Blog category
Behaviour Problems
Reactivity, aggression, anxiety, barking complaints and rescue dogs. The harder end, explained honestly.
Where to start
Which guide do you need?
This is the harder end, and the guides here are written accordingly — with the caveats left in, and without promising outcomes I cannot back up.
The most useful thing to establish first is what kind of problem you actually have, because reactivity, aggression, anxiety and boredom produce overlapping symptoms and need genuinely different plans. Treating a frightened dog as a disobedient one, or a panicking one as a noisy one, is behind a great deal of wasted time and money. Two of the guides here exist purely to help you tell them apart.
If a neighbour or your council has been in touch about barking, read the complaint guide first — it opens with the two things worth doing today, because those cases usually arrive with a deadline attached.
One theme runs through all of it. If your dog growls, that is not the problem to solve. A growl is a warning, and it is the most useful thing your dog can give you. Punish it and the feeling underneath does not go anywhere — you have only removed the warning, and the next escalation arrives without one.
And if any of this has come on suddenly, or your dog is over about seven, see your vet before you see a trainer. Pain drives more behaviour change than most people realise.
5 articles
All Behaviour Problems guides
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.
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.
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.
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.
Other topics
Browse the rest
Need a hand?
How I help with behaviour problems
Reading gets you a long way. This is the part where someone looks at your actual dog.
Local help
Where I do this work
This all applies wherever you are, but the local detail changes — the councils, the parks, the beaches and their seasonal hours. These pages have it.
- Morphett ValeCity of Onkaparinga
- GlenelgCity of Holdfast Bay
- Hallett CoveCity of Marion
- Happy ValleyCity of Onkaparinga
Or the wider area:Adelaide's Southern SuburbsThe Southern Beaches
Ready when you are
Let's sort your dog out.
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.