Reactive Dog Training for Bowral & Southern Highlands

Specialist reactive dog support for Highlands families, delivered through online consultations and intensive academy day-visits. For the dog who can't cope around other dogs, on leads, or in busy environments.

Highlands reactive dogs are common

The Southern 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 and now living in cooler-climate suburban environments asking them to be calm. Reactivity by twelve to eighteen months is predictable for many of these dogs.

If you've reached the point of avoiding walks or other dogs, this is treatable. The format we use for Highlands clients is different from coastal ones, because we don't run weekly in-home sessions up the mountain.

What's happening when your dog reacts

Reactivity is an arousal problem with a behaviour symptom. By the time your dog is lunging or barking, the thinking brain is offline. Treats don't reach them. Cues don't work. The fix is to lower the underlying state until the thinking brain returns, then teach skills, then test them gradually.

How we work with Highlands reactive dogs

Format 1: Online consultations. 60-minute video sessions with Nath. Detailed intake, a written plan, follow-ups as you work through it. Most Highlands families do three to six sessions over eight to ten weeks with video sent in between for feedback. More on online consultations.

Format 2: Academy day-visits via Private Dog Training. Drive down to our Lake Illawarra academy for focused, hands-on Private Dog Training sessions. Useful for hands-on coaching, equipment fitting, controlled exposure to other dogs in a structured environment.

Format 3: Full Kickstart with travel. The most intensive option. 4-Week Calm Kickstart for Bowral covers the geography honestly.

The three-phase approach

Phase 1: Calm at home. Indoor work first. Place training, structured downtime. Build the underlying state.

Phase 2: Subthreshold exposure. Highlands gives you great open spaces and quiet country roads. Use them. We coach you on where and when to work the dog.

Phase 3: Real-world generalisation. Busier environments. Bowral Memorial Park. Bong Bong Street weekends. The places you've been avoiding.

How we approach it

Our job is to teach you how to do what's best for your specific dog. Built on The Walkys Method. We use rewards and shaping. We also use carefully chosen tools when the dog needs more than rewards. If you've tried purely positive and it hasn't worked, read When positive-only training hasn't worked.

How to start

Book Private Dog Training with Nath →

Or book a free 30-minute call first.

Related

See also Private Dog Training for Bowral, 4-Week Calm Kickstart for Bowral, or Walkys Australia-Wide for our full online service set.