Puppy School and Dog Training in Mosman

We run puppy school about six minutes from Mosman on Military Road in Neutral Bay, and we train older dogs one to one in your own home across Mosman, Cremorne and Balmoral.

See What We Do
No pain. No fear. No force. Training in your own home · Free meet and greet, no obligation
No pain. No fear. No force. Training in your own home · Free meet and greet, no obligation

Puppy school in Mosman, the quick version

Quick Facts

Where We Work: In your own home, across Mosman, Balmoral, Beauty Point and Clifton Gardens

What We Offer

Council Area

Mosman

Nearest Puppy School Location

DoggieLove, 71 Military Road, Neutral Bay NSW 2089

Distance

About 2 km, roughly six minutes by car along Military Road

What We Cover

Puppies from eight weeks, teenage dogs, and adult behaviour

Who Does The Training?

Luke Buchanan. Dog Trainer Academy accredited, Red Cross pet first aid, AFP background checked

Puppy school and puppy preschool near Mosman

Venue Name

Venue Name

DoggieLove, Neutral Bay

Learn more
Venue Address

Venue Address

71 Military Road, Neutral Bay NSW 2089

Learn more
Days & Times

Days & Times

Four weeks, one hour a week. Rolling start, no fixed intake dates

Learn more
About The School

About The School

Puppy school, puppy preschool and puppy kindergarten all mean the same thing. Vets tend to say preschool, we say puppy school, and it is the same four weeks either way.

Your nearest one is DoggieLove on Military Road in Neutral Bay, a straight run along Military Road from Mosman Junction. It is a professional dog facility rather than a hired hall, fully enclosed and properly cleaned, which matters when puppies are meeting each other for the first time.

Classes are capped at ten puppies and we match them by size. Doodles, Cavoodles, Cavaliers and Labradors are well represented on the north shore, so there is usually a good spread of sizes to match into.

Learn More

Where we work around Mosman

What it is like owning a dog in Mosman

What It Is like

Mosman is one of the few places in Sydney where a dog can legally swim off lead, and it is also one of the easiest places to get the rules wrong, because they change from one side of a jetty to the other.

Little Sirius Cove and the Spit reserves allow unleashed dogs on the beach and in the water, all day Monday to Friday and before 9am or after 4pm at weekends and public holidays. Balmoral, Edwards and Chinamans Beach are dogs prohibited entirely.

Then there is the national park. Bradleys Head, Cobblers Beach and Obelisk Beach are Sydney Harbour National Park and dogs are not permitted at all. Middle Head is a patchwork of Harbour Trust land where dogs are allowed on lead and national park where they are not, so the signs matter.

Popular Landmarks
  • Balmoral Beach
  • Little Sirius Cove
  • Clifton Gardens
  • Rawson Park
  • Chinamans Beach
  • Military Road
  • Bradleys Head
Main Housing Style

Mostly houses with gardens on steep streets, plus apartments along Military Road. More private outdoor space than most harbourside suburbs.

What goes wrong for puppies and dogs in Mosman

Local Challenges

  • Rules that change from one side of a jetty to the other. Chinamans Beach is prohibited while the reserve above it is off lead
  • National park. Bradleys Head, Cobblers and Obelisk beaches are all closed to dogs entirely, and Middle Head is a patchwork
  • Two different weekend clocks. Reid Park closes Saturdays in summer, Spit West closes Saturdays year round, and both are different times
  • Dogs who will not come out of the water, which is funny once and a real problem by the fifth time
  • Steep terrain, bushland slopes and stairs, which are hard on older dogs and make lead work harder
  • Fence line barking, because more Mosman dogs have garden access than in the suburbs around them

Common Breeds

  • Cavoodle
  • Labrador
  • Golden Retriever
  • Groodle
  • Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Off Lead Spots

