A Dog's Choice Training Services

13/06/2026

Saturday Morning Training Session – Team Whiskey 🐾

What a fantastic Saturday morning session at Brookside with Team Whiskey!

Today's focus was on navigating a busy shopping centre environment, including:
✅ Public access and shopping centre navigation
✅ Placement and spatial awareness around people and obstacles
✅ Café etiquette and settling calmly in a public setting
✅ Proofing the "Leave It" cue around real-world distractions
One of the key goals for this session was helping the team understand the importance of not becoming overly reliant on treats. Before we even entered the shopping centre, I asked the handler to hand over the treat bag!
The objective was simple: Whiskey needed to work for the reward, much like we do when we go to work and receive our pay at the end of the day. Throughout the session, Whiskey demonstrated excellent focus, maintained great engagement with the handler, and worked confidently without the constant expectation of food rewards.

As you can see from the photos, Whiskey settled beautifully in the café environment, showing excellent impulse control and patience despite the busy surroundings.
A great learning experience for both handler and dog, with plenty of valuable lessons taken away from the session.

Well done Team Whiskey – you should be very proud of your progress! 🐾🐾🐾
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27/05/2026

Sometimes a little therapy is needed… especially during exam time 💙🐾

Today A Dogs Choice had the privilege of accepting a special invitation to spend some time with students at UniSC as they prepare for exams.

What a wonderful initiative by UniSC in recognising the positive impact that dogs can have on wellbeing. The simple act of being around a dog — the tactile stimulation of patting them, sharing a quiet moment, or just taking a break from the pressure of study — can provide real therapeutic benefits and support mental health during stressful times.

Today’s stars were Team Cooper and Team Dakota, who generously shared their incredible dogs and their time with students.

What makes this even more special is that these handlers themselves navigate their own mental health challenges each day. Through the support, partnership and connection they have built with their dogs, they continue to step into the world — and today they gave a little of that support back to others.

I am so incredibly proud of both teams. Your willingness to show up, share your journey, and allow others to experience the calming and grounding presence of your dogs is something truly special.

A very special thank you to Carly at UniSC for facilitating this session and helping create such a welcoming space for students, and to Wendy from Animal Therapies Ltd for the opportunity to be involved. Opportunities like this create meaningful moments of connection and demonstrate the incredible value that animals can bring to wellbeing initiatives.

Thank you again to everyone involved and good luck to all students heading into exams — you’ve got this 💙🐾

12/05/2026

A huge congratulations to Team Dakota and Team Minnie on successfully completing their PAT renewals! 💙🐾

What makes this even more special is that these two incredible teams originally completed their PAT together two years ago — and now came back together again to be reassessed. Watching how far they have both come has been such a privilege.

These are two of my absolute favourite teams, with very special stories behind them and two truly gorgeous women to boot. Their dedication, consistency and commitment to their dogs and their training continues to shine through.

While there are always a few little tweaks to keep polishing (as there should be with any good working team), overall both teams performed extremely well. Their commitment to keeping me updated, regularly logging training, communicating openly, and showing how much their dogs genuinely change and support their daily lives is exactly what ongoing team work should look like.

Most importantly, both dogs demonstrated reliable task ex*****on and strong teamwork throughout the reassessment process, earning them continuation for a further two years.

I am incredibly proud of both teams and honoured to continue being part of their journey. 💙

30/04/2026

What a lovely training session yesterday at Samford SCHUB 👏

We welcomed a new team to the program, Team Digby, who completed their suitability and temperament assessment — and wow, what a chilled dog he is! Beautiful, stable, and he performed all criteria so nicely. Such a great start to his journey 🐾

A big thank you as well to Team Jari, Team Campbell, Team Cooper and Team Zoe who all trained brilliantly throughout the session. It’s always great to see the consistency, focus, and progress across the teams.

We also spent time working on navigating through distractions and obstacles (a big thank you to the support workers who jumped in — always great to have our “unpaid actors” 😄), along with refreshing the basics like loose leash walking and foundation skills.

24/04/2026

24/04/2026

Back home after a whirlwind trip to Townsville ✈️

It was so lovely catching up with a few of the teams this morning over breakfast before the awesome Team Clover gave me a lift to the airport — which also turned into a great little training opportunity!

A big threshold milestone for Clover today 🙌
Escalators have been a real source of anxiety, but at the airport Clover took the plunge. With a confident mate leading the way (on their first go too!), Clover made a dog’s choice to give it a try — and it paid off. Even with the downward escalator not moving, that decision to step forward was a huge win. Yay!
I’ve left Team Clover with some great foundations to keep building on, and I head home feeling incredibly grateful. Spending time with such awesome teams, seeing progress, and being part of these milestones is exactly why I love what I do 💛

23/04/2026

A huge congratulations to two awesome teams 👏
Over two years ago, these teams came together for their In Training Jacket assessments, then went on to complete their PATs separately. Along the way, a friendship formed—and yesterday it was great to see them come back together again for their PAT renewals 💛

Both teams did extremely well, showing excellent maintenance of their basics, strong public access skills, and clearly demonstrated tasks. This is exactly what we want to see—consistency, reliability, and teamwork over time 👌

Well done Team Elliot and Team Mia. I am very proud of how you both navigate the world while supporting your handlers 🌟

23/04/2026

Caught up with Team Coco today and I must say… what a chillaxed dog 😄

We started with a cuppa and a good chat around introducing task training tailored specifically to their needs—always my favourite part, building something that truly supports the handler 👌

From there, we headed off for a walk and worked through lifts and travelators, which Team Coco handled like an absolute pro 👏

Of course… no session is complete without a little “real life” moment 😅 A quick stop into the pet shop saw things go a little off track, but that’s exactly why we train in these environments. It gave me a great opportunity to step in with some observation-based feedback and make a few simple equipment tweaks that will help make their public access navigation much more seamless moving forward.

Awesome work Team Coco 💪

22/04/2026

A great way to round out the day after a big morning of ITJ assessments 👌

I caught up with Team Clover for a short training session, focusing on building her confidence around lifts. Taking it at her pace and allowing her to choose her comfort level made all the difference—and within a few minutes she was navigating them really well 👏

We also had a chat about escalators (which Clover made very clear she’s not a fan of 😅), and that’s completely okay. They’re not a requirement for public access, and it’s so important that teams learn to advocate for their dogs and make decisions that set them up for success. Confidence comes with time and the right exposure.

Afterwards, it was lovely to meet up with Team Roxy, who absolutely nailed the “relax at a café” skill while we had a coffee and chat ☕️
I then met up with the gorgeous Valentine, who is working beautifully for his handler. This team is progressing really well, and I have no doubt they’ll be more than ready for their PAT when I’m back in Townsville later this year 🌟