Which programme do I need?

How do I know which programme my dog is in?

By age, and only by age. Puppy School runs up to sixteen weeks. Puppy Training covers seventeen to thirty two weeks. Dog Behaviour Training is for thirty two weeks and older. Same method, same trainer, same support at every stage, and moving between them changes nothing except what happens in the sessions.

• Puppy School, up to sixteen weeks
• Puppy Training, seventeen to thirty two weeks
• Dog Behaviour Training, thirty two weeks and over

Not sure which side of a line your dog falls on? Book a free meet and greet and we will tell you.

My puppy is already past sixteen weeks. Have I missed it?

You have missed one component of it, not the whole thing. Group puppy school has to finish by around sixteen weeks, because running it later turns into going through the motions. Everything else still applies. From seventeen weeks the group class is replaced by more one to one work at your address, which is what a teenage dog actually needs anyway.

I do not have a dog yet. Can I still join?

Yes, and it is the best time to start. Choosing the right dog and getting the house ready is the most undervalued stretch of the whole thing. We have breed guides, lifestyle quizzes and honest accounts from real owners about what the first month is actually like. It is not all cute cuddles and perfect recall.

I have adopted an older rescue. Can you help?

Yes. Rescue dogs go onto Dog Behaviour Training, which is entirely one to one in your home. Rescue greyhounds in particular are a regular part of the work through our partnership with Homeward Bound Hounds, and adopters get free support.

Puppy school

Where does puppy school run?

Group classes are taking bookings at all six venues:

• Paddington, Dogs in Town, 308 Oxford Street
• Neutral Bay, DoggieLove, 71 Military Road
• Zetland, Dogs in Town, 44 Epsom Road
• Marrickville, Dogs in Town, 55 Addison Road
• Alexandria, Dogs in Town, 266 Mitchell Road
• Edgecliff, Dogs in Town, 500 Glenmore Road

Anyone in Sydney can attend any of them, so pick the one that fits your week rather than the one that happens to be closest. Start dates vary by venue, so check the booking page or ask us and we will tell you what is next.

What age does my puppy need to be to start group classes?

Your puppy needs their second vaccination before joining a group class, which puts most puppies at around eleven to thirteen weeks. That is a safety requirement, not a preference.

The programme itself starts earlier. You can begin from eight weeks, which for most people is the week the puppy comes home, and the at home work and the online course carry those first few weeks while you wait on the vaccination.

How long is puppy school and how often does it run?

Four weeks, one session a week, about an hour each, in the same slot every week. Blocks run on a rolling schedule with no fixed intake dates, so you can start at any point in the year rather than waiting for a term to begin. Current dates and remaining places are here.

How many puppies are in a class?

Capped at ten, and matched by size. A Chihuahua should not be learning next to a dog four times its weight, because what it learns is that other dogs are frightening. We keep a good mix of breeds in every class while still grouping by relative size and age.

I have seen breed-specific puppy classes advertised. Are they a good idea?

No, and this one is worth being blunt about. Cavoodle-only classes have started appearing around Sydney and it is a poor idea. Your puppy needs to meet lots of different types of dog while the window is open. A room full of one breed teaches them almost nothing about the rest of the world they are going to live in.

What happens in each of the four weeks?

Each class covers four areas: behaviour work, command training, socialisation, and owner education. You are being trained as much as your puppy is.

• Week 1. Introduction to the method. Sit, down, stay and structured walking. Toileting, barking and chewing. Puppy introductions.
• Week 2. Golden Rules one and two. Down, stay, walking and early recall. Mouthing and biting. Supervised play.
• Week 3. Golden Rules three and four. Stay, recall and more walking. Stealing, and crying when left.
• Week 4. Golden Rule five, the walk. Recall and loose lead walking. Digging. Managing playtime in the park, and graduation photos.

What should I bring?

A collar and lead, your puppy's favourite treats, a couple of their favourite toys, a water bowl, and their vaccination documents.

My puppy is a larger breed. Will they be alright in the class?

Yes. We take all sizes and match by relative size within each cohort. Plenty of larger dogs have come through recent blocks.

Is the visit to my home included?

At every level above the entry level, yes, and it happens before the group classes begin. A class teaches a puppy in a room. It cannot see your kitchen, your stairs, your front door, or what your dog does when the doorbell goes, which is where the problems you will actually ring us about happen.

