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*help Needed* Training And Boarding Near Sydney


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My wife and I are think of sending our dog to training school for about 10 days, could be longer, with boarding in late January 2015. Our Labrador is 11 months old now. Any recommendations near Sydney? Thank you! We really need your help.

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Hi, and welcome :) Are you sending your dog for boarding/training because you are going away , or is it to have the dog trained ? is the dog a problem at home ?

Thanks for replying.

Kind of both... get him trained and yes, we will be away for a few days. He is not a problem, although he could be naughty sometimes...

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Highly recommend pet resorts, Dural. I go weekly and have sent my boy twice for boarding with training.

Be realistic about what can be achieved by strangers in ten days out of the context of the dogs normal environment. They'll be able to make a good start and give you advice on continued training.

I'm there every week, the dogs are well treated and the trainers are ethical.

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Guest crazydoglady99

Big dog rescue have boarding kennels. They aren't dog trainers (as far as i am aware) but very experienced and care very well for their boarders/fosters.

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Highly recommend pet resorts, Dural. I go weekly and have sent my boy twice for boarding with training.

Be realistic about what can be achieved by strangers in ten days out of the context of the dogs normal environment. They'll be able to make a good start and give you advice on continued training.

I'm there every week, the dogs are well treated and the trainers are ethical.

Thanks. But, there are two pet resorts in Dural on Google.

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Strongly recommend you learn to train your dog yourself. That way you learn to train the dog and the product of that is a dog that is obedient to your cues and that looks to you for direction.

Otherwise anything the dog learns is unlikely to last long.

Edited by Haredown Whippets
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Pet Resorts Australia is the only boarding kennel in Sydney I'd send my dog to. They do a great job and the trainers are great too.

Board and train can be a great head start but you need to be realistic - ten days with other people in a new environment won't send you back a 'fixed' dog. They can give you a head start on a lot of obedience stuff but whether it is lasting depends on how much time you put in to continuing the training after you bring him home.

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You are best to train your own dog - what are you looking for with regards to training?

Sit, stay and on lead walking are trained at different locations around Sydney - Brush Farm at Eastwood is great because they hold classes at weekends.

Training your own dog helps you build a strong relationship with them and is very rewarding - I thoroughly enjoyed taking a difficult dog I had to 2 months worth of training at a club in St Ives on Saturdays - just for an hour or so, it's not onerous. I would have kept going with him but he wouldn't sit for long enough so couldn't progress.

There's a club in Hornsby Heights on Sundays too, so something to suit everyone.

Hanrob also do training and boarding I think if that is the only way you want to go but I'm sure that you are still going to need to do some work with your dog (practice etc) once he/she returns.

Edited by Her Majesty Dogmad
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You are best to train your own dog - what are you looking for with regards to training?

Sit, stay and on lead walking are trained at different locations around Sydney - Brush Farm at Eastwood is great because they hold classes at weekends.

Training your own dog helps you build a strong relationship with them and is very rewarding - I thoroughly enjoyed taking a difficult dog I had to 2 months worth of training at a club in St Ives on Saturdays - just for an hour or so, it's not onerous. I would have kept going with him but he wouldn't sit for long enough so couldn't progress.

There's a club in Hornsby Heights on Sundays too, so something to suit everyone.

Hanrob also do training and boarding I think if that is the only way you want to go but I'm sure that you are still going to need to do some work with your dog (practice etc) once he/she returns.

Thanks a lot, everyone. We have taken him to pre-school at Sydney University, and tried to train him at home. He is doing really good on sit, stay, down, turn etc, but on leash walking isn't the best. He is rally good, doesn't bark a lot, super friendly, getting gentle....great dog.

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Strongly recommend you learn to train your dog yourself. That way you learn to train the dog and the product of that is a dog that is obedient to your cues and that looks to you for direction.

Otherwise anything the dog learns is unlikely to last long.

Yep this is why I do not train dogs that board with me. All of the dogs that board learn very quickly what I tolerate and don't and within days are in routine and do exactly as I ask - a vast majority fo the time. I rarely have issues.

As soon as their owner turns up they go back to barking, lunging, pulling, leaping around and all over people and going off. The owner needs to train the dog. I can do it but it doesn't mean to say the dog will be any better when it goes home.

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You are best to train your own dog - what are you looking for with regards to training?

Sit, stay and on lead walking are trained at different locations around Sydney - Brush Farm at Eastwood is great because they hold classes at weekends.

Training your own dog helps you build a strong relationship with them and is very rewarding - I thoroughly enjoyed taking a difficult dog I had to 2 months worth of training at a club in St Ives on Saturdays - just for an hour or so, it's not onerous. I would have kept going with him but he wouldn't sit for long enough so couldn't progress.

