Unpacked Dog Education & Training

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Unpacked Dog Education & Training

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Scent detection, puppy and adolescent classes and behavioural consultation service for all ages and breeds. Ballarat and Melbourne 🐾
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29/10/2026

A little glimpse inside our Puppy Class: Reimagined 🐶

The goal of this course is simple: create a secure, confident puppy who’s set up well for life.

Over four weeks we cover toilet and crate training, nipping and mouthing, recall and loose lead walking, positive socialisation, and preventing things like separation anxiety and resource guarding, all backed by the latest science in puppy development.

We use the incredible facilities at to give pups new things to explore, surfaces to feel, and scents to smell. It’s a playground for dogs, and perfect exposure and socialisation for pups who are learning about the world!

Our next course kicks off Saturday, November 7.

If you’ve got a pup aged 8-16 weeks and you want to set them up for success, this is your sign to join us! We only have 🚨2 spots left🚨 in our upcoming course, so don’t miss out!

📅 4 week course starting November 7
🕐 1-2pm
📍 That Dog Place, Smythes Creek
💰 $200

Send us a message or head to unpackeddogtraining.com.au to sign up.

26/10/2026

“I don’t have time to train my dog.”

We hear this a lot, and we get it! Life gets busy.

But the thing about having a dog is you’re ALWAYS training them, whether you realise it or not. Every boundary you hold, everything you accidentally reward, and everything you ignore is teaching them something.

Training doesn’t always need its own time slot. Sometimes, you just need a little more intention with what you’re already doing.

Consistent, everyday moments can give you more progress than a couple big sessions every week.

If you’d like help building these into your routine, reach out. Our Life Skills courses are the perfect way to start, or if a group setting isn’t your scene, we offer 1:1 consults in Ballarat and Melbourne.

Send us a message or head to unpackeddogtraining.com.au to find out more.

24/10/2026

When people think “scent dog” they usually picture the spaniels, labradors, and hounds they see in working detection at airports and music festivals…

But they’re far from the only dogs that can do scent work!

Every dog has an incredible nose, and any dog can learn to use it. Big, small, fluffy, young, old, bouncy or shy. Scent work is a great fit for dogs who need a job, nervous or reactive dogs, older dogs, and anyone who wants to try scent sports.

If you’ve been curious about scent work, or just want to try something new with your dog, join our Level 1 Scent Detection course kicking off Wednesday evening (28th of October).

In this course, we build your dog’s search and hunt skills with food and toys, teach them to show you when they’ve found the target, and develop the two of you as a team. It’s enrichment for your dog and a brilliant way to understand them better!

📅 4 week course starting October 28th
🕐 5:30pm-7pm
📍 Mount Clear Scout Hall
💰 $225

Send us a message or head to unpackeddogtraining.com.au to secure your spot!

23/10/2026

Happy birthday Leigh! ❤️

Please join me in wishing the heart and soul of our business the happiest of birthdays, you are deeply loved and respected by so many people and dogs! 🐾

Thank you for everything you do for our business, your love and support mean everything to me 🌈

Started the day at our favourite Cornerstone Cafe 🍳 ❤️

21/10/2026

Warmer weather means longer days, BBQs, parties, festivals… and a lot more noise. 🎉

That might be great for us, but for noise-sensitive dogs, it can be a stressful time of year. The good news is that noise sensitivity isn't something you just have to put up with. With the right support, you can work on building your dog's confidence, and help make the festive season as enjoyable for your dog as it is for you!

Here's how we can help:

🐾 Private behavioural consults: we come to you (Ballarat and Melbourne), see how your dog reacts in their own environment, and build a plan around their triggers.

🐾 Our classes: positive socialisation in puppy class, confidence-building in our Adolescent and Scent Detection courses, and a supportive environment to learn in.

In the meantime, a few management tips for noisy nights:

1. Make sure your dog is microchipped, your details are up to date, and they're wearing an ID tag.
2. Set up a safe space they can retreat to, and keep them inside with the curtains drawn and the TV or music on.
3. Check gates, fences and doors, especially with guests coming and going.