Why do you not sell the group class on its own?

We did look at it, and the answer came from our own clients. We kept meeting people whose dog had sailed through puppy school and who four months later could not walk them past another dog without barking. Group school is one piece of it. A good one, for commands and socialisation. But it finishes at sixteen weeks and adolescence has not even started yet.

The entry level is the closest thing we offer to a class on its own.

Can I do the whole thing one to one, with no group class?

Yes, within reason. Socialisation genuinely matters, so we offer a fully private version to owners who can show us their puppy is being properly socialised outside the training. If your dog is past sixteen weeks it is one to one by default anyway.

Support levels

What are the support levels and what changes between them?

Every programme runs the same four levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. On Puppy School the four week group class is identical at every one of them. Three things change as you go up:

• How much one to one time you get at home. This is the biggest difference and the main reason to step up.
• How long the online course stays open to you. Bronze does not include the course. It switches on at Silver and the window gets longer at each level above.
• How directly you can reach us, and for how long. Community, then direct message, then phone and text, then priority.

Platinum also includes training equipment and is limited to five clients at any one time. Most families choose Silver.

The current prices and the full level-by-level table are on each booking page, because that is the only place those numbers live. Puppy School · Puppy Training · Dog Behaviour Training.

Does the entry level include the online course?

No. Bronze is the delivery on its own. On Puppy School that means the four week group class, and on the other two programmes it means a one to one session at your home. The course, the longer support window and the guarantee all switch on at Silver.

What Bronze does include, and a one-off session with any trainer does not, is the written follow up after every session, lifetime access to the community, and Ask Luke.

Do I get anything after the session ends?

Yes. Every session is followed by a written summary of what we covered and what to do next, at every level. Handling is a physical skill and nobody remembers all of it on the day.

Can I upgrade later?

Yes. Get in touch and we will sort it out. Plenty of people start at Silver and add sessions once they can see which behaviour is the one giving them trouble.

The online course

What is in the online course?

It runs week by week from week eight through to week twenty four, so you are only ever reading the part that matches the age of the puppy in front of you. Before that sequence starts it is front-loaded with the eight things that go wrong first: biting, toileting, routine, crate training, crying, sleeping, setting up the home, and socialisation.

The five parts are:

1. Orientation. Welcome and day one, why the method works, how the course works, and the common puppy myths.
2. The Big 8. The eight essentials above, front-loaded before the weekly sequence begins.
3. The Weekly Journey. A section for every week from week eight to week twenty four, with puppy school folded in around weeks twelve to fifteen. Week sixteen is the mouthing transition and it is the one most people get caught out by.
4. The Problem Library. A standing reference you can open at any time. Husbandry and cooperative care, command training, recall training, health and first aid, working with your vet, common puppy problems, common dog problems, the breed-specific library, and practical life with your dog.
5. Beyond The Spine. Adolescent workshops, middle adolescence, late adolescence, and the closing capstone.

My puppy is already twelve or fourteen weeks. Is the course still useful?

Yes. You can join at any point and the course is built in age brackets precisely so that you can start where your dog actually is. There may be one or two things you cannot go back and do, but plenty of owners join later and get a lot out of having us there.

One to one training at home

How long is a session?

Follow up sessions run sixty to ninety minutes across all three programmes. The one exception is the very first session on Dog Behaviour Training for dogs thirty two weeks and over, which runs two hours because there is more to work through the first time.

What actually happens in a session?

We watch first, because most of what we need turns up in the first twenty minutes. Then we find the cause rather than the behaviour, which is why the last four things you tried stopped working. Then you do it, not us, and we correct your timing until it is yours.

How much work is it day to day?

Less than you would think. The first four Golden Rules are mostly about not doing things rather than adding new ones, so there are no brain games and no forty point plans. Nobody follows those and they do not work. Reckon on about ten extra minutes a day in the first week, then five.

Can we go somewhere other than the house?

Yes. If the problem happens on a particular street, at the park, or at the front gate, that is where we should be. The behaviour rarely travels to a hall, which is the whole reason the work happens at your address.

Do you provide equipment?

Where it is needed during a session, yes, including front pull harnesses and long lines. Training equipment to keep is included at Platinum.

