Puppy School and Dog Training in Maroubra

Our dog training runs in three stages and you pick the one that matches your dog's age.

• 8 to 16 weeks: puppy school, which includes four weeks of group class
• 17 to 32 weeks: puppy training, for the stage where most owners feel they are losing the dog they had. There is no group class at this age
• 32 weeks and older: behaviour training, one to one in your own home

Puppy school currently takes bookings at our Paddington venue and at Neutral Bay on the Lower North Shore. Zetland, Alexandria and Marrickville are venues in our network with no dates open right now, so check the puppy school dates page for what is taking bookings. Everything else happens in your own home, across Sydney.

One to one training happens in your home, anywhere in Sydney within roughly a forty five minute drive of the Harbour Bridge. That covers the:

• Inner City and City Centre
• Eastern Suburbs
• Inner West
• Lower North Shore
• Upper North Shore
• Northern Beaches
• Hills District
• Western Sydney
• South Sydney and St George

Group puppy school runs at fixed venues within about eight kilometres of the Harbour Bridge. See the puppy school dates page for which venues are currently taking bookings.

Attention-seeking barking often does get louder before it stops if you ignore it. That is normal. But if your dog is barking from anxiety or fear, ignoring it will not help. You need to address the underlying state.

A well-fitted harness gives you more control than a collar alone. A short lead near roads is safer than a retractable one. These are tools to support training, not replace it.

Staffies are strong and driven. Once they want to get somewhere, they go. Lead pulling is a learned behaviour. The dog pulls, you move forward, they learn that pulling works. Regular loose-lead training from the start is the answer. The longer pulling is allowed to continue, the more ingrained it becomes.

A short tight lead transmits your tension straight to your dog at the exact moment a trigger appears, which confirms there is something to worry about. A ten-metre line on a harness, with the end on the ground and fed out gradually, keeps you safe without adding that pressure. Never attach a long line to a collar.

Generally yes. Breeds known for patience and tolerating noise tend to do well with kids. Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and Cavaliers are common examples. But individual temperament and early socialisation matter more than breed alone. No breed is automatically great with children without the right upbringing.

You've tried everything with your dog. The endless treats, brain games and a range of random youtube videos with trainers saying they have some magic bullet but nothing sticks. You're not doing it wrong, you are just trying to fix the wrong thing. Your dog isn't broken.

Whether you've got a barking dog or a dog who pulls on the leash or a dog who jumps up or is becoming a little bit aggressive, the chances are they are getting far too excited, reactive and far too emotional at that point in time. The real trick I found is to get those dogs to turn to you, to listen to you when it really matters. Because if you get that bit in place and they're not all scattered-brain and over excited and over emotional you're halfway there. If they're calm and they turn and look to you, then you have the opportunity to show them how you want them to behave.

So in a nutshell, before you start to train the dog you need to know how to win their mind. The problem is that most trainers jump straight into commands and training your dog when they are overstimulated. The problem isn't that your dog doesn't know what to do, it's that they are choosing not to listen.

Think of it like having a terrible fear of flying and being dragged towards a plane. Someone telling you how safe planes are isn't going to make you calm down.

At The Toe Beans Co, we don't start by training your dog. We start by understanding the why, through the dog's eyes. Once your dog actually chooses to come alongside you, everything else becomes easy.

We come to your home in Sydney. We spend two hours with you and your dog, in your space, with your specific issues. No generic advice. We look at the cause, we show you exactly how to change it, and you leave with a plan you can start that same day.

This is completely force-free. No shouting, no pain, no fear, no force. We work with your dog's natural instincts, not against them.

Yes. Puppy school combines a four week group class with one to one sessions in your own home.

Bronze is the group class on its own. Silver, Gold and Platinum add one, three and ten sessions at your address. For dogs past sixteen weeks there is no group class and everything happens at home.

The Toe Beans Co runs puppy obedience training across Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, Inner West, and North Shore. Puppy school includes 1:1 at-home training, a 4-week group class, and an online course that covers the full obedience foundation sequence. Group schools currently take bookings at Paddington and Neutral Bay. Zetland, Marrickville and Alexandria are venues in our network with no dates open right now, so check the puppy school dates page for what is taking bookings.