Blog
Free advice, no strings
The guides I end up sending people most often. Written for owners in southern Adelaide and the Fleurieu, with the local detail that actually matters.
Latest
Just published
Behaviour Problems
You Have Had a Barking Complaint. What Happens Now?
There is a letter from the council on your kitchen bench. Here is exactly what it means, what happens next, and the two things worth doing today.
Puppy Training
When Should Puppy Training Actually Start?
The most valuable training window in your dog's entire life closes at around sixteen weeks. Most people start using it at six months.
Before you start
How to use these guides
Everything here started as something I found myself explaining over and over on somebody's kitchen floor. At a certain point it is quicker to write it down.
None of it replaces having someone look at your actual dog, and I will say so where that matters. But plenty of dog problems are common enough that a good explanation gets you most of the way on its own — puppy biting, a dog that pulls, a recall that works everywhere except the one place you need it. If a guide on this page sorts your problem out and you never ring me, that is a good outcome. It is why they are here.
Where the local detail matters, it is in there: the councils, the seasonal beach hours, the parks that allow dogs and the one immediately next door that does not. Most training advice online was written for somewhere else, and "check your local rules" is not much help when the two parks in question share most of a name.
Two things worth knowing before you read anything else. If it is urgent — a dog that has bitten or come close, or a council notice with a date on it — that is not a blog post problem, so ring instead. And if a behaviour has come on suddenly, or your dog is over about seven, see your vet before you see a trainer. Pain drives far more behaviour change than most people realise, and no amount of training fixes a sore dog.
Everything
All guides
12 articles across obedience, puppies, behaviour problems and local dog life.
Obedience & Training
How to Stop Your Dog Pulling on the Lead
Your dog is not pulling because it is dominant, stubborn, or untrained. It is pulling because pulling works — and it has worked every single walk since the day you got it.
Puppy Training
Puppy Biting: Why It Happens and How to Stop It
Your hands look like you lost a fight with a blender. This is normal, it is developmentally necessary, and it does end — faster if you handle it well.
Obedience & Training
Why Your Dog Won't Come When Called (And How to Fix It)
Every time you call your dog and it does not come, you are teaching it that "come" is optional. Here is how that happens, and how to undo it.
Behaviour Problems
Is My Dog Reactive or Aggressive? How to Tell the Difference
They look almost identical from the other end of the lead. They are not the same problem, and treating one like the other is why so much training fails.
Obedience & Training
Your Dog Has Not Forgotten Its Training. It Is a Teenager.
At around ten months, a lot of owners conclude their training failed. It did not. Their dog hit adolescence — and almost nobody warns you about it.
Behaviour Problems
Separation Anxiety or Just Boredom? How to Tell
Four completely different problems produce the same chewed door frame. Thirty minutes of phone footage will tell you which one you have.
Obedience & Training
In-Home Training or a Group Class? An Honest Comparison
I do in-home training, so you would expect me to say classes are useless. They are not. Here is the honest version of when each one is the right call.
Behaviour Problems
The First 30 Days With a Rescue Dog
The dog you bring home is not the dog you have adopted. It takes about three weeks for the real one to show up — and what you do in that window matters.
Behaviour Problems
Dog Behaviourist or Dog Trainer? Which One Do You Need?
Neither title is protected in Australia. Anyone can use either. Here is what the words actually mean and how to work out which one your dog needs.
Past reading
What I actually help with
The guides are free and always will be. When you would rather someone looked at your dog in person, this is the list.
Where
From the CBD to Victor Harbor
Ready when you are
Reading about it only gets you so far.
Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you straight whether I can help — and roughly what it will take. No obligation, no pressure. Southern suburbs of Adelaide — CBD to Victor Harbor.
Send a quick enquiry
Four things and I’ll come back to you. If it is urgent, ring instead — that is always faster.