The Hachi Way

Help with ยท The right modes from the start

Puppy training, done once and properly

The cheapest behaviour work is the work you do before the problems exist.

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Murphy as a puppy lying on grass with a long line clipped on

Puppy training done properly is teaching the right modes from the start, real rest, real one-on-one play and genuine time to take the world in, so the problems never form. Most behaviour cases that come to a trainer are dogs whose households drifted in the first year. A puppy who learns the modes early rarely becomes the reactive teenager who needs rehabilitating later.

A puppy is closer to a toddler than a colleague. You do not teach a list of commands. You teach routine, attention and relationship, and the behaviour follows. That is why early-childhood education does more of the work in a session than obedience does.

For owners outside Melbourne, the Good Puppy Blueprint runs the same foundations online, including the weeks before a puppy even comes home.

Try this week. Map your puppy's day into the three modes a puppy needs, PLAY, CALM and EXPLORE. If the day is mostly walks and cuddles with no real CALM and no eye-to-eye play, start there. Balance now prevents most of what owners ring trainers about at ten months.

Part of the full guide: How to raise a calm puppy

New puppy? The Good Puppy Blueprint is the online program for puppies under twelve weeks. For a dog over twelve weeks, private training works it through one-on-one.

Case notes

From a real session: the puppy who went for coffee on day two

I onboard whole litters before the puppies go home. Six families on a video call with the breeder, two weeks before pickup, sitting down together to write out the dog they wanted in fifteen years and sign it on the fridge. Not the puppy. The dog. Two weeks later, on the second call, one family had had their labradoodle home for two nights and sent a photo of her at the cafe, tucked in a carrier, having a takeaway coffee.

Everyone thought it was sweet. I told them off. You just brought your newborn home. People who bring a newborn home do not walk it to the cafe on day two. And then the harder part: that was not a calm puppy in the carrier. A puppy is a toddler. Toddlers are nippy and crazy and loud. A frozen, quiet puppy in a busy place is a scared one, sitting very still in the principal's office and hoping nobody notices her.

Socialisation is not getting your puppy used to people and dogs. It is getting her used to the world so the world becomes less interesting than you. Week one is the inside of your house. Week two is the driveway. Week three is your own street. Then you drive somewhere, park, and let her watch from beside the car, a few minutes, home. The car is the hub. My own puppy spent whole days out this way, play by the car, back in the crate, another spot, and never actually went for a walk.

The same family, a week earlier, had asked when they had got a teenager. Their puppy was two nights in and had already trained them to stand up by feinting at the couch and the pot plant. That is a puppy short on lick and chew things and long on free time, so they were sent to fill one corner of the room with frozen half tennis balls and shorten her free time. Their play video that week was the best in the group: a grown man rolling around his own driveway in the rain with a rope toy.

That is the whole program. Sleep first, real play second, the world in small doses, and no visitors in week one. The puppies who get this are usually the ones I never meet again as reactive teenagers. Trust me, you do not want to over-socialise your puppy.

Questions

Frequently asked

When should puppy training start?

Before the puppy comes home, ideally. The foundations are about the household and the routine you set, and those can be ready on day one.

In their words

Owners who came in with the same problem

Real reviews of Diona's work. Not the nice-trainer ones, the ones that describe the shift: owners who learned to read their dog, and dogs who got calmer once their needs were met.

  • The innate desire to be good

    I liked that the approach is based on the dog's desire to be good, and on educating the owners to provide an environment in which the dog can be relaxed and happy. Our training program was immediately effective, especially improving walks with our pulling and reactive dog. It has changed our world.

    Helen · 2023

  • Knowing your dog deeply

    We had been through a few different trainers and specialists before we met Diona. We've always loved our dog but now we know our dog on a much deeper level. Through Diona's program we've learnt to have more fun and enjoy our dog as well as develop a deeper understanding of her behaviour and triggers. Life changing.

    Lucy R. · 2025

  • A different framework

    I always thought barking, stealing food and pulling on lead was part of the deal living with dogs. Diona transformed my understanding about dogs and taught me how Piper and I can both live peacefully and enjoyably. It honestly makes life so much easier when you have a calm, relaxed and fulfilled furry friend.

    Peony C. · 2024

240+ five-star reviews of Diona's practice as Diona The Trainer. Read more reviews

Work it through

This is fixable, with the right read.

The free assessment names where to begin. A Hachi Way trainer works it through with you, in your home where the behaviour happens, or online anywhere in the world.

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