Bendigo Dog Training with Tully Williams

18/06/2026

The expanded 2nd Edition, and finally the much requested E-Book version, of Real World Dog (and Human!) Training, is now available on Amazon!

Get your copy on the link below.

Also, I recently received the following message from a reader, and think that it is worth including in full, with permission.

It is very gratifying to see that the book is having the kind of impact that is needed, and which is the reason I wrote the book.

Hopefully there are many more like Marcin willing to have their beliefs challenged and not just remain ideologically driven:

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Dear Tully,

I wanted to send you a brief note to thank you for your book.

I come from the positive-only training community, and after several years I have finally come to realize that it is, in many ways, an ideology rather than an evidence-based approach. Looking back, I can also see that some of its assumptions can be genuinely harmful, and in some cases do not lead to good outcomes.

I was initially motivated to read your book after seeing John Staddon's review of it. I also happened to have your previous book sitting on my shelf, which I bought quite a while ago but never fully appreciated at the time.

Most of all, I wanted to express my gratitude for the enormous amount of work that must have gone into writing this book. The depth of research, the careful argumentation, and the sheer effort involved are obvious on every page. It is a valuable contribution to the field, and I am very grateful that you took the time to write it.

Thank you again for your work.

Best regards,

Marcin Koniarski

And…

Hi Tully,

Thank you for your reply.

To answer your question, no, I am not actively training dogs at the moment. I feel that I need some time to rethink and reorganize many of my assumptions about dog training.

What makes this experience particularly strange for me is that I come from a behavior analysis background. Over the years I have read hundreds of JEAB papers and have a strong interest in conceptual and theoretical issues within behavior analysis. In fact, one of the reasons I paid attention to John Staddon's review was that I already knew his experimental work and had previously read Science in an Age of Unreason.

Looking back, I am not surprised that I remained committed to the positive-only philosophy for so long despite encountering many signs that some of its claims were overgeneralizations. Most of us genuinely care about animal welfare, and that concern makes certain narratives very compelling.

Yesterday I went back and reread parts of Karen Pryor's work and was surprised by how many contradictions I now see, sometimes within only a few paragraphs, just like you mentioned in your book. An even bigger shock has been re-examining Sidman's Coercion and Its Fallout. For many years that book was almost a bible to me, so revisiting it with a more critical eye has been a genuinely unsettling experience.

I have also purchased several of your videos and experimented with my own dog, a pet Border Collie. One thing that really surprised me was how quickly I was able to teach a "follow behind" behavior. This is a dog who would previously become "frustrated" (typically barking) whenever my training was not carried out almost perfectly. Following your approach, however, the behavior emerged quickly and smoothly, with none of that usual "frustration," and the dog seemed genuinely happy and relaxed throughout and afterwards.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, has been the gap between what I imagined when reading descriptions of your methods and what I actually saw when watching your videos. For years, terms such as "correction" or "punishment" in dog training automatically brought images of harsh treatment to mind. Then I watched your training and saw a calm, thoughtful trainer working dogs without any of the things I had imagined.
It has left me feeling as though I am reassessing a great deal of what I thought I knew.

And yes, you are absolutely welcome to use my message, or any part of it. I would also be happy to write an Amazon review once I have finished the book.

Regards,

Marcin

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Get your copy today!

Real World Dog (and Human!) Training: Why Correction Succeeds and "Positive" Training Fails

09/10/2025

Maremma pups ready to go to their new homes NOW - 10 weeks old. Vaccinated, microchipped. Socialized with chooks and to a lesser extent sheep and goats.

More information at http://www.campaspeworkingdogs.com/lgds-for-sale.../

PM for information.

08/10/2025

The reward-only ideology is the main reason crime is running rampant in many western countries. It fails with dogs, and it fails with people.

The root of this insanity can, to a large degree, be traced back to Murray Sidman's massively flawed book, "Coercion and it's fallout" (and further back to the father of "behaviourism", Skinner himself). In it, Sidman argues for a "pure positive" approach in ALL human interactions - including child rearing, school teaching, law enforcement, the judiciary, and even international relations including dealing with terrorists! (I devote an entire chapter to refuting Sidman's irrational rantings in my book - and Skinner's.)

Today, we are seeing the fruits of this type of anti-reality madness.

Also note that "minimal intervention" brings to mind Stephen Lindsay's LIMA framework (Least Intrusive Minimally Invasive), which, no matter how well intentioned, as I discuss in my book, also fails. (And don't even bother considering South Australian professor Fernandez's insane LIFE model!). I devote another chapter to discussing these failed frameworks, and offer a superior alternative.

