About Mutts with Manners' Unique Method

The Evolution of our psychological dog behaviour modification method:

​Although Maria had done obedience training with the family’s dogs throughout her childhood, her intense involvement in the training of horses in the 1980s taught her the skills that are now considered ‘revolutionary’ in the dog training world – motivational training.  Maria is arguably the first ever "Dog Whisperer". Through her ongoing study of dogs, dog training methods, dog behaviour and dog desensitisation techniques, combined with the lessons taught to her by horses, Maria developed her own ‘Think Dog’ methodology. Humans are supposed to be the superior species after all so why shouldn’t we learn the dog's language?  This gentle psychological method banishes the harsh methods previously used in dog and puppy training, instead giving owners a new insight into their dogs.​​​​and the constant evolution of her training methods, including the creation of the revolutionary 3Bs Method taught to her by the many dogs that she has helped through the years.​​​​​

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Over the many years of working with families and their pets, Maria has helped to resolve a vast variety of issues—‘helped’ because it’s the ‘owners’ who actually need to do the work. Her years of communicating with people of all ages as well as their pets have resulted in the fine-tuning of a concise and incredibly powerful way of guiding the behaviours of her clients’ pets.

Dogs are very intelligent and willing to learn. They’re no longer something to be kept in the backyard and left to their own devices – they’re valued members of our families and need to be guided in how to fit in with our lives. Our goal is to open your eyes to how your dog sees you and what he or she needs from you. To encourage you to teach them lots of things and reward lots of (appropriate) behaviours so that you have a dog that you can really enjoy.

Our philosophy throughout is to use a firm but gentle hand to guide and mould our fur friends into fine, respectful, upstanding individuals that we can be proud of.

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Understanding the psychology behind our technique:

From the time you first meet your “Mutt”, you are developing a relationship with him. We want you to have a warm and loving relationship with him where you work together and appreciate each other, developing a respectful friendship rather than a co-dependent relationship.

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Our dogs are constantly being influenced by our behaviour, so as early as 2 days after dogga’s arrival, you may have noticed that their behaviour changed, because they’re reacting to your behaviours. When we enter a home to work with a client, we also engage with that dog and develop our own relationship with him. This means that we can easily resolve issues in as little as an hour, because we know what to do and how to do it. But if we were to simply do that, then as soon as we leave, the dog would quickly revert to his or her previous behaviours. And this is the challenge – it’s not us who changes your dogs’ behaviour, our job is to empower you, to help you to understand your dog and their needs and communication. As you apply our methods and change your own behaviour, your dog will change theirs. Ours is not a quick fix, but it is a permanent one – for as long as you maintain the program designed for you.

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This is also why we have the confidence to offer a guarantee – that if you don’t see an improvement in your dog’s behaviour by the end of the first lesson, you don’t need to pay for that lesson. As you apply our technique through the lesson, you’re changing your relationship with your dog, enabling them to adjust their response. And we’re proud to say that in over 30 years, we have never had a situation where the dog hasn’t shown an improvement in their behaviour, because our wonderful clients have taken our strategies on board and have changed how they respond to their dogs. Our technique is as simple and quick as that. Your biggest challenge, especially if you’ve had your dogga (or another dog previously) is to not fall back into old habits. It’s only as you change your responses and maintain those changes that your dog can also maintain their emotional and behavioural changes.

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What does working with Mutts with Manners look like:

Whether working simply on obedience, settling a new pup into your home or addressing behavioural issues in an older dog, you can expect that we’ll spend some time sitting down and talking about how to set you up to succeed. This will leave you with an understanding of communication (including obedience), techniques for resolving issues (whether puppy training or behavioural). For those with dogs with behavioural issues, you'll also be left with a program around your behaviours and your responses to your dog’s behaviours. There will be hands-on training and guidance, of course, whether in training commands, modifying behaviours or setting boundaries.

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Like building a solid house, you need a strong foundation. Sadly, we’ve not yet mastered the ‘mind-meld’, therefore we’ll usually have a follow-up session about a week later. We know that you’re trying your very best to apply everything that you’ve learned in that first session, but we also know that some of you may be changing months or even years of habits. And although you’ll have seen changes from the very start, it can still be difficult to maintain consistency to begin with. There is also a lot of technique to learn, as our methodology is very much about good communication – not punishment or even use of leash (literally, from the very start, you’re learning how to teach your dog leash-free training), so refining those skills is also important. With that foundation in place, we can then give you more tools, a better understanding, better technique – all of which leads to a dog who can now choose calmness, responsiveness and attentiveness.

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We encourage full disclosure when you contact us so that we can be as accurate as possible when quoting – each dog and owner combination is different, the issues and needs are different. As conscientious behavioural trainers, we assess and quote based on your specific needs and goals -  one size definitely doesn’t fit all. It also stands to reason that a dog with more complex behavioural issues will need more sessions, as you and he learn how to negotiate those challenges together.

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Obedience is important, you and your dog understanding and trusting each other is important, cuddles (or engaging in whatever way you choose) are important, helping your dog to negotiate the challenges that he or she is facing in this human world is important.

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If you feel that these things are also important to you, please feel free to contact us to discuss further​​