Dog Training for Bowral & Southern Highlands
TRAIN. EXERCISE. PLAY. Walkys is a structured school for dogs. Love, Respect, Loyalty is our motto. Serving Highlands families through online consultations and intensive academy day-visits.
Stoked you're joining the pack
Walkys is an accredited dog training academy with two Illawarra locations: Lake Illawarra and Unanderra. Five-star Google rated. 100+ reviews from families across the region. Our approach is 95% positive reinforcement with occasional correction when behaviour modification calls for it.
The honest service-area picture
Walkys' physical academies are in the Illawarra, roughly 45 to 55 minutes down Macquarie Pass from the Highlands. We don't run regular in-home sessions up the mountain. The way we serve Bowral, Mittagong, and Moss Vale families is different from the way we serve coastal clients.
Here's how Highlands families actually work with us.
Format 1: Online consultations
60-minute video calls with Nath. Full intake, written plan, follow-ups as you work through it. Suits most behaviour problems, especially in the Highlands' generally lower-traffic walking environments. More on online consultations.
Format 2: Academy day-visits
Drive down for a focused day at Lake Illawarra. Useful for hands-on coaching, equipment fitting, controlled exposure to other dogs.
Format 3: Full Kickstart with travel
The most intensive option. 4-Week Calm Kickstart for Bowral covers what's involved honestly.
The full program pathway
For Highlands clients we can deliver, in some format:
Puppy School (online or via travel-down)
Private Dog Training (online consults or academy day-visits)
Reactive Dog Training (online consults plus optional academy work)
4-Week Calm Kickstart (in-person with travel commitment)
Why Highlands dogs need different approaches
The Highlands has a high concentration of working breeds in domestic homes. Border Collies, Aussie Shepherds, Kelpies, working line Shepherds. Bred for hours of structured work, asked to be calm in cooler-climate suburban settings. Without deliberate training, persistent anxiety, reactivity, or destructive patterns by twelve to eighteen months. Our approach emphasises mental work and impulse control over physical exhaustion.
How we train
Built on The Walkys Method: clarity, calm, fulfilment. If you've tried positive-only and it hasn't worked, read When positive-only training hasn't worked.
See the full Walkys story
Or jump straight in: book a free 30-minute call with Nath.
Related
For online-first families anywhere in Australia, Walkys Australia-Wide covers our complete remote service set.