  • Rawson Park, off lead, with internal zones marked on council's map and signage
  • Lawry Plunkett Reserve, top of Plunkett Road, off lead
  • Spit Reserve East, off lead, and Spit Reserve West, off lead except Saturdays 8.30am to 2.30pm
  • Reid Park, off lead except Saturdays 8.30am to 5.30pm from 1 October to 30 March
  • Clifton Gardens Reserve, Sirius Park and Rosherville Reserve, off lead all day Monday to Friday and before 9am or after 4pm at weekends and public holidays

Busy Streets

  • Military Road
  • Spit Road
  • Bradleys Head Road
  • Middle Head Road

What we get called about in Mosman, by age

Puppies up to 16 weeks in Mosman

The water too early

Mosman owners take their puppy to Little Sirius Cove as soon as they can, which is understandable and often too soon. A twelve week old surrounded by adult dogs off lead in the water is not being socialised, they are being overwhelmed.

We tell you which hours to use and how long to stay, so the water stays a good thing rather than becoming the reason your dog is worried about other dogs.

Hills, stairs and a growing puppy

The foreshore reserves here are documented as steep, with rock outcrops and multiple sets of stairs down to the beaches. Puppies are still growing and repeated steep descents are not the harmless thing they look like.

We set out what a sensible amount actually is at each age, which is usually a lot less than owners expect.

A garden that hides a gap

More Mosman dogs have a garden than in the suburbs around them, so toilet training often looks finished when the puppy has never actually learned to ask.

We build the asking deliberately, so the garden is a convenience rather than the whole system.

Teenage dogs, 17 to 32 weeks, in Mosman

Refusing to come out of the water

Funny once. By the fifth time you are standing on the sand for twenty minutes in work clothes, and the dog has learned that ignoring you has no consequence at all.

This is a recall problem in a very specific context, and it is fixed in that context rather than in your kitchen.

Recall failing on a bushland slope

Mosman's foreshore reserves are steep, bushy and unfenced, with water below and roads above. An adolescent who has decided recall is optional disappears into that terrain very fast.

We rebuild it on a long line at the distance it actually breaks, and only take the line off when it holds there.

Being in the wrong place on the wrong day

Mosman has more different clocks than anywhere else we work, and they do not line up. Reid Park closes Saturdays only in summer. Spit West closes Saturdays year round at a different time. Clifton Gardens runs one clock on the grass and another on the beach.

We work out a routine that fits your week and does not depend on you remembering five schedules.

Dogs 32 weeks and older in Mosman

A dog who is no longer safe at the water

A dog who was social at eight months and is now snapping at anything that runs at them in the shallows. Owners often think it appeared out of nowhere. It rarely does, it just stopped being small enough to ignore.

We work out what your dog is actually saying before we change anything, because a frightened dog and a frustrated dog need opposite handling.

Fence line barking

More garden access than the suburbs around means more dogs patrolling a boundary all day. More exercise makes them fitter and no calmer, which is why the longer walk never fixed it.

We change what the dog does with the whole day rather than trying to interrupt the barking itself.

An older dog and the stairs

Every route to the water here involves a descent and a climb back. As a dog ages that becomes the reason they are stiff, and owners usually respond by walking less rather than differently.

We rebuild the routine around what an older dog actually needs, which is usually more mental work and fewer stairs.

A man crouching in a studio while holding a Dalmatian puppy. The man is wearing a dark navy polo shirt and blue jeans, and the puppy is white with black spots.

A Mosman call out, start to finish

A composite of the calls we take here. Details changed, the pattern is real.

The call

A two year old Labrador in a house near Balmoral. She would not come out of the water at Little Sirius Cove, and the owner had been late for work three times because of it. He had also been spoken to by a ranger at Chinamans Beach, which he had assumed was fine because the reserve above it is off lead.

What we found

Her recall worked everywhere except in water, because in water coming back had only ever meant going home. Nobody had ever made returning worth anything, so from her side staying in was the obvious answer. The beach mix up was simply that Rosherville Reserve and Chinamans Beach are the same address with opposite rules.

