Our Team

Pete got into dogs for the first time when he bought two littermate Tibetan Mastiff puppies, Rollo and Tora. A somewhat large undertaking, that came with plenty of challenges. These challenges along with coaching from Robert Hynes are what has given Pete the understanding of dogs, and of particular interest to Pete, the livestock and perimeter guardian breed dogs.
Pete is currently doing the James French Trust Technique course, which shares lots of commonality with the methods Pete uses to build owners’ relationships with their dogs to one of mutual trust and respect. Having a solid relationship between owner and dog is the beginning of solving all issues owners have with their dogs. In almost all cases, this is what is actually broken when unwanted behaviours are arising.
Pete’s Tibetan Mastiff’s are both used as helper dogs when working with clients dogs as both of them have fantastic character traits that help other dogs come out of their shells and understand how to be dogs. There really aren’t many people out there who have not one, but two, guardian breed dogs that are capable of being helper dogs, working for their owner and with clients dogs.

I would call myself a Skinnerian – radical behaviourist. It’s all about recognizing that we need to replace dog with human and ask ourselves – what would we do different? Would you shove food in the face of a scared child? Would you correct a child for what you deem as bad behaviours from a scared child? If not – then why are we doing it to the dog?

Dog training itself doesn’t offer any diagnosis and that’s the very problem. Calling a dog “aggressive” or “reactive” isn’t a diagnosis. They do not address or understand what is driving the behaviours in the first place. This is why questions need to be asked – we find the diagnosis  – the very cause of the behaviours. And then we use Applied Behaviour Analysis to fix the cause of all the behaviours. Fix the cause(s) – and the resulting behaviours of that cause no longer need to exist – the behaviours go extinct on their own.

You have nothing to lose – but everything to gain. Give us a try.

I spent thousands of dollars on Dog Trainers and Behaviorist’ only to get the perfect sit, down stay and focused heal. In reality, I ended up further from what I truly wanted- a calm, trustworthy companion I could take anywhere. The more I focused on control, management, tools, and treats, the more disconnected we became. He sure did look good in class, but behind closed doors- at home, every day life, we were far from happy and calm and I did not trust my dog!

It wasn’t until I let go of control and started prioritizing his needs that our relationship began to change. That’s when I finally found what I had been searching for all along- mutual trust and respect, the true essence of Man’s Best Friend.

It might sound radical, but it works- I treat him like my best mate, and that’s exactly why it works. How do you treat your best mate?