Leadership, Calmness, Connection
Educating Owners to Understand their Dog
What do pet dog owners most want from their dog? For their dog to LISTEN to them - whether it's recall, walking on a loose leash, or to not do a behaviour.
Owners often ask, “Why doesn’t my dog listen to me?” The answer lies in clarity and relationship. Unwanted behaviours signal confusion, not defiance. We educate on this very topic - all dog training really is, is teaching your dog to listen to you. Does your dog even know you are teaching him/her?
We help you build a bond based on teamwork and mutual understanding, so training becomes enjoyable and effective.
At Canine Crew, we teach you to see the world through your dog’s brain and senses.
It’s a very different view to what most people believe about dogs. Most behaviour - good or bad - is taught, often unintentionally, through misunderstanding the dog’s state of mind, how they truly learn and just how much their view of their owners affects their behaviour.
Training isn’t just “sit for a treat” or a leash pop. It’s about reading what the dog is communicating and providing clear leadership so they know what to do and how to feel about the world, distractions, and, most importantly, their owner.
When you begin to understand the WHY of behaviours and your dog's communication, then you begin to understand how both good and bad behaviours have been taught, unintentionally, in how YOU have been communicating to your dog. Then training can exponentially speed up, as you begin clearing up how you "talk" to your dog.
Once you see your dog, then you can teach and train him/her to any level, and into many different activities - even if it is just to enjoy being calm while you have a drink at the pub.
Interspecies communication is fascinating, and when you see your dog as a dog, when you honour your dog for being a dog, then you can begin to truly develop a communication pathway that the dog understands and learns from. The dog incrementally improves overtime.
Most owners know that leadership to dogs is important. We show you the "how to" provide leadership in a clear way that helps your dog first, find that restful, calm and relaxed state, then training your dog what to do. This is where the connection and bond are developed, grown and deepened. At home, in the garden and with some work, in all environments.
At Canine Crew, this is what we endeavour to provide in every moment we are with any dog. Dog behaviour, while seemingly obvious, is extremely subtle and nuanced, and very much based on RELATIONSHIP. The small moments count. The repetitions count. Whether it is a good repetition of great behaviour, or whether it is an unwanted behaviour - it all counts from YOUR dog's perspective.
Here at Canine Crew, we know how to live with dogs - we've lived with hundreds over the years. We know "how to" train your dog. However, learning a skill takes experience, and experience comes through DOING.
Living with a dog gives you multiple, many and varied moments where you ARE doing, and not noticing what your dog is learning from what you are doing. DOING is dog training, and we attempt to educate on what to do, and what NOT to do with your dog.
What we can help you with
We can help owners to connect to their dogs in a more natural way, begin to understand what their dog is ‘saying or thinking’, and how to clearly communicate back to their dogs in a language they understand.
We can help you in seeing your dog in a DOG way, understand how to create and work with obedience, how to give them tasks/activites to do which fulfil them, and to be able to co-exist peacefully in our human world. It takes time and commitment. You also end up with one of those really awesome bonds with your dog.
One of the things we frequently deal with is restless, pacing, anxious, aroused behaviours in and around the house - sort this, and you have a calmer and more relaxed dog to live with, and the beginnings of a relationship where your dog begins to listen to you.
We can help with ANY behaviour:
There’s NO dog behaviour that is not a dog communicating. Unwanted behaviours in dogs are typically just behaviours not acceptable when living with people. (Dangerous and out of control behaviours are the outcome of less significant unwanted behaviours). Dogs need someone to show and teach them what he/she can do AND what he/she cannot do. For example, “you can settle calmly in the house, and you cannot chew on household items”, “you can walk nicely with me, and you cannot pull on the leash”. If we just focus on what not to do, then there will always be problems, in all areas of life.
As pet dog trainers (or behaviourists may be a better description) we focus a lot on how to be around your dog to provide clarity rather than confusion with your presence, your voice and your movements. The result is a dog who thinks about YOU, has a foundational calmness and therefore is able to listen to you.
Excessive Barking
Pulling on the leash
Anxiety
Dog reactivity
Territoriality
Resource guarding
Predation
Stealing food
Counter-surfing
Stranger danger
Crate Training
Creating engagement
Play
Retrieval
Scentwork
Obedience
Raising a puppy
Bringing a dog home for the first time
Our Story
Mark and Nikki are both experienced dog handlers, with years of experience handling hundreds of dogs before starting Canine Crew in 2017.
They have a passion for all things DOG, an enthusiasm when teaching owners and enjoy observing and learning the nuances and subtleties of canine communication.
Our Services
Consultations & Assessments
Let's sort out the behavioural issues first
This is where we start our journey with you.
A home visit where we assess your dog, and provide clear guidelines on how to begin creating a clearer relationship with your dog.
Please contact us for further information and an application form.
Mentoring/Coaching Sessions
Teaching a dog what to do and what not to do
1-1 face to face sessions are simply the best way to learn how to train your dog. These sessions are designed to go at a pace which your dog learns, while you are providing increasing clarity to your dog.
Group Training Classes
Socialisation done correctly
We offer a range of group classes. We may do a more formal obedience class, we may do a pack walk, we may do an enviromental walk, we may do a scentwork class.
We frequently hold our groups in real world situations to proof and solidfy good behaviours. We also used controlled spaces to provide foundational learning.
Educational
Learning about dogs always
We have private member areas where we continue to discuss, share, learn and interact with existing clients to continue to educate on canine communication, dog training, dealing with unwanted behaviours and anything to do with DOG.