C.O.R Dog Training

🐶 Mouthing & Biting
One of the most common concerns puppy owners have is mouthing and biting. While it can be frustrating (and painful), it's important to understand that mouthing is a normal part of canine development.
Puppies use their mouths to explore the world, interact with their environment, play with others, and learn social skills. In fact, a puppy's mouth is one of its primary tools for gathering information about the world around them.
The issue isn't that puppies mouth—it’s what they learn from it.
From a behavioural science perspective, dogs repeat behaviours that are reinforced. Reinforcement simply means a behaviour results in an outcome the dog finds rewarding. If mouthing leads to attention, play, movement, laughter, physical interaction, or access to something desirable, the behaviour is likely to increase over time.
This is why many owners unintentionally strengthen mouthing without realising it. Pushing a puppy away, waving your hands, pulling clothing back, talking to them, or engaging in a tug-of-war style interaction can all become part of the reinforcement history that maintains the behaviour.
Neuroscience also plays a role. Young puppies have immature impulse control systems and are still developing the neural pathways responsible for emotional regulation, frustration tolerance, and self-control. Just like children, puppies require guidance and repetition to learn appropriate ways of interacting with the world.
Mouthing commonly occurs during:
• Play
• Excitement
• Attention-seeking
• Exploration
• Teething
• Frustration
• Overstimulation
Rather than focusing solely on stopping the behaviour, we should focus on teaching an alternative.
✔ Redirect onto appropriate toys and chews
✔ Reward calm interaction
✔ Teach impulse control
✔ Ensure puppies are getting adequate rest
✔ Consistently reinforce appropriate play
Mouthing is normal.
What matters is whether the puppy learns that using their mouth on people works—or whether they learn better ways to engage with the world.

🐾Community Dog Walk-You're invited! 🐾

After receiving some positive feedback from local dog owners, I've decided to organise our first community dog walk.

🗓Sunday 5th July
🕘11.00am
📍Lake Weeroona- meet near the Boatshed

The idea is simple: a relaxed walk where local dog owners can meet, enjoy some time outdoors, and spend time with their dogs in a calm, friendly environment.

This isn't formal training class or a dog park meetup- just a casual opportunity to connect with other dog lovers and enjoy a walk together.

Dogs of all ages and breeds are welcome, provided they're comfortable being around other dogs and people while on lead.

If you'd like to come along, feel free to comment below or send a DN, so I can get a rough idea of numbers.

Looking forward to meeting everyone! 🐶

When we think about reactivity, it's easy to focus on the moment we can see.

The barking.
The lunging.
The growling.
The whining.
The pulling.

But by the time those behaviours appear, a lot may already have been happening beneath the surface.

Many dogs show subtle signs before they react:
• Increased scanning
• Fixation on a trigger
• Body tension
• Reduced responsiveness
• Rising arousal

On top of that, every dog brings their own unique combination of genetics, experiences, environment, stress levels, learning history, and emotional regulation skills.

This is why two dogs can encounter the exact same situation and respond very differently.

Understanding reactivity isn't just about looking at the behaviour itself. It's about learning to recognise the factors and warning signs that often come before it.

The more we understand what's happening beneath the surface, the better equipped we are to support the dog in front of us.

💬 What's one subtle sign you've noticed before your dog reacts?

Dogs are not blank slates.
Long before modern pet ownership, dogs were selectively bred for specific jobs, environments and behavioural traits. Over generations, humans intentionally reinforced instincts that helped dogs succeed in particular roles — herding livestock, tracking scent, guarding property, retrieving game, pulling sleds, hunting independently, and more.
Those instincts still exist in modern dogs today.
This doesn’t mean behaviour is “fixed,” or that training doesn’t matter. Learning history, environment, reinforcement, socialisation and individual experiences all play enormous roles in behaviour. But genetics can influence:
• motivation
• arousal levels
• sensitivity
• environmental focus
• persistence
• movement patterns
• problem-solving styles
• sociability
• recovery from stress
• and reinforcement preferences
For example, some dogs naturally place a high value on movement, scent or environmental exploration. Others may be more handler-focused, socially motivated or environmentally neutral. This can influence things like recall, loose leash walking, disengagement from distractions, responsiveness outdoors and overall training progress.
Behaviour often makes more sense when we stop viewing dogs through the lens of obedience alone and start considering behavioural purpose.
A dog bred to travel independently over large distances may naturally value freedom of movement more than close proximity to a handler. A dog bred to monitor movement may orient strongly toward motion in the environment. A dog bred for scent work may naturally prioritise odour information over verbal cues in certain situations.
These behaviours are not “bad.”
They are often expressions of deeply reinforced behavioural tendencies.
Understanding this doesn’t lower expectations — it helps us create fairer, more realistic and more effective training strategies.
Good training is not about suppressing instinct.
It is about understanding behaviour, meeting needs appropriately, building reinforcement value, and helping dogs learn how to navigate the human world successfully.
When we understand the dog in front of us more clearly, we can support them more effectively.

