At the Victorian Dog Training Academy we are experienced with resolving behaviour problems ranging from annoying to seriously life threatening. If you are thinking it is too late, the problem is too far gone or too severe to be fixed then I would urge you to call us. You will be very surprised with the results we can achieve.

How does a dog go from being an adorable puppy to an uncontrollable basket case?

Every time your dog interacts with you it is learning, it is learning whether you are actively teaching it anything or not. It is your job to make sure it is learning things that will benefit your relationship in the future rather than behaviours you deem to be undesirable that put strain on the relationship. Training begins from day one and maintenance of this continues for the dog’s entire life.

The biggest contributer to behaviour issues is a lack of communication, we see it all the time. The owner doesn’t understand the dog and the dog doesn’t understand the owner.

The little issues that you are having now can manifest into serious behaviour problems, these problems never go away on their own, more often than not they increase in intensity. The VDTA can coach you on the fastest, most effective ways to improve communication and get the message across to your companion. Then you can truly begin to realise the joys of having a fantastic dog that can be an active part of your life.

Behaviour Problems Melbourne

Every dog I have ever worked with started out as an adorable puppy.

So how does it get from there to a point where the relationship is strained, the household is stressed, and the behaviour feels completely out of control?

The answer is almost always the same — a breakdown in communication.

The owner doesn’t understand the dog and the dog doesn’t understand the owner.

And in that gap, problems grow.

Here is something worth understanding: your dog is learning every single moment it spends with you, whether you are actively teaching it anything or not.

Every interaction either reinforces something useful or something undesirable.

The little issues you are dealing with right now did not appear overnight, and left unaddressed they rarely stay little.

In my experience they almost always grow — in frequency, in intensity, and in the toll they take on the relationship.

If you are sitting there thinking the problem is too far gone, too severe, or that you have simply left it too late — please get in touch before you make that call.

You may be very surprised at what is actually achievable.

What I Can Help With

As an in-home dog training consultant and coach in Melbourne, I work with a wide range of issues, from the frustrating and disruptive to the genuinely serious:

• Aggression toward people
• Dog attacks or lunges at guests and visitors
• Dog-to-dog aggression
• Dog reactive to other dogs on leash
• Separation anxiety
• Dog barking when alone
• Excessive barking
• Jumping up
• Snapping and nipping
• Chewing and destructive behaviour
• Soiling in the house
• Running away
• Dog won’t come when called
• Dog pulls on leash
• Dog resource guarding
• Dog chasing cars
• Dog chasing the cat
• Dog obsessed with possums
• Dog kills chickens
• Eating poo

If your dog’s behaviour is affecting your daily life or the safety of those around you, it is worth a conversation.

How Does Behaviour Change Actually Work?

Every dog is different, and every behaviour problem has its own story.

But there is one principle that sits at the heart of all of it — behaviour cannot exist without reinforcement.

Everything a dog does has a purpose, even if that purpose isn’t obvious to you.

Once we identify how a behaviour is being reinforced, we can remove that source and give the dog a new way of understanding the situation.

What I bring to dog behaviour rehabilitation in Melbourne is a holistic, multi-pronged approach — because rarely does one method alone produce the fastest or most lasting result.

The timeframe for improvement depends on how severe the behaviour is and how long it has been present, but with consistency, improvement will come.

Every time.

I won’t pretend every case is simple.

But in fourteen years of in-home dog behaviour training, I have worked with dogs that other people had given up on, and I have seen what is possible when the right approach is applied with patience and consistency.

If you are ready to see things improve, I am ready to help make that happen.

Get in touch today.

How do you actually fix the issue?

Each individual dog requires a slightly different approach, to explain in a broader sense we teach the dog that the way he or she is viewing the problem no longer works the way they thought it did. There is one very simple rule in dog behaviour that everyone can understand, and that is behaviour cannot develop without reinforcement. Everything a dog does has a reason/purpose. Once you work out how the behaviour is being reinforced you can remove the source of the reinforcement and teach the dog to understand the opposite. Time frames for improvement are directly related to severity of the behaviour and the length of time the problem has been present, but if you remain consistent continued improvement will occur.

There are many other aspects to helping your dog overcome its problems and we often employ more than one method in an effort to achieve rehabilitation with a holistic multi pronged approach, this ensures the fastest possible improvement.