YoshiPaws

Sunday walks with my best friend.

International Working Animal Day!
CEO of YoPaws Yoshi featured! yay!

🐾 Salute our K9 heroes! Today is International Working Animal Day, and we are celebrating the extraordinary four-legged professionals who dedicate their lives to helping us. 🐕💼

From the elite AFP Canine Squad protecting our community, to Guide Dog puppy raisers shaping future lifelines, to therapy dogs bringing comfort, and wildlife heroes like Bear the Koala Detection Dog—Australia’s working dogs are nothing short of incredible.

Over on our Canine Professionals Hub, we’re sharing 5 inspiring stories you won't want to miss, alongside expert training tips and wellness advice tailored for these hard-working pups.

👉 Visit our website to explore the hub today!

What type of working dog inspires you the most? Let us know in the comments! 👇

Looking sharp in Biscuit Gear vest.

Loving our new vest and new YoPaws patches.

Had a blast playing with today! 🐾

Play, break, attack, rest, play... and repeat. 😆

Sometimes being a puppy means running full speed, wrestling with your friends, taking a quick recharge, and then doing it all over again. Safe to say both pups had a great time!

🐾💙

So proud of you, little one. 💚

Museum visits, public access, settling under chairs, navigating crowds, working with me... and surviving a surprise rabbit sighting while working. 🐰

Thank you for trusting me and always trying your best.
Best friends, training partners, and teammates forever. 💙🐾

It's been a big couple of days for me and my bestie.

On Thursday, I attended assistance animal awareness training in the morning, helped my bestie get through a hospital appointment, then went back for more training in the afternoon. We were back again on Friday morning.

To make things even harder, there was a bunny outside during the afternoon session. A real bunny. Right there. Just existing.

I would like everyone to know that I remained professional and held it together despite these extremely challenging working conditions.

I only barked once at the very end to make sure my human was aware of the situation.

🐰👀

🐾 Yoshi

🐾 Could My Dog Be an Assistance Dog?

A short online course designed to help you better understand assistance dog suitability before investing significant time, money, and energy into the journey.

Inside the course, you'll learn about:

✅ What assistance dogs do and how they support disability-related needs
✅ Why temperament matters more than training alone
✅ Common green flags and red flags
✅ Public access expectations and challenges
✅ Why some dogs continue in assistance work and others don't
✅ The realities of the assistance dog journey

📄 Includes 3 downloadable resources
• 10 Questions to Ask Before Starting an Assistance Dog Journey
• Assistance Dog Suitability Reflection Worksheet
• Green Flags and Red Flags Quick Reference Guide

🎓 Save 25% until 30 June 2026 with code FIRST25

Whether you're considering an assistance dog, exploring owner training, or wondering whether your current dog may be suitable, this course will help you make more informed decisions about your next steps.

👉 Enrol now: https://yopaws.com.au/product/could-my-dog-be-an-assistance-dog/

Assistance Dog Life at the Gym 🐾🏋️

Yesterday Yoshi joined me at the gym for another training outing.

She settled beautifully on her mat while I worked through a mix of weights and time on the elliptical. What was supposed to be a straightforward workout somehow turned into over an hour of Yoshi patiently waiting for her human to finish. 😂

A huge part of assistance dog training isn't performing tasks. It's learning how to relax, settle, and remain calm in real-world environments while life carries on around them.

Yesterday Yoshi practised:
🐾 Settling calmly on her mat for over an hour
🐾 Ignoring people, movement, and gym activity
🐾 Remaining relaxed around unfamiliar equipment and noises
🐾 Choosing rest instead of seeking attention or entertainment
🐾 Staying focused despite a very slow human workout

I think she finished her workout long before I finished mine. 😴

🐾 Golden Retriever Home Grooming Starter Kit (Amateur Edition) 🐾

Golden Retrievers are beautiful dogs.

They are also basically made of fur. 😂

This is our home grooming setup for Yoshi. We're not professional groomers, just trying to stay on top of the endless coat maintenance that comes with living with a Golden Retriever.

🪮 Our basic kit includes:

✔️ Slicker brush for removing loose coat and helping prevent tangles
✔️ Metal comb for checking behind the ears, legs, tail, and feathering
✔️ Nail grinder and clippers for nail maintenance
✔️ Grooming dryer/blower to help dry the coat and remove loose undercoat
✔️ Pet wipes for quick clean-ups between baths
✔️ Grooming scissors (not pictured) for the occasional tidy-up around paws and feathering

🏠 The unsung heroes?
🧺 Towels. Lots of towels.
💨 A good vacuum cleaner.

No matter how much brushing you do, Golden Retriever glitter somehow finds its way into every corner of the house.

A few things we've learned along the way:

🐕 Little and often is easier than marathon grooming sessions.
🐕 Introduce tools gradually and make grooming a positive experience.
🐕 Check ears, paws, nails, and coat regularly rather than waiting for problems to appear.
🐕 Grooming is about more than appearance. It's also an opportunity to build trust, confidence, and cooperative care skills.

Yoshi wasn't always a fan of grooming. These days she knows the routine. We brush, dry, trim what needs trimming, and afterwards she heads straight back to her bed for a well-earned nap. 😴

Golden Retriever owners, what's the one grooming tool you couldn't live without?



The last photo of Yoshi asleep afterwards is gold. It tells the whole story: grooming complete, job done, nap time. 🐾😴