Oz Dogs

Oz Dogs 🎓MSc-Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist
🔐 Unlocking the True Potential of Rescue Dogs
🌍 Worldwide Support
⬇️ Lets Chat

Asking for help can be scary, but a little extra support can go a long way.. Beth is a close friend and a fellow clinica...
29/04/2026

Asking for help can be scary, but a little extra support can go a long way..

Beth is a close friend and a fellow clinical behaviourist, she recently adopted the beautiful Inky and noticed she was rushing up to other dogs a little rudely off lead.

So we met up for a little 1-1 training session, with an extra person to support her Beth felt a lot better at trying Inky out in a new environment and getting stuck in with her training, and had some extra confidence in her assesment of Inky’s behaviour.

Inky met lots of lovely dog off lead calmly, and listened to her recall every time 🙌 (and of course had a pretty in the bluebells photoshoot).

My training and behaviour support strategy isn’t a one trick pony, we adapt approach for you and your dog as individuals, we talk about who your dog is, what your approach is, what you have tried and other options that you might like to play around with. There is never a ‘just one way’ rule - the fun is in the flexibility !

So, if you are looking for a little extra support or a fresh set of eyes to help with little ideas to add to your training toolbox - do pop my a DM or book a discovery call and let’s chat dogs! 🐾

What would you say to someone who’s just adopted a rescue dog and it feels like a WHOLE LOT RIGHT NOW??? 👇👇Focusing on t...
23/04/2026

What would you say to someone who’s just adopted a rescue dog and it feels like a WHOLE LOT RIGHT NOW??? 👇👇

Focusing on the positives, minimising the negatives helps.

Prioritising and setting short term goals helps.

Being realistic about what you can and can’t manage and not beating yourself up over the idea that this may not be the dog for you, but you can give it your best shot helps.

Because some things that feel like big issues might turn into non-issues without you even needing to specifically work on them (separation anxiety or unsettled behaviour at home are super common examples of this).

Other things may not start to show until a few months after your dog is home and settled.

Your stress levels matter, meeting your dogs needs safely matters, building communication and relationship matter. Most other things can wait while you both adjust.

20/04/2026

One Key Cause of Frustration in Shelters is Lack of Predictability ..

They never know when training starts… or when it’s OVER.

Being stuck in a constant state of wondering is mentally draining. The second they see you, they’re ON. Waiting, watching, wondering - is this training? Are we doing this? NOW? 🧠⚡

That constant guesswork around food is frustrating for dogs who already struggle to regulate. In shelters this can also stop dogs seeing you as a social ‘partner’ and more of a barrier to what they want (the food).

Here’s something that will help: clear start and stop cues.

🟢 A ‘ready’ cue tells your dog “yes, we’re training NOW” so they can switch on, engage, offer behaviour to earn treats and give you their best.

🔴 A finish cue tells them “treats are done, we’re finished” so they can actually switch OFF and decompress.

Without these, you’re lighting them up whenever you spend time with them and have food on your person, with no clear answer. That uncertainty is where the frustration starts.

This simple structure reduces the guesswork, lowers frustration between sessions, and helps them stay calm and focused DURING them 🙌

Less frustration. Better focus. Happier sessions for both of you 🐾

Save this if you work with easily frustrated shelter dogs!
⬇️

16/04/2026

No shelter assessment is perfect in terms of predictability and mine vary on context; but generally have 3 goals in common.

👇Assessments for me are about help learning ..

1 = where do the edges of the dogs limits lie
2 = how they let you know about that
3 = how quickly can we start to help them feel and/or act differently about the situation

💉Take Polly for example who flew through most things but just before she was due to go up for rehoming, had a meltdown over her last vaccination

⤵️Here’s what we did together for as fair yet accurate as possible assessment:

⚠️Safety first: On lead held by her carer. I started with some collar restraint work (few mins). I am standing side on, hand in collar & keep my face out of the way. Any dog has potential to show aggression under stress.

👉We broke handling down. Started easy. We used treats to reward but not to totally overshadow. We reassured her verbally and she had little breaks for a fuss from her carer. We set her up for success but looked for her limits and gauged how she might respond under some light pressure / stress, and how she recovers.

🩺We talked about Pollys health, handing & social behaviour in other contexts. I observed her being cuddly & comfortable with formal handling from her trusted person. I understood that as stray she may have never been to the vets before & had needed the full works leading up to this (spay etc) to get her ready for rehoming.

✅Polly did awesome, building up to tolerating full body handling & fake jab from a stranger (me) with no precursors to defence.

⏰The whole session took around 15mins, a plan was handed over to her awesome carer to work on.

⏩Fast-forward 3 weeks, she had continued formal restraint / vet visit handling (with a slower version of what we rehearsed) is muzzle trained for unavoidably scary vet visits and is doing amazing with her positive association trips to the lovely vet team.