What changed

We changed what coming back meant, so it stopped predicting the end of the swim, and built the recall in the shallows on a long line before taking it deeper. About four weeks. We also walked him through the Mosman rules properly, because five different clocks is genuinely hard to hold in your head.

What owners say, at every age

Absolutely fantastic, we had a 10 week old demanding Labrador puppy, 3 days later he barely lets out a yelp. It seemed expensive to get 1 on 1 help at first, but having him here meant we could remove any doubt about whether we were on the right track. Plus his online course and ongoing support have been a god send.

Mattice, 10 week old Labrador

I'm in Bellevue Hill and I'm struggling with recall and defiance with my 9 month old puppy. He thinks he's the boss. Luke at Toe Beans showed me a series of easy corrections and behavioural skills that my pup responded to almost immediately. He filled in my missing knowledge.

Lesley, 9 month old puppy, Bellevue Hill

I couldn't believe anyone could really have a big impact on a 7-year-old pet but within just one session, I could see a big difference in both of my dogs. They were calmer, more responsive, and Rosie was completely de-stressed around strange dogs.

Adrienne, 7 year old Bordoodle, Mosman

How we train

How We Train

How We Train

Force free, all of it. No shouting, no punishment, no pain, and nothing that works by hurting your dog.

We call it Relational Leadership. It is less a set of commands than a way of behaving around your dog, so that you become the obvious thing to look at when they do not know what to do. A dog that complies because it is worried about what comes next has not calmed down, it has gone quiet, and that comes back later somewhere less convenient.

Luke's Credentials

Luke Buchanan is the owner of The Toe Beans Co and Sydney's Puppy Trainer. He works as a dog trainer and a dog behaviourist, which in practice means the puppy obedience side and the behaviourism side are handled by the same person rather than referred on. He is accredited through the Dog Trainer Academy, Red Cross certified in pet first aid, and AFP background checked. Every session is run by Luke.

Force Free & Ethical. Always.

No pain. No fear. No force. No aggression. That is the whole philosophy in plain terms, and it does not bend for a difficult week or a stubborn dog.

Guarantee

Puppy school and dog training in Mosman, the longer version

Puppy school for Mosman is six minutes along Military Road at our Neutral Bay venue, and it is the sensible first step long before any of the water rules matter. Dog training for adolescent and adult dogs happens in your own home.

There are very few places in Sydney where a dog can legally swim, and Mosman has two of them. It is also one of the easiest places in the city to get the rules wrong, because they change from one side of a jetty to the other.

Little Sirius Cove and the Spit reserves allow unleashed dogs on the beach and in the water, all day Monday to Friday and before 9am or after 4pm at weekends and public holidays. Clifton Gardens allows dogs in the water east of the jetty only, on a different schedule again, and there is no weekend dog swim there at all. Balmoral, Edwards and Chinamans Beach are prohibited entirely.

Chinamans is the one that catches everyone. Rosherville Reserve directly above it is off lead on the restricted hours schedule while the sand below is a total ban. Same address, opposite rules.

Then there is the national park. Bradleys Head, Cobblers Beach and Obelisk Beach are Sydney Harbour National Park where dogs are not permitted at all. Middle Head is a patchwork of Harbour Trust land, where dogs are allowed on lead, and national park where they are not, and the boundary is not obvious on the ground.

  • Puppy preschool plus honest advice on how much steep terrain a growing dog should do.
  • Adolescent training for the recall problem every Mosman owner meets, which is a dog who will not come out of the water.
  • Dog behaviourism for adults, including boundary barking and dogs who have stopped coping at the water.

Puppy school is at Neutral Bay, six minutes along Military Road. See adolescent training and in-home behaviour training. We also cover Cremorne Point and Neutral Bay.

Frequently Asked Questions

Puppy school and dog training in Mosman, common questions

Common questions we get about our puppy program.

