From the practice
The blog
The specific questions owners ask, answered in the method's own terms. Pick the shelf that sounds like your dog. Each piece links up to the full guide underneath it.
Latest
Everyday manners November 2026
Why does my dog follow me everywhere?
Following you to the toilet is not devotion, it is a dog on permanent duty. Attachment sends one text. Obsession checks Find My iPhone.
5 min read
Everyday manners November 2026
Why does my dog destroy things when I'm home?
The dog that shreds the house while you sit at the kitchen table is not anxious and not under-walked. It is waiting for an instruction that never comes.
5 min readReading your dog October 2026
What does a lifted front paw mean?
A lifted paw is a dog mid-decision. Unsure, appeasing, pointing, or about to move. The back legs tell you which.
5 min readCategory
Reactive dogs
The dog that barks, lunges, freezes or bolts. Why the waterline is high, what makes it worse, and how the walk changes when it comes down. Start with the full guide: How to calm a reactive dog.
Reactive dogs September 2026
Why does my dog suddenly run for home mid-walk?
Flight is lunging pointed the other way. Nobody recognises it, so the dog gets called stubborn instead of frightened.
5 min read
Reactive dogs August 2026
Why does my dog ignore the first dog and explode at the second?
A dog that passes one dog calmly then explodes at the next is not being random. Held arousal has to go somewhere. The reward and release rule explained.
3 min read
Reactive dogs August 2026
Walking away from an off-lead dog is not avoidance
Walking away from an off-lead dog is advocacy, not avoidance. How to leave calmly, why your dog must never feel your panic, and what to do afterwards.
3 min read
Reactive dogs August 2026
When do I correct my reactive dog? Two seconds before the lunge
When to correct a reactive dog: about two seconds before the lunge, at the tail base rise. The four-stage escalation ladder and how to read it.
3 min read
Reactive dogs June 2026
Why is my dog reactive? Causes and triggers
Owners come to me with the trigger: he hates other dogs, she loses it at bikes. The trigger is the last link in the chain, not the cause. The cause is the baseline the dog lives at.
6 min read
Reactive dogs June 2026
Fear-based reactivity in dogs: Bodhi's story
Bodhi could barely get past the corner. That is not an aggressive dog, that is a scared one. The distinction sounds obvious, but it changes almost everything about how you work with the dog.
7 min read
Reactive dogs June 2026
What not to do with a reactive dog
The fastest way to keep a dog reactive is to do what instinct tells you in the moment. Here are the moves that make it worse, and what to do instead.
6 min read
Reactive dogs May 2026
A dog with a bite history: Ella's story
Ella had bitten two trainers before me. A silent assassin, her owners said, no build-up before the lunge. Frame by frame, she gave plenty of warning. They just had not been trained to read it yet.
8 min read
Reactive dogs May 2026
How to calm a reactive dog's nervous system
Everyone wants the thing to say or do when the dog is mid-reaction. But a nervous system running hot all day cannot be talked down at the trigger. The calm is built in the quiet hours.
6 min read
Reactive dogs May 2026
Why some dogs lose it at passing cars
Benzi had volcanic reactions to any car on any street. The fix was not the car. His arousal was already near the top before they left the house. We worked on the recovery first.
7 min read
Reactive dogs May 2026
How to walk a reactive dog
Walking a reactive dog well is hard to do on your own. But there are a few things you can do in the meantime that keep your dog under control and, just as importantly, do not make the reactivity worse.
5 min read
Reactive dogs May 2026
Can reactivity be trained out of a dog?
Honestly, it is managed and reduced, not erased. A well-managed reactive dog and a so-called cured one look identical. The difference is only that you know the tendency is still there, and you keep the conditions right.
6 min read
Reactive dogs April 2026
Is my dog's reactivity my fault?
Mostly, no. The guilt you are carrying is real, but it is pointed at the wrong thing. And a handler who is ashamed is tense and inconsistent, which the dog reads. So setting the guilt down genuinely helps.
6 min read
Reactive dogs April 2026
Are Staffies aggressive? No, but they run hot
The breed is not the problem people think it is, and a Staffy will absolutely get you into trouble if you treat it like a smaller, calmer dog. Both things are true.
6 min read
Reactive dogs April 2026
When your dog lunges and barks
There is a mindfulness skill called urge surfing: you feel the urge rise, notice it, and let it crest and fall without acting on it. It is almost exactly what I ask owners of reactive dogs to do. Except I ask two of you to do it at once.
5 min read
Reactive dogs April 2026
Which dog breeds are most prone to reactivity? Fewer than you think
Breed is only half the story, and it is the smaller half. In fifteen years and more than 3,000 dogs I have worked with reactive dogs of every breed and calm dogs of every breed.
5 min readCategory
Puppies
Before the puppy comes home, the first weeks, and the habits that decide the adult dog. Structure first, socialisation done properly. Start with the full guide: How to raise a calm puppy.
Puppies August 2026
Raise the dog you want, not the puppy in front of you
Raise the dog you want, not the puppy in front of you. Why dogs don't grow out of things, what adolescence does to bribes, and how to build the calm adult early.
3 min read
Puppies August 2026
Puppy socialisation is about the world, not other dogs
Puppy socialisation means exposure to the world, not playdates. Why noises, surfaces and traffic matter more than dog friends, and how to choose the dogs that do.
3 min read
Puppies June 2026
Before you get a puppy: the real questions
Most people who end up needing a trainer did not plan to. They planned to get a puppy and arrive at a calm companion. What they did not plan for was the year in between.