There's a club in Hornsby Heights on Sundays too, so something to suit everyone.

Hanrob also do training and boarding I think if that is the only way you want to go but I'm sure that you are still going to need to do some work with your dog (practice etc) once he/she returns.

Thanks a lot, everyone. We have taken him to pre-school at Sydney University, and tried to train him at home. He is doing really good on sit, stay, down, turn etc, but on leash walking isn't the best. He is rally good, doesn't bark a lot, super friendly, getting gentle....great dog.

Maybe have a look at the different harnesses on the market if the onlead walking is the main issue. You could contact your breeder for advice or one of the Labrador rescues (national Labrador Rescue or Labradog Rescue in Sydney) - this would be a very common problem that they'd have to provide advice on I'm sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think boarding and training is a good idea, provided the trainer is good and uses appropriate methods for the individual dog.

i think lots of dogs would enjoy the extra training. I know my dog loves training and will work for anyone. So i think she'd enjoy the extra stimulation if she were in boarding kennels.

You could try positive puppies. I know they used to do boarding and training not sure if they still do.

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If you are going to board take him to Pet Resorts Australia, if there's some preliminary training to help things along fine. With where you have been I'm not surprised you're having trouble. The staff at PRA are supportive after helping you then learn the skills to maintain the good behavior.

Boarding and training done properly can be extremely helpful.

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Strongly recommend you learn to train your dog yourself. That way you learn to train the dog and the product of that is a dog that is obedient to your cues and that looks to you for direction.

Otherwise anything the dog learns is unlikely to last long.

Yep this is why I do not train dogs that board with me. All of the dogs that board learn very quickly what I tolerate and don't and within days are in routine and do exactly as I ask - a vast majority fo the time. I rarely have issues.

As soon as their owner turns up they go back to barking, lunging, pulling, leaping around and all over people and going off. The owner needs to train the dog. I can do it but it doesn't mean to say the dog will be any better when it goes home.

I agree with the above, but only to a certain extent. It can help owners greatly if their dogs have a head-start 'heads up' to having learnt traditional obedience (whichever that skill might be). With the help of the trainer to follow through after they collect their dog, they (the owners) can learn how to "push the right buttons" so to speak. When the right buttons are pushed, the response from the dog can be more immediate, because the skill the owners are seeking has already been learnt by the dog. IE The dog knows it.

A bit akin to a horse already trained in fine dressage -vs- a horse which has not been. Put a 'novice' rider on a horse's back, even the dressage-trained horse is not going to perform unless the right buttons are pushed. The rider is coached to finding that 'right button' and the horse responds. This in itself tells the novice rider when the right buttons have been pushed and psychologically goes to memory more easily. Whereas a novice rider on a novice horse could be pushing the right buttons (e.g. sitting correctly, using legs correctly in the instance of a trained horse) but may not so easily get the response they're after because the horse doesn't have the training-knowledge itself.

What I'm saying is that it can be easier for a novice handler to learn to understand, from a trained dog. Not only that, but by the fact that the trained dog can demonstrate what it has learnt, often makes it more clear that it's not the dog that now needs to learn, but the owner. Speaking generally, not necessarily to the OP.

The other thing is that dogs often enjoy that bit of extra attention during kennel stays that it would have regardless of training. I've worked with B&T dogs that even the kennel staff have noticed (good) differences in during their own necessary interactions with the dogs compared to before the training began with them.

But I also agree - if the owners will go through the 'hard-yacka' phase of learning to learn and teaching the dog to learn to learn simultaneously, the learning curve for the owners rises at a faster albeit sharper angle.

Also to add, in response to Haredown's comment "otherwise anything the dog learns is unlikely to last long". The knowledge of the training lasts, but whether the demonstration of it to the owners lasts, that's another matter. Many years ago, working for other kennels, I worked with a dog who was in for B&T. The dog did well and went home with much more training in him than when he arrived. The owner was pleased. The owner was also encouraged to join classes at discounted rate, for coaching opportunity but I think the owner thought she didn't need to because the dog was so good. Six months later and a call came in by a frazzled owner over her dog's training which had "completely disappeared". She met me at classes and I could see this dog had it all over her. She willingly (happily) handed over the lead and within one minute of a bit of work it all came flooding back for the dog and it was almost as though the dog had just finished the B&T course. The owner was gobsmacked .... and quickly signed up at classes for coaching so she too could learn to "push the right buttons". This happened fairly quickly as the dog knew it all - it was only the owner who needed to catch on.

Edited by Erny
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