🏡Polly is now ready & waiting for a new family, I think she wil make a really amazing companion ❣️

https://www.bathcatsanddogshome.org.uk/adopt/polly-collie

🫶 5 Easy Ways to Build and Unbreakable Bond - Weave into Everyday Life with Your Dog1. Meeting your dog where they are a...
12/04/2026

🫶 5 Easy Ways to Build and Unbreakable Bond - Weave into Everyday Life with Your Dog

1. Meeting your dog where they are at means accepting they won’t be perfect and you may need to make adjustments to help them adapt, be patient and have fair expectations.

2. Home should have safe & secure spaces, you should also be a ‘portable’ safe & secure space for your dog, reassuring them if they need you and celebrating bravery and confident, independent choices.

3. Sharing joy is a fantastic way to build a bond, whether that’s playing, exploring, fulfilling breed specific needs or working together to overcome any fun challenge!

4. Your dog needs time to learn about guidance and communication, be fair, calm and learn to have a good sense of humour! Guiding your dog away from the things that might bring them harm, and helping them learn to work with you co-operatively to get the good things in life as a team.

5. Protecting your dog means being their armour - not putting them in situations that are overwhelming, and protecting them from bad experiences. ‘sorry you can’t pet my dog today’ & ‘can you call your dog back please’ are phrases to get comfortable with 🙃

🪄Guess what - these tips actually aren’t just for rescue dogs, they also apply for puppies just like Remy here was, just as well! 😇

📲 Follow along for more positive, practical tips to get the very best out of the life you love with your dog

10/04/2026

🛟 3 Ways to Understand & Support the Dogs at Your Centre

👉 If you work in rescue and you’re looking for tips to help you help yours dogs hit follow …

Because on a brand new mission to share with you all the helpful tips as i have learnt as a clinical behaviourist who has worked in rescue for over a decade.

10/04/2026

Join us and Sezan Öz on 12th May!

This talk is specially targeted at those working or volunteering with shelter dogs, though advice will be relevant and to anyone working with easily frustrated companion dogs and their carers.

https://bit.ly/3ZT50Lo

07/04/2026

Should we be ‘hands on’ with rescue dogs??

I posted a version of this already & had lots of feedback that you found it helpful in your rescue centre (yay) so here it is with caps so it’s easier to follow(!).

Collar touching and lead pressure are in my view pretty essential pet dog skills, and i want dogs that are happy to be handled like this - so i train for it, i turn it into a game.

It needs to be built slowly and with trust at the core.

Remember these points are KEY!

👉Watch your dog.
If you see tension or anxiety, drop the lead and move away with the reward. Invite a fun game of chase so your dog can follow by choice, not pressure.

You may notice Remy has her ears back at the start of the clip and licks her lips - this is what i would call ‘copable’ stress, something she can work through (in her case it’s mostly down to having no idea what the cue ‘collar’ means and trying to understand the question!). More stress than this and i would adapt, drop the lead, make more space from her and see if she wants to re-engage or needs a break.

👉 Your attitude!
A cheerful attitude is a MUST as this scenario could = a lot of social pressure. Use a happy voice. Being quiet and just dispensing rewards will still be ambiguous. Your dog needs to understand this is a game, nothing serious.

👉 Your reward.
You need something fun that your dog loves, food is great it doesn’t have to be a toy - let your dog chase the food or take it straight out of a cupped hand that you offer (this isn’t the time for manners / asking to sit once they get there!)

👉 Risk management.
If your dog has significant trust or fear issues don’t try this until those issues are better. They should trust people generally first before you try it. If your dog is a high risk for aggression with handling, don’t try this without expert help.

If things feel tricky, that’s your cue to:

• reduce pressure

• add distance (a longer lead)

• increase play and movement

Progress comes from making the experience fun & safe, not by continuing pressure if they look unsure.

23/11/2025

Choose the environment carefully to help your dog climb their ladder of progress. Top tip - off lead parks are generally not the one.

Places where you will see quite a lot of very non-plussed dogs (dogs that are used to seeing lots of other dogs in controlled circumstances) and people work best, where you can choose an area to do a mixture of observing from a safe distance as well as fun, active training with you.

This type of environment is excellent both for puppies and socially/environmentally sensitive adult dogs as well as any dog that isn’t so used to ‘hustle and bustle’.

Remember, if your dog poses any risk to others muzzles help keep everyone safe as you work on their training, and they should always be on the lead.

Try replacing a couple of your dogs weekly walks with safe pocket of space mooches / training sessions and drop a comment to let me know what changes you start to see ✨

Address

Bristol And North
Long Ashton

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Oz Dogs posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category