Behaviour Solutions

This program is for people that want to learn more about their dogs and who want to look beyond symptomatic management of behaviour problems. We focus on understanding why your dog is choosing their current behaviour and how you can support them to make better choices.

The “naughty” or “nuisance” behaviours that we see and find challenging are often just the symptom of the problem. Any dog can exhibit these behaviours and if you are struggling to support a dog with behavioural concerns, this can be distressing to you, your family or your friends.

We help you to identify the root cause, the “how” and the “why” these behaviours have developed and how you can support your dogs and yourselves to build lasting, sustainable behaviours through connection, trust and effective communication.
Symptomatic behaviours can include:

Challenging Behaviour
- Do you feel your dog is making decisions for you or protecting you?

Defensive behaviour
- Are you worried about Defensive behaviours towards other people or other dogs?

Destructive behaviour
- Does your dog like to destroy everything they can get their teeth into? Do they struggle being left alone?

Anxious behaviour
- Does your dog seem stressed and struggle to calm down? Is it difficult for your dog to chill out and rest?

Excessive Behaviour
- Is your dog an adrenalin junky… Does your dog bark excessively, whine, pull on their lead or jump up on people?

THE PROCESS

Our comprehensive Behaviour Development program involves one of our team coming to your home, and analysing all information relevant to your case.

We begin by assessing potential developmental Interruptions. Past experiences and trauma in early development can be a significant contributing factor to behaviour and overtime this can lead to the development of coping strategies we find problematic in our dogs.
We consider and identify your dogs natural personality. Every dog is born with a natural identity, in humans we would think of this as our natural personality. It is this identity/personality that shapes how we and our dogs look at the world and learn.

Each natural identity has instinctual capabilities and limitations which enable our dogs to perform roles within the family unit, thereby ensuring the success and survival of the family group. When our dogs act outside of these capabilities and limitations, they can become overwhelmed and stressed needing to develop coping strategies to enable them to function and these coping strategies form the basis of the behaviours that we struggle to understand and manage.

Following this process enables us to develop an individualised training program that includes appropriate strategies and training techniques to support sustainable behaviour modification that address the root cause of the problem and not just the symptomatic behaviours we see.

A key element for success however is YOU. The assessment process is focused on understanding all the factors contributing to your dogs behaviour, it is important to remember that there are two ends to the leash.

For our program to be effective we cannot forget the human side, we often inadvertently reinforce or enable unwanted behaviours through misunderstanding, or through our own methods of communication with our dogs. For our program to be effective it is important to be open to considering the impact of your own actions when working with your dogs as part of the training process.

We want to help you to understand the natural capabilities and limitations of your dogs, build a strong relationship that provides safety, trust and the ability to co regulate and communicate with your dogs effectively. Teaching them that they do not need to develop challenging behaviours to connect and communicate with you or to cope with stress.

Understanding how these concepts join to influence your dog's behaviour will help you understand what your dog is telling you and show you how to support your dog's emotional and social needs.
Behaviour Development initial consultation lasts for approximately 2 hours and the follow-up sessions is approximately 1 hour.