About What We Do
My name is Domineque and I have worked in the animal industry since 2007, both in Sydney (RSPCA) and Monika’s Doggie Rescue and Sanctuary Tails Animal Rescue, and in Dublin, Ireland (DSPCA) and now as The Dog Behavioural Trainer.
I am also the Co-founder of Canine Caregivers. I am a Qualified Delta Dog Behavioural trainer.
I have completed the Aggression in Dogs Course, The L.E.G.S course to become a family dog mediator as well as an Advanced course in observation and training using chickens (I know sounds crazy, I learnt to train chickens to work with dogs).
I continue to gain knowledge from courses and seminars to better understand yours and your dogs need so I can help you as a team.I specialise in working with Reactivity and anxiety issues.
Dog Behavioural training is not about obedience, it’s about understanding your dog and their needs and how to help them live in our human world, as well as give them confidence.
A dog that has been given guidance from a young age, as well as education will be a lot less likely to develop anxiety or reactive behaviours later in life.
Teach your dog the behaviours they need.
Dogs respond to their environment dependent on their learning history and the experiences they have had.
This is why it is important to teach your dog the behaviours they need to be happy and confident in our human world.
Unfortunately many things that dog’s find fun and rewarding are not acceptable in the human community.
So it is up to you, your dog’s guardian, to train and teach them how you would like them to behave.
Over the last 20 years there has been a significant change in our understanding of dog behaviour and how they learn. The “Dominance theory” is thankfully a thing of the past.
Through many years of research we have learnt that using “Pack Leader” or “Dominance training”, can do much more harm than good, as well as being potentially dangerous.
So the days of enforcing your Alpha status on your dog are long gone. Now we know that what we really want from our dogs is trust.
Dogs are learning all the time.
It is important to remember that dogs are learning all the time.
Understanding the you spend with your dog they are learning something, think about it, how does your dog react when you pick up the lead? Or when you pick up their bowl? Did you train them to behave that way?
Your dog has learned through association that when you pick up the lead they go for a walk, or when you pick up the bowl, they get fed.
Dog’s learn through association, building an association between a behaviour for example you picking up the lead – and the reward is going for a walk.
Unfortunately this can also work with unwanted behaviours.
With the right training you can teach your dog to do anything.
Why do we use positive reinforcement? Because it works.
Positive reinforcement training is a scientifically proven method that helps train your dog using food/toys/ attention/ life rewards etc. as motivators.
Just like we go to work to get paid, dogs work for reinforcers. It can also help to make training fun for both you and your dog.
Using positive reinforcement when training your dog is universally endorsed by the behavioural and the scientific community as the most humane long-lasting, effective and safest method to train your dog.
Positive reinforcement basically means, reward the behaviour you like, there is more chance of the behaviour being repeated.
If I gave you $50 every time you sat on a particular chair do you think you would repeat the behaviour and find that chair AMAZING?
Training your dog should be a fun and exciting experience for you both, where you build a bridge of trust and understanding from both ends of the leads.