Your dog isn’t “being naughty” for toileting inside the house.
Inappropriate elimination can stem from incomplete training, stress, changes in routine, lack of access to the toilet area — or even underlying medical conditions. In many cases, the behaviour is a symptom, not the root problem itself.
Before assuming disobedience, ask why the behaviour is happening. Dogs communicate through behaviour, and accidents inside the home are often information we should pay attention to, not punish.
Understanding the cause is the first step toward resolving the problem.

That “guilty look” your dog gives after chewing something up, stealing food, or making a mess on the floor may not actually be guilt at all.
The lowered head, tucked tail, pinned ears, lip licking, avoidance, or hesitant body language many people interpret as “feeling bad” are more commonly associated with stress, uncertainty, appeasement, or anticipation of your reaction.
Dogs are incredibly observant of human emotions and body language. Over time, they learn patterns and associations. If previous situations involving chewed shoes, rubbish, accidents, or stolen items have resulted in tension, frustration, scolding, or punishment, your dog may begin responding to your emotional cues before you even say anything.
This doesn’t necessarily mean they understand they have done something morally “wrong” in the human sense.
Dogs learn through consequences, repetition, reinforcement, and experience — not through guilt, shame, spite, or revenge.
Understanding this changes how we approach behaviour. Instead of assuming our dogs are being “naughty,” we can begin looking at what the behaviour is communicating, why it is happening, and how we can guide our dogs more clearly and compassionately.

Resilience is one of the most important skills we can help our dogs develop. 🐾
From a neuroscience perspective, confidence is built through experience. When dogs are safely exposed to small challenges, recover from frustration, problem solve independently, and learn they can cope without constant support, the brain begins creating stronger emotional resilience pathways over time.
This doesn’t mean throwing dogs into overwhelming situations or emotionally disconnecting from them. In fact, secure attachment and safe independence work together.
Confidence-building often comes from giving dogs opportunities to:
• settle independently
• explore new environments
• practise calm alone time
• problem solve through enrichment
• recover from small moments of frustration
• make safe choices without constant guidance
Dogs that never learn these skills can become more reliant on reassurance, struggle with frustration, or find everyday challenges overwhelming.
Resilient dogs are not dogs that never struggle — they are dogs that have learnt they can cope, recover, and keep moving forward.
Small experiences today can create a more confident dog for life. ✨
Save or share this post with someone raising a puppy or working on confidence-building with their dog.

Whining and crying are some of the earliest forms of communication dogs learn. Even as puppies, before their eyes are fully open, vocalisation is used to signal discomfort, distress, isolation, or a need for social contact.

As dogs grow older, whining can still occur for many different reasons, including:
• fear or anxiety
• frustration
• loneliness or isolation distress
• pain or discomfort
• over-arousal
• or behaviours that have unintentionally been reinforced over time

This is why it’s important not to immediately label every whining dog as simply “attention-seeking.” The sound itself is only the symptom — the real goal is understanding what emotional or physical state is driving it.

Context matters:

When does the whining happen?

What is happening around the dog?

What body language accompanies it?

What outcome usually follows?

The more we understand why behaviours occur, the better we can address them appropriately instead of just reacting to the noise itself.

Save this post for later, or share it with someone struggling with a vocal dog 🐾

One of the reasons I do not recommend leaving toys available 24/7 is because reinforcement that is constantly accessible through the environment often loses both value and purpose over time.
From a behavioural perspective, dogs build patterns through repetition and reinforcement. When stimulating items are always available on the floor, many dogs begin learning to access excitement, arousal, and fulfilment independently from the environment rather than through structured interaction with their owner.
This does NOT mean dogs should never have toys or enrichment.
It means enrichment should be intentional.
Structured toy access helps create:
• more meaningful engagement,
• higher play value,
• better interaction with the owner,
• improved impulse control,
• clearer on/off states between activity and relaxation.
Access creates value.
The more available something is, the less psychologically significant it often becomes. This is why rotating toys and using them intentionally during engagement, play sessions, training, decompression, or reward-based interaction is often far more beneficial than unlimited passive access.
This is also one of the reasons structured play can be extremely valuable for reactive, environmentally focused, or highly aroused dogs.
When dogs learn to engage in play with their owner, rather than constantly self-reinforcing through the environment, we begin building higher value in the handler during stimulating situations. Over time, this can help improve disengagement from environmental triggers because the dog has practised orientating back to the owner, listening under arousal, and working through excitement in a controlled and structured way.
Structured play also allows us to channel natural instincts such as chasing, biting, tugging, hunting, and possession into appropriate outlets while still maintaining boundaries, engagement, and impulse control. The goal is not to suppress drive, but to teach the dog how to regulate and express those instincts constructively.
For some dogs, especially high-drive or easily overstimulated dogs, constant access to stimulating toys can also contribute to:
• over-arousal,
• obsessive toy fixation,
• inability to settle,
• possessive behaviours,
• constant stimulation-seeking.
Save or share if you learnt something new today.