Big-dog handling
Practical support for Staffies, Rottweilers, mastiffs, bully breeds and large mixed breeds — especially when your dog’s size, strength or enthusiasm makes walking them look like a cartoon.
SIDE EYEDOG TRAINING · PERTH HILLSDOG TRAINING FOR REAL LIFE
Big dogs. Exceptionally enthusiastic dogs. Misunderstood dogs.
Practical help for rescue and reactive dogs — and the people trying their best to understand them.
Perth Hills based · Serving metropolitan Perth
THE STARTING POINT
Your dog isn’t broken. They’re telling you something.
Dogs don’t do things for no reason. Before we ask “How do we stop this?”, we work out what is driving it. Then we make a plan that suits the dog in front of us, the people they live with and the life you actually have.
HOW I CAN HELP
Let’s work out what is actually going on.
No judgement, no grand performance and no pretending there is one magic command. We’ll look at the whole picture, make a few useful changes and find an approach you can keep using after I leave.
Reactivity & anxiety
Work out what happens before the explosion, create useful space and build skills that help your dog settle and come back to you.
Helping Rescues Feel at Home
Help for newly adopted dogs who have landed somewhere new and do not yet know the rules — or whether they are safe. We build trust, routines and realistic expectations.
Everyday foundations
Lead walking, recall, puppy basics and the useful everyday skills that make life easier at both ends of the lead.
START HERE
from $195
90-minute home consultation
We start where the behaviour happens — at home and in your neighbourhood.
- Observation in your home
- Practical training together
- Useful changes to routines and environment
- Written recommendations to keep
Follow-up visits are 60 minutes from $120. Travel is quoted case by case. Appointments are arranged around my availability.
Ask about your dogABOUT ME
Practical, patient and not easily shocked.
I’m a dog trainer with years of hands-on rescue-kennel and fostering experience, a lifetime living with dogs, and experience training my own dogs in agility and assistance work.
I have a particular soft spot for big dogs and misunderstood breeds: Staffies, Rottweilers, bully breeds and large mixed breeds with character to spare.
I look at the dog in front of me, not the label someone has put on them. My job is not to arrive, perform a miracle and leave you wondering how to repeat it. It is to give you clear, achievable things to do and help everyday life feel more manageable.
REAL DOGS, REAL CHANGE
Real dogs rarely follow the textbook.
Progress can be slow, wonky and surprisingly ordinary. We start with what your dog can manage now — not the dog anyone expected them to be.
BEFORE WE BOOK
The useful details, before anyone gets in the car.
What to have ready
Your dog’s usual lead, harness and everyday equipment.
Payment
Due when booking by bank transfer or card. Cash by arrangement.
Changes to an appointment
Please give 48 hours’ notice where possible. Changes are handled reasonably, case by case.
Urgent medical concerns need a veterinarian. Immediate danger or an emergency needs the appropriate emergency service.
TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DOG
No perfect dogs required.
Tell me what is happening, what you have tried and what you would like life with your dog to feel like. I’m based in the Perth Hills and work across most of metropolitan Perth. Travel is quoted case by case, and appointments are arranged around availability.
I aim to respond within two business days.