Rockhampton Dog Obedience Club Inc. (RDOC)

13/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1c1eZRkBqo/

📚 FREE E-BOOK NOW AVAILABLE! 📚

If you’ve ever wanted to learn more about dog training, improve your relationship with your dog, or simply see what my training philosophy is all about, here’s the perfect place to start…

🎉 My e-book, Foundations for Success, is now available completely FREE from my website.

Simply visit:

🌐 www.k9manhuntscotland.co.uk

Then head to Publications ➜ E-Books, and you’ll find it right at the top of the page waiting for you.

Whilst you’re there, have a browse through the rest of the collection. I’ve also produced a growing range of specialist e-books covering everything from systematic searching, ethical training and much more.

📖 If you prefer a physical book, I now have 25 paperback publications, available on the website, also all available through Amazon.

🎧 Many of my books are also available as Kindle e-books, and several are available as audiobooks (currently available in the USA via Amazon).

Most of the e-books have grown directly from the educational series I regularly share across social media. Rather than disappearing into the Facebook archives, they’ve been expanded, updated and turned into easy-to-read guides that you can come back to time and time again.

Whether you’re a pet owner, working dog handler, trainer or simply someone who enjoys learning more about dogs, there’s something there for everyone.

💬 I’d love to know which book you’ve read or which one catches your eye. Let me know in the comments, and if you’ve already read one, I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Happy reading!

Simon

🌐 www.k9manhuntscotland.co.uk

11/09/2026

07/09/2026

🧁 RSPCA Cupcake Day – Monday 14th September! 🐾

Last year, thanks to your amazing support, we raised just over $300 for the RSPCA! 💕 This year, we’re hoping to go even bigger and reach our goal of $400! 🎉

Come along on Monday 14th September, grab a delicious treat and support a great cause! We’ll have plenty of goodies available, including cakes, slices and muffins, with something for everyone — including gluten-free and pet-friendly treats! 🐶🐱

💰 Treat prices:
🧁 1 for $4
🧁 3 for $10
🧁 4 for $12

Every treat purchased helps make a difference to animals in need. ❤️🐾

Help us reach our $400 goal — and treat yourself while you’re at it! 🎂✨

📅 Monday 14th September
🧁 RSPCA Cupcake Day
🐾 Supporting animals in need

07/09/2026

You’re at the startline of an agility competition course that you’ve just driven hours to attend. Your dog is sitting, holding it, watching you lead out. Then, just as you turn to send them, they break early. In that moment you have a choice. Pull them off the course and reset (or walk them out if resetting is not allowed), knowing you’ll get an elimination, or let it go and keep running because you’ve come this far and you’d really like that clear round.

🤔 Which choice would you make?

Read our new blog post to see what we would suggest: https://hubs.li/Q04w1vqH0

07/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1d1URhx8qD/

07/09/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14rzNoAvMrt/

BEHAVIOUR IS THE LEADING REASON RSPCA NSW EUTHANASES DOGS

The latest RSPCA NSW figures should concern every dog owner in this state.

During 2024 to 2025, RSPCA NSW euthanased 878 dogs.

Of those dogs, 627 were euthanased for behavioural reasons.

That means behavioural issues accounted for 71.4 per cent of all dog euthanasias recorded by RSPCA NSW.

The previous year was even higher. During 2023 to 2024, 859 of the 1,142 dogs euthanased by RSPCA NSW were euthanased for behavioural reasons.

That was 75.2 per cent.

Think about that.

Behavioural issues are responsible for far more dog euthanasias within RSPCA NSW than infectious disease, medical issues, legal reasons or other recorded causes.

Yet while this behavioural crisis continues, the NSW Government is trying to criminalise the possession and use of prong collars by professional dog trainers, behaviour specialists, owners managing serious behaviour problems and people with disability.

At the same time, government dog handlers will remain free to use the same tools.

This does not make sense.

These figures do not prove that every dog euthanased for behavioural reasons could have been saved by using a prong collar. We have never made that claim.

What they do prove is that behavioural failure is one of the most serious welfare issues facing dogs entering the RSPCA NSW system.

When behaviour is the recorded reason for more than seven out of every ten dog euthanasias, the Government should be expanding access to competent behavioural help.

It should be consulting the professional trainers and behaviour specialists who work with serious cases every day.

It should be examining every safe and effective option.

It should be building regulated pathways that include proper assessment, correct fitting, professional instruction, informed consent, records and accountability.

Instead, it is proposing a blanket criminal prohibition without demonstrating that removing this tool will improve behavioural outcomes or reduce euthanasia.

There has been no meaningful consultation with the Professional Dog Trainers of Australia during the development of this prohibition.

No evidence has been produced showing that the Government examined whether removing access to specialised training tools could increase behavioural surrender, management failure or euthanasia.

No regulated professional pathway has been offered.

No disability pathway has been offered.

No individual assessment process has been offered.

No reasonable adjustment mechanism has been offered.

But government handlers still get an exemption.

If these tools can be used responsibly by trained government handlers, why can they not be used through a tightly regulated professional pathway?

Why should an experienced professional working to prevent surrender or euthanasia face criminal penalties for using a tool that government handlers are permitted to use?

This is why the RSPCA NSW figures matter to our fight.

The real animal welfare emergency is not the existence of a piece of training equipment.

It is dogs being surrendered, becoming unmanageable and dying because serious behavioural problems have not been successfully resolved.

Before the NSW Government removes an option used in some of the most difficult behaviour cases, it must examine the likely consequences.

It must consult the people doing this work.

It must listen to affected dog owners and people with disability.

It must explain why government handlers deserve regulated access while everyone else is denied even the possibility of individual assessment.

With more than seven out of every ten dog euthanasias at RSPCA NSW attributed to behavioural reasons, this is not the time to make effective behavioural intervention harder to access.

It is time for evidence, consultation and accountable regulation.

Not political slogans and blanket bans.

Source: RSPCA NSW Annual Report 2025⁠

Source: RSPCA Australia National Statistics 2023 to 2024⁠

Chris Minns

04/09/2026

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New research! 🔥
Excited to see new research from Jade of Animal Behaviour Matters out this week! These two studies were undertaken with the Scent Detection Research Group at the The University of Waikato in New Zealand.

🦴 Dogs were given breakfast before or after completing a scent-detection task.

❌ When working prior to eating, dogs made significantly more false alarms.

🐺 Being hungry may cause a mild increase in frustration-related behaviour during scent work for some dogs.

🐕 Dog’s hunger state can influence both scent-detection performance and behaviour.

Yee et al. (2026) found that dogs working before breakfast produced more false alarms, suggesting hunger may increase dogs' tendency to respond to non-target odours.

Fountain et al. (2026) found that unfed dogs showed more whining and interaction with the equipment, indicating mild frustration associated with hunger. However, frustration behaviours were generally infrequent and varied between individual dogs.

Links to both of these open access articles will be in the comments or search them on google scholar/research gate.

Fountain, J., Yee, J., Hazel, S. J., McWhorter, T. J., McNutt, T., & Edwards, T. L. (2026). Effects of feeding on dogs’ frustration-related behaviours during a laboratory-based scent detection task. Behavioural Processes, 105430.

Yee, J., Downie, I., Fountain, J., & Edwards, T. L. (2026). The breakfast effect revisited: Dogs’ scent detection performance before and after a meal. Learning and Motivation, 95, 102328.