If you’re unsure where to start, send us a message!

20/10/2026

Congratulations to our latest group of Adolescent dog training graduates! 🎓 ❤️

We had so much fun with this group, and some incredible leaps in connection and understanding were made! 🎉 we couldn’t be more proud 🥹

We can’t wait to see you in level 2 Life Skills and/or Scent training! 🐕

If you’d like to join our penultimate 4 week Adolescent dog training class for 2026, be quick! It starts this Sat 24 Oct at 9.30am in Redan.

Come and join the fun! 🤩

19/10/2026

Did you know our dogs have jobs? They're more than just a pretty face!

When they're not helping out in class, our crew put their noses to work as Conservation Detection Dogs. We search windfarms across Victoria and NSW as part of bird and bat mortality surveys, helping ecologists understand how wildlife is affected.

It's important work, and using a dog's nose to complete it definitely makes things easier. Imagine searching hectares of land by eye? You'd be walking a while, we'll tell you that for free!

Instead, we mark out a search area around each turbine and walk neat lines across the wind, about 20m apart, out to around 120-130m. We read the wind, but the dogs confirm it, which is handy when it changes halfway through a survey. They pick up scent, and let us know exactly where to look.

It all starts with the same foundations we teach your dogs in our Scent Detection courses (psst… next course starts on the 28th of Oct 👀)

Our guys love their work. We wish more people could experience the same job satisfaction 😆

Do you have any questions about conservation detection? Let us know in the comments, we love talking about it!

17/10/2026

If you’re struggling to get your dog outside for walks, maybe due to Ballarat weather doing what it does best, restricted exercise orders (for both you or your dog!), or because your dog lacks confidence outside, we’ve got a solution!

Scent work is one of the best things you can do with your dog. It’s a mental workout that can tire them out in ways physical exercise simply can’t, but it’s low-impact so it suits dogs (and handlers!) who need to take it easy, too.

It helps nervous dogs build confidence, and hyperactive dogs regulate. In fact, we’ve done quite a few partnerships with vets as the fulfilment dogs get from searching and sniffing lowers cortisol (the stress hormone) and boosts dopamine (the happy hormone)!

We’ll never stop harping on about how great scent work is, which is why we want to teach everyone how to get into it with their dogs!

Our next Level 1 Scent Detection course starts Wednesday, 28th of October, in Mount Clear Scout Hall. It’s the perfect course to dip your toes into this wonderful activity and have fun exploring just how enriching it is for both your AND your dog.

📍 Mount Clear Scout Hall
🕠 Wednesdays, 5:30–7:00pm
💲 $225 for 4 weeks

No experience needed, just you and a dog who has a nose!

PS. For those who have already completed Level 1 and 2, our Level 3 course kicks off the same night at 7:15pm.

Link in bio to book, or send us a message if you’ve got any questions 💬

16/10/2026

As we prep for another big weekend of dog training classes, we stock ourselves up with high value training treats from The Pet Food Shop 👏🏻

We always prefer soft, meaty training treats which you can cut or break into small pieces for lots of repetitions!

Their dog food rolls fit the bill perfectly and are highly recommended by us! 🌟 and no nasty fillers like bamboo fibre in other rolls ❌

We love visiting Michelle and Krissi at the Ballarat store, we always leave with a laugh and a smile 😊

Roll on the weekend! 🐾

16/10/2026

What is the function of ‘reactivity?’ There is so much to unpack 😉 (post coming) but questions such as ‘does the dog want more or less space?’ (or does that shift?) and has the dog ever had an experience with a calm, indifferent dog?

Enter Jarrah. She is the most polite, non threatening dog we have ever had and she is perfect for giving dogs new experiences of exactly this.

Please note we will never put our dogs in danger, so this work needs many years experience of absolute attention to micro shifts in both dog’s behaviour, moment by moment.

We are thrilled Xira had a positive experience and look forward to more work with her and her dedicated owner ❤️

Address

Sturt Street
Ballarat, VIC
3350

Telephone

+61460305652

Website

http://www.unpackeddogtraining.com.au/

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