 'Meets Expectations'. However, over the weekends, our skills have grown, and we intend to match Baxter.

Davina's deep behavioural skills with and love of dogs, combined with understanding how to up-skill owners, are top-flight. We highly recommend Davina, Martin & Penny.

03/11/2025

We’ve had a big run lately of dogs coming through that just aren’t coping, not just with training, but with life in general.

Genetics definitely play a part, but what we’re seeing a lot of right now is dogs that haven’t had the chance to experience or process stress in healthy amounts.

Many are being micromanaged, over-handled, over-helped, constantly directed, so they never learn how to sit in small doses of stress or figure things out for themselves.

On the flip side, others are under-managed, left to free-range without enough clarity or structure.

Both ends of that spectrum lead to the same outcome, dogs that can’t regulate when life applies pressure, environmental, social, or handler.

29/10/2025

Reinforcement isn’t simple,it’s layered.

Dogs don’t repeat behaviours because they’re “bad.” They do it because something inside or around them pays them for it.

Our job is to work out what’s fuelling that payment, and then replace it with something functional, clear, and sustainable.

It isn’t just about treats, it’s about chemistry, emotion, and the environment.

Sometimes it’s the thrill, the relief, or even the sound of their own bark that keeps the cycle alive.

Understanding what’s actually paying your dog is where behaviour change really starts.

Because every repetition is being fuelled by something, and it’s rarely as simple as “they just like it.”

25/10/2025

I often get asked how I can run multiple entire dogs together, including entire males and bi***es, without chaos.

The truth?

There is chaos.

It just doesn’t stay chaos, because it’s managed.

Hormones bring energy, emotion, and change. That’s normal. It’s part of development.

When those emotions rise, so does behaviour, but that doesn’t mean something’s wrong.

What’s become normal is for people to see a developing adolescent dog and label it as abnormal.
We’ve lost sight of what healthy development looks like.

Hormones aren’t bad.

They’re essential for growth, bone health, confidence, and emotional maturity.

They help dogs learn to regulate and adapt, and when guided well, they support training rather than derail it.

Of course, there are cases where early desexing is the right call, health reasons, multi-dog households, or when there isn’t enough structure or fulfilment to support that stage.

But removing hormones doesn’t fix a problem.

It might reduce intensity, but it doesn’t teach the dog the skills they were missing in the first place.

Hormones can elevate existing issues, but they don’t cause them.

More often than not, they simply make what’s already there more visible.

So instead of panicking when behaviour changes, recognise it for what it is: development.

Your dog isn’t broken. They’re growing.

And yes, sometimes it’s chaotic, but that’s not failure.

That’s feedback.

When you manage that chaos with structure, guidance, and calm leadership, you don’t just survive the hormones, you use them to build the dog in front of you.

Hormones, emotions, and frustration are all normal parts of growing up. Just like human teenagers with spots and mood swings, it’s a phase.

If you can ride it out safely, ethically, and with good guidance, it does get better

18/10/2025

Dog training isn’t always easy, it asks for patience, consistency, and a calm head when things feel messy. It’s not just about teaching your dog, it’s about building your ability to stay steady when progress feels slow.

There’ll be moments where you think, “We were doing so well, what happened?” That’s normal. Behaviour change isn’t linear, and sometimes the hardest weeks are the ones that lead to the biggest breakthroughs.

Find clarity in the setbacks, and keep moving forward, even when it feels like you’re standing still.