Ask Luke

What is Ask Luke?

Ask Luke is our round the clock training support. It is a digital mind trained on our own methods and our real client work, and on nothing else, so it is a dog training specialist rather than a general assistant. It will not answer questions outside dog training. It tells you what it is the moment you contact it.

Reach it by phone call, text message or WhatsApp, any hour, seven days a week.

Is there a limit on how much I can use it?

No. Unlimited use at every level, with no message caps and no extra cost. What changes by level is what it can read, not how often you can ask. At the entry level it reads everything we publish free on the site. From Silver upward it also reads your own course material and the community, so it answers on the week you are actually on.

Why does it matter?

Puppy problems happen at three in the morning. That is when the crying starts, and that is when you are least able to think straight about it. We are not aware of another puppy school in Sydney that answers at 3am.

Where we work

Which parts of Sydney do you cover?

Two different answers, because they are two different services.

One to one training happens at your address. The core area is everything within roughly eight kilometres of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and one to one work extends out to about a forty five minute drive, which takes in the Northern Beaches, the Hills District, Western Sydney and the St George area.

Group puppy school happens at a venue. Six of them across Sydney: Paddington, Neutral Bay, Zetland, Marrickville, Alexandria and Edgecliff. Anyone in Sydney can attend any of them.

What if I am not in Sydney at all?

We support clients across Australia and overseas through the online course and the community. Some Sydney clients choose online only as well. Join the free community and have a look at what is in there.

How we train

What is your approach?

There are two halves to a well behaved dog, and most training only does the second one. First comes understanding your dog and getting them to choose to follow you. When a dog is not making every decision themselves they calm down, and a calm dog can take in new information.

Barking, lead pulling, jumping and reactivity nearly always come from a dog who is over excited and over emotional in that moment. The trick is getting them to turn to you when it actually matters. Once they do, you can show them what you would rather they did instead.

So before you train the dog, you win their mind. Our method is Relational Leadership, and the behavioural side of it is The 5 Golden Rules.

Do you use pain, fear, force or aggression?

Absolutely not. If you want a method like that I suggest you ring the 1980s, go back there, and never get a dog.

No shock or electric collars. No prong collars. No choke chains used as corrections. No physical corrections of any kind. No alpha rolls and no dominance theory. These are absolute, on every programme, for every behaviour problem. And if you have used any of it in the past on somebody else's advice, that is not a mark against you. The criticism is of the technique, never of the person who followed it.

Do you use treats?

Yes, for teaching new behaviours. Treats are not the tool for stopping an unwanted one, which is where a lot of owners get stuck. That work is about your dog's state and the boundaries in the house.

Is there a best dog training method?

There are four ethical schools with real evidence behind them: Pragmatic Positive Trainers, Relational Leadership, Scientific Conditioners and Empathetic Trainers. We are the second one.

Plenty of trainers will die on a hill for their method. Our view is simpler, and it is a bit like dieting. The best diet is the one you will actually follow. Different people stick with different things, and what matters is doing something consistently. Our method is solid groundwork, and for owners who want something else on top of it we are happy to bring other ethical approaches in.

How many owners has your method worked for?

The Relational Leadership approach we train in has been used by more than 100,000 dog owners worldwide. That is the reach of the method, not our own client count, and we will not dress it up as ours.

Why does the socialisation window matter so much?

It closes at around six months, which is twenty four weeks. What your dog meets inside that window, and how they feel about it while it is happening, sets what they treat as normal for the rest of their life. After it closes you are editing a view of the world your dog already holds rather than building one, and that is slower work.

It is also why most of what people bring us at one or two years old was preventable.

Results, guarantees and refunds

Can you guarantee results?

No, and neither can anyone else without reaching for methods we will not use. A trainer who promises you a specific behaviour gone by a specific date is selling you something they cannot deliver.

Four things decide how it goes: your consistency, which matters most by a distance, your personality, your dog's breed, and your dog's background. What we tell every client is to expect the 1/1/1 rule. Gradual improvement in one day, one week and one month.

So what is guaranteed?

Satisfaction, on the basis that you do the work. There is one named guarantee on each programme: the Puppy Satisfaction Guarantee, the Teen Puppy Satisfaction Guarantee and the Adult Dog Satisfaction Guarantee. It applies from Silver upward.

