Upcoming Puppy Schools

We aim for between 6 and 10 dogs in puppy school to balance quality and socialisation.

Yes. We accept all sizes. While many of our Eastern Suburbs clients have smaller breeds, we've had plenty of larger dogs through recent cohorts and we accommodate them well within the Paddington venue.

The program runs from the day your puppy comes home through to around 8 months old. The 4-week in-person Puppy School happens once your puppy has had their second vaccination, usually from around 11 weeks, with 6 months of dedicated support throughout.

The group class element of our puppy programs are 4 weeks long. They are 45 - 60 minutes once per week. This gives a good balance of learning before your puppy runs out of energy (which happens quickly.). Your puppy needs to have had their second vaccination to join — most puppies start group school between 11 and 13 weeks old, though this can shift depending on your puppy's breed and size for the current class. The overall course lasts 6 months.

Our puppy program comes with the following components:

• 4 x 1 hour sessions for group puppy school
• 2 hour at home 1:1 puppy training
• Lifetime access to our online puppy training program
• 6 months of support on phone, email and chat
• Lifetime access to the 5 Golden Rules program (through The Online Dog Trainer)
• Pictures and goodies from training
• Breed specific guides
• Equipment where required
  

ABSOLUTELY NOT. If you want a method like that I suggest you call the 1980s, go back there and never get a dog. We teach The 5 Golden Rules, a method based on positive action that reinforces your role as the leader in your dog's eyes.

Developing a well behaved dog has 2 parts: dog psychology & dog training. We focus first on understanding your dog and getting them to choose to follow and listen to us. When dogs aren't making all the decisions, they calm down and relax, making them far more receptive to training. To do this, we don’t need to use force, fear or aggression. In fact the opposite. Whether dealing with barking, leash pulling, jumping, or aggression, these behaviours typically stem from dogs being too excited, reactive, and emotional. The key is getting them to turn to you and listen when it matters. Once they're calm and looking to you for guidance, you can effectively show them how to behave.
In short: before you train the dog, you need to win their mind.

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 and a half 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 punishment, no pain. We work with your dog's natural instincts, not against them.

The adolescent program is a combination between our Adult Dog Training method and our online puppy program. For every owner, we teach the foundational behaviour rules that will help your dog to live a calm and happy life. Once we have covered that we move on to breed specific, behaviour specific and other focus areas that you need. At this age dogs commonly exhibit selective hearing, are struggling with recall during playtime and a host of other things.

Most people have been brainwashed into thinking that if your dog can do sit or paw, they are well behaved. But a well behaved dog is much more than that. Can you leave them at home without barking? Or meet dogs in the park without reacting? Do they Resource guard? Or can they be walked calmly on the leash?

Although a lot of owners think their dog will do this naturally, I can tell you for a fact that they cannot. There are more owners than ever before with dogs suffering from separation anxiety, that cannot be walked calmly or are reactive to everyone.

Our adolescent program teaches you everything you need to know about: dog psychology, dog behaviourism and dog training. We help you to set great foundations for your puppy and also how to identify common behavioural issues as they arise and know exactly what to do.

Imagine having someone in your corner all the time to help you understand your dog's behaviour and what you need to be doing at the exact right time

This was based on feedback from our clients in both our puppy school and adult dog behavioural programs. We would work with plenty of clients who had received a "gold star" during puppy school but 4 months later couldn't walk their dog without barking. That isn't right. Helping your puppy to develop is far more than puppy school. Is it important for helping with commands and socialisation, absolutely but it is just a piece of the puzzle.