7 min read
Puppies May 2026
Why walking your puppy more backfires
"A tired puppy is a good puppy", so you walk it more. By the time the family calls me, the puppy is sleeping less, biting harder and ignoring more. The walks are not working. The walks are part of why.
7 min read
Puppies April 2026
The handover gap: puppies after week 8
The calls every good breeder dreads come at around six months. The family did everything they could think of, and they wonder if it is the breeding. It almost never is. It is the gap.
6 min readCategory
Adolescent dogs
Six months to two years, when the training seems to stop working. It has not. The dog has changed and the rules have to catch up. Start with the full guide: The adolescent stage.
Adolescent dogs July 2026
Why did my dog's training stop working?
Training that worked for months then fell apart was managing the moment, not changing the dog. Why dogs start refusing the harness, the door and the car.
6 min read
Adolescent dogs April 2026
FOMO reactivity in a teenage dog: Otto
Otto would lose his hearing the moment a dog appeared. He was not reactive in the aggressive sense. He was reactive in the FOMO sense: every other dog was a potential friend and he was being denied the meeting.
7 min readCategory
Everyday manners
Barking, jumping, strangers, more than one dog in the house. The daily friction, and the one rule underneath most of it. Start with the full guide: How to get a calm, well-mannered dog.
Everyday manners November 2026
Why does my dog follow me everywhere?
Following you to the toilet is not devotion, it is a dog on permanent duty. Attachment sends one text. Obsession checks Find My iPhone.
5 min read Everyday manners November 2026
Why does my dog destroy things when I'm home?
The dog that shreds the house while you sit at the kitchen table is not anxious and not under-walked. It is waiting for an instruction that never comes.
5 min read
Everyday manners September 2026
Stop letting strangers pat your dog. Lie if you have to.
Every "it's okay, he's friendly" is a lesson your dog is taking notes on. Here is the script I give owners, why a small lie is fine, and the one place this rule flips.
4 min read
Everyday manners September 2026
My dogs had a fight. Which one do I tell off?
Not the loudest one. The one who had somewhere else to be and stayed anyway.
5 min read
Everyday manners May 2026
Alert barking that never stops: Figgy's story
Figgy barked at sounds his owners could not hear. A dog running that level of vigilance never properly switches off, so the baseline stays high, and it takes less and less to set off the next bark.
6 min readCategory
Reading your dog
What the yawn, the stare and the stiff body were telling you before the bark. Body language, the waterline, and what to do with what you see. Start with the full guide: Read Your Dog.
Reading your dog October 2026
What does a lifted front paw mean?
A lifted paw is a dog mid-decision. Unsure, appeasing, pointing, or about to move. The back legs tell you which.
5 min readReading your dog October 2026
Why does my dog keep licking its lips?
The same tongue does two opposite jobs. One lick means your dog is gathering information. The other means it is drying out with stress.
4 min readReading your dog October 2026
Is my dog relaxed, or just quiet?
Two dogs lying still can be in opposite states. One is resting. One is holding a lid on. Here is how to tell them apart.
5 min readReading your dog October 2026
What your dog's tail is actually telling you
Read the base, not the tip. The first two inches of tail tell you the truth, and a wag is not automatically friendly.
5 min readReading your dog September 2026
Why are my dog's ears hot?
Ear temperature is an arousal thermometer. A dog lying quietly with hot ears is not calm, and the ears will tell you before the body does.
4 min read
Reading your dog August 2026
Why does my dog yawn on walks?
Your dog is not tired. A yawn on a walk is mild stress, often a brain working hard. Why I love a learning yawn, and what to do when you see one.
5 min read
Reading your dog July 2026
Why won't my dog settle down? Here's why and the fix
Why won't my dog settle down? Usually the dog is overtired and over-aroused, not disobedient. How the waterline builds through the day, and how to teach real rest.
7 min read
Reading your dog June 2026
Resource guarding in dogs: why dogs growl
A dog guarding food, a bone or a person is not turning on you. It is telling you, in the only language it has, that it is worried about losing something it values.
6 min read
Reading your dog April 2026
Reading your dog before the bark: Gibbs
Gibbs had a tail that told you exactly what he was thinking. Once his owner could see the tip flick, she had a two-second window. On the lunge, you are responding to history. Two seconds before it, you are responding to a signal.
7 min readCategory
The method
Why obedience is not a relationship, what drive actually is, how to tell a good trainer from a confident one, and the thinking behind The Hachi Way. Start with the full guide: The Hachi Way method.
The method September 2026
What is drive in a dog?
The 2am test, why "he should be exhausted" explains nothing, and why the ball-obsessed dog has a real drive and a junk outlet.
4 min read
The method August 2026
The dog who was too obedient: a resource guarding case
A five-year-old dog growled once and got labelled a resource guarder. The real problem: five years of discipline and not one minute of play. One consult fixed it.
7 min read
The method April 2026
How to find a good dog trainer
The names blur together. They all sound qualified, they all have five-star reviews. None of that tells you whether they can actually help your dog. Here is what does.
6 min read
The method April 2026
Force-free vs relationship-first dog training
Half the field leads with "force free". Where I agree with it, where building a dog on relationship rather than food makes me work differently, and why I would rather not be defined by my tools.
5 min read
The method April 2026
Dog training rules explained: 3-3-3 and 7-7-7
The popular dog rules are memory aids, not laws. Almost all of them ask you to follow a number instead of the dog in front of you. Here is which ones hold up.
6 min readThe reading is a head start. The change happens together.
Train with me
Tell me about your dog and I will match you to the right starting point, online from anywhere or in person in Melbourne. Not sure yet? The free two-minute assessment is a good first step.