Doing the work means using the one to one sessions and the support included at your level, and on Puppy School it also means attending all four group classes and keeping up with the course to your puppy's current week. It also means telling us, and giving us the chance to put it right. Claims are made within thirty days of your last class.

We ask for the work because the work is the thing that changes the dog. If you have done all of it and you are still not happy, we have not held up our end.

Has your training ever not worked?

Any trainer claiming a hundred per cent record is bending something. Three cases in the last twelve months saw limited improvement, and they had the same shape.

• A Cavoodle with severe separation anxiety and heavy barking, in daycare five days a week while the owner worked ten hour days. We trained on the Saturday and they had their first bark-free absence in years on the Sunday. Monday they went back to work and the dog got a different message all day from a daycare we cannot train. The behaviour receded.
• A Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with eight years of separation anxiety and barking. We had our session and got a call eight hours later saying it was not working. Eight hours. The quickest turnarounds we see are usually from people who assumed it would take ages and dug in accordingly.
• Another Cavalier, barking, where one of the couple would not participate at all, the other crammed training into the evening after a ten hour day, and the au pair who had the dog all day had been told not to help. No consistent message, from anyone.

What is your cancellation policy?

Things change and we understand that, but we do need a clear policy to keep the service running properly. The details sit on our refunds and returns policy and our terms and conditions.

Getting started

How do I book?

Go to the page for your dog's age, choose your support level, pick your puppy school dates if you are on Puppy School, then book your one to one sessions. Everything lands in your calendar automatically.

What is a meet and greet and what does it cost?

Nothing, and there is no obligation afterwards. It runs fifteen to thirty minutes, by FaceTime as standard or in person where that is practical. It is your chance to ask anything, and ours to get a proper look at your dog and your situation before recommending anything. Including recommending nothing, if that is the honest answer.

If you are more than thirty minutes from central Sydney we cannot drive out for a meet and greet, but we will happily do it by video.

Book a free meet and greet, or call +61 431 622 887.

Do I need to be an experienced owner?

Not at all. Some of our owners are on their first puppy and some have had dogs for thirty years. Both are welcome and both learn something.

The free community

Is the community really free?

Yes. No subscription, no catch, and you can stay as long as you like. Plenty of people cannot afford a trainer and still want to do right by their dog, and the guides work whether or not you ever book anything.

What is in it?

• Breed-specific behaviour guides
• Written guides on the common behaviour problems
• The history of dog training, and a breakdown of the modern methods
• The Complete Puppy Program
• Weekly Zoom calls and community Q&As on different training topics

Join here, then open the community, head to Classroom and follow the intro course.

My breed is not covered. What now?

Do not panic. We have written for a long tail of rarer breeds, Wolfhounds and Deerhounds and Dalmatians and Neapolitan Mastiffs among them, and we are happy to write one for you. Join the community and ask. In the meantime, come to a Zoom call.

Why do you give this away?

Pat Miller once pointed out that ninety eight per cent of dogs given up to shelters had received no behavioural training at all. In Australia more than forty thousand dogs and cats go into shelters every year, and a lot of them for things that were fixable. Bringing that number down is part of the point of the business, not a side project.

Behaviour questions

Can dog to dog aggression be solved?

The first thing to work out is whether it is reactivity or aggression, because they look similar and are not the same. A reactive dog is usually frightened and acting out. True aggression is roughly one dog in a hundred, and it is a much more serious problem that takes far longer to shift, if it shifts at all.

Can dog to human aggression be solved?

Often, but there are more moving parts and different methods approach it differently. It gets harder with a newborn in the house, if that is where you are.

Is barking fixable?

Yes and no. Some breeds are built to bark, the Dachshund being the obvious one, and shifting that is genuinely hard. For most breeds it is very fixable with consistency and a bit of effort.

Is separation anxiety curable?

It is the most common thing we see in Sydney and there is no single fix for it. It usually takes several elements working together. We will not promise you a cure on this one.

Can you make my dog walk calmly next to me?

You would be amazed how much improvement is available here. How far it goes depends on the dog, the environment and how consistent you are, but the walk is one of the most reliable wins in the whole programme.

Can you help with barking in an apartment or a terrace?

