Dogs will be dogs - training for you (2026)

08/12/2022

Last week, two loose dogs made their way to our road and over three different properties (including Ours), killed and mauled around 30 animals (including sheep, alpaca and chickens).

It was absolutely horrific and traumatic to witness our animals suffering from multiple, severe bite wounds over their bodies. All sheep had bite wounds to their throat and back legs. The alpaca had chunks of flesh ripped from their back legs - every single one of those animals suffered extreme panic, fear, along with physical pain! Further chickens have had to be euthanised due to injuries.

If you are unsure how your dog will manage with different animals - please do not ever leave it to “see what will happen”. Dogs chasing animals aren’t just “super friendly and wanting to say hi”, even if they don’t make contact, it’s still distressing for the chased animals. If your dog doesn’t know how to behave around stock - train them. If your dog isn’t with you - contain them. If you encounter stock/other animals (including dogs!!) when out with your dog - leash them until you have passed them. Be responsible - please!!

We should not have had to experience this. Our animals should not have been killed.

Train, contain, restrain your dogs. Please.

07/07/2022

🐶 Practising the rocket recall with Fonzie who is 15 weeks old 🐶

Recall is the most important skill to teach your puppy/dog in my eyes! It’s something that needs a s**t tonne of work, and every dog is different. I was determined with this guy that we were going to focus on recall +++!

How cool is he!!

❤️🐶❤️🐶

13/05/2022

Let’s talk reactivity.

Every living being is “reactive” for it simply means to respond to a stimulus in either a positive or a negative manner.

Marley is fear reactive. It’s a fancy label for a dog who acts in a rather “aggressive” manner when he is too close to his triggers (mostly unknown dogs).

Today Marley was due for his vaccinations which meant a trip to the vet. Most vet practices we have gone to are tricky to navigate in terms of seeing other dogs etc. vet practices in general are places lour dogs only go when they are unwell or need vaccinations. Of course they are stressful environments as most other animals there are not well, there are many different smells, Different flooring etc.

Today another dog came into the waiting room. Of course Marley got stressed. He started with a low grumble, and then a bark. Then Bindi got stressed because Marley was stressed. Then I got stressed because the dogs were stressed 🤯 oh it was a right old stress storm brewing! You could feel the judgement from both the vet practice staff as well as the other owners….there was no way of exiting the building as that meant going past the other dog.

I knew I had to step up to look after Marley so i took him behind the main counter so he couldn’t see the other dog. I asked him to sit, and I reassured him (pats and voice). He sat there, and he coped. Of course he still knew the other dog was there, and yes I was in the way of staff coming and going, but I needed to look after my dog.

It’s like having the child that is having a mega emotional meltdown out in public and getting all the disapproving looks from everyone! Yeh my dog struggles….BUT he did so well with how we managed it. He relaxed enough to sit and not continue to “react”.

There was always the risk of it turning into a s**t show….but I’m proud of how Marley coped. It was a stressful situation, and in essence, we were trapped. You have to step up and do what your dog needs in that moment. Marley needed space away from the dog who was causing him stress.

To all reactive dog owners out there - I get it, I really do! To everyone else - give a stressed dog space, please don’t judge the owner, and while I’m at it - please put your dog on a lead when you see another dog on the lead.

🐶🐶

16/04/2022

🐶🐶Practising thinking and responding in the face of distractions 🐶🐶

I often get people asking how to start working their dog around distractions. There is so much in the world that acts as a distraction for our dogs - and we can start working around them at home.

It’s hard for our dogs to think when they are out in exciting environments and the Adrenalin starts pumping! This could be from excitement or fear/worry! So…it’s up to us to teach them how to be able to engage their thinking brain even in those settings. We have to start easy, then gradually get them out to harder environments. Marley loves his toys! Flirt pole, tug toys, balls……all of them! So….here he is learning to respond to me better even in the presence of his toy (flirt pole in this video).

It’s early stages so I’m simply lying the toy on the ground between Marley and I. I’m then asking him to do some simple things such as “come” and “go to bed”. You can see he is already excited at the presence of his toy as he is bouncing around and excitable. I have to keep the energy low so he can do the exercise. If he looks like he will get the toy I can move towards it, or I can give him a verbal reminder “uh-uh” so he leaves it and carries on.

If this is too hard for your dog, you may need to simply have the toy in sight of the dog, but not in such close proximity to your dog.

At the end of the session I put the toy away. I don’t want it to become a pattern of doing these exercises and then always playing.

He did well - even with the distraction of Smarty at the beginning 🤣

All dogs benefit from impulse control teaching - let’s get into it :)

14/04/2022

🚨Do you have a dog who goes nuts when someone is at the door?
🚨Does your dog bolt off towards other dogs/people/cyclists etc when you take them off lead?
🚨 Do you have to hold your dog from bolting out an open door (car/house)?

This exercise is good for building some self control. It’s really basic, and can be practiced every day! Like all things with dog training - it’s about consistency, clarity, and perseverance. Here we are starting with the basics - the dogs don’t need to stay down for long, I open and close the door pretty quickly. If I leave it too long at the beginning, they will break their positions. It needs to be easy enough for them to succeed, then we start making it more difficult as they understand more what is asked of them.

I don’t use treats in this group setting because if I do, it tends to bring the energy of the group up too much and distracts them from what we are trying to learn.