Puppy school and dog training in Mosman, common questions

What are the main services you offer?

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.

Which areas of Sydney do you work in?

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.

Do you train recall for the beach?

Recall training is part of our core programme. We use long-line training to build reliability before trusting off-leash freedom.

Are Labradors easy to train?

Yes. Labs are one of the most trainable breeds. They're motivated by food, keen to please, and pick up new commands quickly. The challenge with Labs is their enthusiasm. They want to do everything at full tilt, which can make early training feel chaotic. Calm, regular sessions settle them down.

Should I tell my dog off for barking?

It rarely works and often makes things worse. Your dog thinks you are joining in, or it adds stress on top of whatever triggered the barking. Finding the cause and addressing that is far more effective.

How much exercise does a Cavalier need?

Less than many breeds. Around 30 to 45 minutes a day suits most Cavaliers well. They enjoy a good walk but aren't built for running or endurance activity. In hot weather, keep exercise short and early or late in the day. Their flat-ish face makes them more sensitive to heat.

What is the 14 Rule for dog introductions?

The 14 Rule is a practical arousal check for dog introductions. Before allowing contact, score both dogs on an arousal scale of one to ten. If either dog has any history of reactivity, double that score. If the combined total exceeds 14, the introduction shouldn't happen that day. The dogs need to be brought back below threshold first through parallel walking, distance, or ending the session entirely.

How do I introduce a new puppy to my existing dog?

Start on neutral ground, not in your home. Let them sniff from a distance first, then closer. Watch for stiff body language on either side. Keep first sessions short. Do not force them together. Most dogs settle into a routine within a few days.

What support comes as standard?

Every level includes four weeks of group puppy school, lifetime community access, the Relational Leadership framework, and Ask Luke, our digital mind, available 24/7 with no message limits.

From Silver upwards you also get one to one sessions in your own home, the online course as a Weekly Journey running Week 8 through Week 24 plus the Problem Library, and direct phone and text support. On Bronze, Ask Luke answers from everything we publish for free. From Silver up it also reads your course material, so it answers on the week you are actually on.

If your puppy is older than 16 weeks, our Adolescent Program replaces the group school with an extra one to one session at every level, with everything else the same.

What is the length of the puppy program course?

The program starts the day your puppy comes home. The online course is a Weekly Journey running Week 8 through Week 24, plus a Problem Library you can dip into any time. The 4-week in-person Puppy School happens once your puppy has had their second vaccination, usually from around 11 weeks. Support runs for 1 month on Bronze, 3 months on Silver, 6 months on Gold and 12 months on Platinum.

Dog Training In Nearby Suburbs

Not sure where to start with your Mosman dog?

Come and speak with us about puppy school, teen puppy training or adult dog behaviourism. Book a 15 minute call, it's free and no obligation

Book a free meet and greet Pick A Puppy School

From the blog

Boston Terrier Training: Heat, Housetraining and Session Pacing
10 min read
Boston Terrier Training: Heat, Housetraining and Session Pacing

The Boston Terrier question Luke gets most isn't about behaviour at all. It's some version of "why does my dog...

Read more
Doberman Training: Watchfulness, Focus and Force-Free Handling
10 min read
Doberman Training: Watchfulness, Focus and Force-Free Handling

Most of the Doberman calls Luke takes aren't about a dog that's out of control. They're from someone who's been...

Read more
Siberian Husky training Sydney - calm alert Husky portrait
8 min read
Siberian Husky Training: Managing Energy, Escape Behaviour and Howling

Most calls Luke gets about Siberian Huskies aren't about aggression. They're from owners standing in a garden looking at a...

Read more
Pembroke Welsh Corgi Training: Nipping, Boredom and Back Health
7 min read
Pembroke Welsh Corgi Training: Nipping, Boredom and Back Health

Luke's most common Corgi call isn't about aggression, it's an owner describing a small dog that keeps nipping at ankles,...

Read more