Yes, and it is a large part of what we do. Apartment and terrace barking usually traces back to separation anxiety, boredom or a specific noise trigger, and it creates urgent problems with neighbours. We work on the cause rather than muting the symptom.

What about reactivity on narrow footpaths?

Common in the inner suburbs, where there is nowhere to create distance. We teach management and impulse control that work in confined space, so passing calmly does not depend on the path being wide.

How do you handle toilet training without a garden?

With consistent scheduling and a clear reward system, adapted for high-rise living. It is one of the eight essentials in the online course for exactly this reason.

Do you work with herding and working breeds?

Yes. Kelpies, Collies and the rest are a regular part of the work, and supporting owners of highly intelligent dogs in an urban environment is a particular thing we do a lot of.

Do you work with Beagles and their recall?

Yes, though a scent-driven dog is its own challenge. We use long line training and high value rewards to build reliability before anyone trusts off lead freedom.

Are there breeds you will not work with?

No. Chihuahua or Mastiff, an unhinged lunatic of a Spaniel or a goofball of a Rottie, big, small, angry, lazy, cuddly or just plain weird. We take all of them.

A lot of dogs get stereotyped because somebody treated them badly and turned them into something they were not. We have worked with Groodles too dangerous to be in the room with, and a ninety kilo Rottweiler who needed his Lilo and Stitch toy for every walk.

How will my dog respond?

Every dog is different, but what matters most is not your dog. It is you. Some dogs are more stubborn than others. Calm, consistent action gets you there regardless.

Should I get a dog at all?

For a lot of people, honestly, no. Dogs are expensive and time consuming, especially the first six months, and most people have no idea how hard that stretch is before they are in it. Owning a dog is a genuinely wonderful thing. Just make sure you are ready for it first.

What breed suits me?

That comes down to your lifestyle and your finances and there is no one answer. Use our lifestyle calculator, and if you want a second opinion, ask in the community.

Do you work with cats?

Yes. Cat training is far more common than it used to be and we are happy to help with setup and behaviour.

Dog walking, sitting and pet care

Where do you offer dog walking?

Across the Eastern Suburbs and the Inner West.

How long is a walk?

A one hour slot, with a minimum of forty five minutes actually walking.

How many dogs are on a group walk?

Three at most. Never more.

Do I need a meet and greet for walking?

For group walking, yes, and it is not negotiable. We will not accept a group booking without one, because we need your dog's history and any previous incidents before they go out with other dogs. For solo walking it is not required.

Can you build training into a walk?

Yes. Lead control and recall are the usual ones, and it is common with clients who have already done training with us.

Do you walk puppies?

Yes, to help young puppies get used to their surroundings. There are strict vaccination requirements for it.

How long are sitting bookings?

Anything from one hour to a full day, and we do overnight stays in your home if you would prefer.

Do you do puppy sitting?

Very often, usually while owners are at work. We pop round, do an hour of training, and make sure things are moving along.

Can you sit for multiple pets?

Yes, including multi-cat households.

Can you help with feeding and medication?

Yes, feeding and basic medication support.

Do you send photos?

Always. You will get photos from every session.

Can I book last minute?

You can. More than forty eight hours notice is ideal so we can be sure someone is free.

About us

What qualifications do you have?

Every team member passes an Australian Federal Police background check and the Red Cross Pet First Aid Australia course before they work with a client's dog. No exceptions, for anyone. Luke trained in Relational Leadership, trained under the Dog Trainer Academy with six months of training and a final exam, and is a Certified Professional Pet Sitter through Pet Sitters International.

Are you insured?

Fully insured, yes.

Are your walkers and sitters first aid trained?

All of them, through the Red Cross Australia pet first aid course. Same standard as the trainers.

What services do you offer?

Puppy school and the puppy programmes, puppy training for seventeen to thirty two weeks, dog behaviour training for thirty two weeks and over, dog walking, dog sitting, puppy sitting, cat sitting and pet sitting.

Who are Homeward Bound Hounds?

A New South Wales greyhound rescue we partner with. Every recent adopter can book a call with us and gets dedicated resources inside the community, at no charge and with no upsell at the end of it. Greyhounds arrive with their own set of things to work through, and adopting one is a good thing to do rather than the easy option. More on our community work.

How do I get in touch?

Ring +61 431 622 887, email team@thetoebeansco.com.au, or book a free meet and greet.