5-10 minutes of training every day will see success!

🐶🐶

12/01/2022

❤️❤️

When we first got Marley at 18 months old he was terrible on the lead! The first time we came across another dog on the lead he spun 360 degrees in stress/panic. We dialled things right back and went back to the beginning.

Fast forward a few years and we are still on the training journey. Reactivity doesn’t necessarily ever get “fixed”. There are def ways to work on improving things though!

Marley attends daycare 3 days a week and has adapted well. He still struggles sometimes with new dogs, and initial meetings always need to be managed carefully with him.

Last night I thought I’d take the opportunity to do a session. We parked up near the car park at Petone beach. These sessions are always a bit risky/stressful because I need to ensure Marley isn’t pushed over his threshold and stresses out.

We chose the perfect spot really…..he could see dogs coming and going but they didn’t come too close (helps that the busy road was right behind me!). We sat there for about 40mins, and saw quite a few dogs. He got a bit stressy and grumbly at times, but was able to re focus to me without exploding 💥 It was the best session we have ever done!

Loving his vest made by Rocco & Co. We didn’t get close enough for too many people to read it - but we will!!

Reactivity is such a bumpy journey! Some days are awesome, some days are s**t. Some days it all turns to custard but some days it just works!

For any one with reactive dogs out there - I feel for ya! It’s a hell of a journey, but improvements can be made!

❤️❤️👏👏🐶🐶

21/10/2021

If you like this page, please head over to Paws Outdoors, as this is where we will be posting all the dog stuff.....I will continue sharing on here for the next wee while, but the plan is to make the move fully back to Paws Outdoors page❤️🐶🐶❤️🐶❤️🐶

16/10/2021

🐶❤️🐶❤️

Exercising your dog’s brain is so important! Physical exercise is important too - but we need to get the balance right. The more you exercise your dog physically - the fitter they become and the more they will need/expect. Bindi and Marley could go all day if encouraged - I sure as heck can’t keep up with that!

So….yesterday they had their “free time” blat - chasing rabbits and having a good run around. Today…it was brain time! Marley is used to walking with me, but Bindi isn’t. In all honesty - she doesn’t walk on the lead much at all these days!

The thing with Bindi is that she is not a natural “follower” of her humans. She is independent and finds the environment the most reinforcing thing to her. So….walking on the lead can be challenging for her as she would rather be off in the bushes searching/sniffing etc.

Today we didn’t go far! It was lots of turning, encouraging her to follow, rather than try and lead.

She was a bit more on edge as it is super windy here today, but she did really well!

Dogs don’t need to be run to exhaustion - exercising their brains and making them think is super important and beneficial too!

🐶🐶🐶🐶

18/09/2021

🐶🐶 100% this!🐶🐶

(Info from SpiritDog Training)

Bindi gets stressed by dogs who exhibit stressy/erratic/stalking behaviours (heading dog/collie).

We had a run in with a border collie the other day who was full on in down stalking mode which freaked Bindi out and led to a full on confrontation with the owner. This all could have been avoided if the owner had just put their dog on the lead or called them away.

I can’t say it enough - please put your dog on a leash when other dogs come by on lead. The intention of your dog’s behaviour is irrelevant. It can still be perceived as threatening by some dogs.

And if you have a reactive dog - I get it!!

🐶🐶

30/08/2021

🐶🐶 Loose leash walking🐶🐶

So many people struggle with walking their dogs on a leash. Dogs are not born understanding what a leash means, and how to walk with one.

I don’t need my dogs to walk in a strict heel position when we are out, I just don’t want them charging ahead out in front of me on the leash. For me, walking my dog on a leash is an exercise for their brains more than their body. (They get plenty of off leash exercise too!). It is a controlled exercise where I expect my dog’s focus to be more on me than the environment. If they get too far ahead of me, I will correct them and ask them to “get back” which means getting back to a position I am happy with (usually by my side or behind me). At the beginning of teaching this, I may have to use the lead as well as my voice, so the lead can guide them back to the position I want them in. They also get rewarded with food rewards in the position I want them in. Some may call this being the “alpha”. I see it as being the leader, the guide. If the dog is out front ahead of me and the leash is tight, the dog has his brain switched on to the environment, not on me. The dog is more likely to make their own decisions as they walk along, as opposed to looking to me and working together. Therefore if Marley is out front pulling and with his own agenda, he is more likely to spot a dog first, and more likely to react with barking/growling/lunging as opposed to looking to me and me helping guide him past the stressor.

You can see in the first part of this video - Marley isn’t acknowledging me at all. In the second part, we are connected - he is looking to me, we are more of a team.

This takes time, practice and consistency. If you let your dog pull - that’s what they will do! When we first started walking Marley we could only go up and down our driveway. We then slowly increased our distance. We walked for 10 minutes at a time, three times a day in the early days! Don’t be in a huge rush to get your dog out somewhere you want to go. Work with your dog, at their pace. Loose leash walking isn’t impossible - but it takes time, persistence, practice and consistency!

🐶🐶

Dogs will be dogs - training for you

08/12/2022

07/07/2022

13/05/2022

16/04/2022

14/04/2022

12/01/2022

21/10/2021

16/10/2021

18/09/2021

30/08/2021

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