If you'd like to understand all of these issues, including why punishment is ABSOLUTELY necessary, and the principles for it's most effective application, get your copy of REAL WORLD DOG TRAINING - Why Correction Succeeds and "Positive" Training Fails, today.

Used properly, whether in animal or human contexts, punishment can indeed be used minimally, but ONLY if it is used properly. And that often means using it EARLY, and in sufficient strength. This is all discussed in my book in great detail.

Www.realworlddogtraining.com.au

An official guide for judges and magistrates in making bail decisions, updated in the wake of the Allan government’s crime crackdown, still advises decision makers to “impose the minimum intervention required” on accused young offenders > https://bit.ly/4n6nRvG

07/09/2025

Purebred Maremma pups for sale. Ready to go late September. Message me if interested. Photos are sire, dam and pups. $950.

Visit https://www.campaspeworkingdogs.com/lgds-for-sale.../ for more details.

02/06/2025

Another new book review:

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Mind-blowing. Game-changing. Worth every penny—and then some. BUY THIS BOOK!

This book is amazeballs. Within a week I’m already seeing a massive transformation in my dogs—obedience is better, state of mind is better, behaviour better, reactivity better, relationship better, more stuff I can’t think of right now are better – better, better, better!

Even my dogs would give it five stars! Every page delivers lightbulb moments and relatable analogies that fire off like mental fireworks.

It exposes the failures of “positive” methods with honesty and clarity—and offers something that actually works.

If you're even THINKING about buying this book: just do it. BUY THIS BOOK! It's more than a book—it's a breakthrough.

Worth every penny, and then some.

- Alex James, United Kingdom

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You can get your copy on the website. It ships worldwide.

The MUST READ Dog Training Book of 2025. Treat training usually fails in the REAL WORLD. Competing environmental rewards simply outweigh your treat. Here you'll learn why, and find only proven methods based in reality.

25/05/2025

More lies from the so-called "positive" ideologues - here's another Susan Garrett LIE, where she tries to claim positive reinforcement is how dogs avoid being killed in the wild(!):

“[positive] reinforcement-based dog training is really in its infancy – I mean, it’s been around since the dawning of time. I mean that’s how animals have avoided being killed…”

Really, Susan? Positive reinforcement is how animals have avoided being killed?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

That is some serious misrepresentation of the facts of nature right there, in a completely dishonest attempt to support her failure of an ideology.

Of course, the truth is that animals avoid things due to punishment, not reward. My sheepdogs learn to avoid getting kicked by a cow by being kicked previously, or maybe a near miss, or getting hit by mud flying off the hoof. They don't learn to "avoid being killed" by positive reinforcement!

This is only one of 3 or 4 serious fallacies in this video of hers where she dishonestly attempts to defend reward-only training. Susan Garrett isn't stupid. She KNOWS she's lying.

If you'd like to learn much more about the lies told by the "positive" influencers, and learn the TRUTH about dog training, get your copy of my book REAL WORLD DOG TRAINING - Why Correction Succeeds and "Positive" Training Fails.

www.realworlddogtraining.com.au

23/05/2025

Another happy reader. You can get your copy at www.realworlddogtraining.com.au.

14/05/2025

More reviews for my new book continue to roll in...

Jacqui Z***r - Dog Sense Training and Behaviour:

"Tully Williams has written an incredibly well researched book, showing that while the positive reinforcement (Force Free) approach started as a welcome addition to the evolution of dog training, over the past 10-20 years has become an ideologically biased approach at a systemic level.

"An ideology that becomes more extreme by the week, marginalising more and more dogs and owners when they can’t achieve the outcomes insisted are possible according to cherry picked research with little to no practical evidence in the field.
Tully unpacks, with cited examples, the hypocrisy and disinformation presented by leaders of the positive reinforcement / Force Free movement, and breaks down why science does not show what they claim.

"I’d highly recommend this book to any dog trainer or dog enthusiast who wants to understand the ongoing industry debates and why ‘positive’ isn’t always so positive and that Force Free training is ‘not’ the science based approach it claims to be.
Congratulations Tully, on an important book that is so needed right now."

And:

Carolina Bodin - Dynamo Dogs Australia:

"Love this book, and Tully’s approach and mindset when it comes to training."

You can get your copy now at

The MUST READ Dog Training Book of 2025. Treat training usually fails in the REAL WORLD. Competing environmental rewards simply outweigh your treat. Here you'll learn why, and find only proven methods based in reality.

24/04/2025

Thankyou to all our ANZACs.