Animal Welfare League Shoalhaven Branch (AWL) hosted an event for AWL carers, RSPCA staff and Shoalhaven City Council rangers, with their Sydney-based behaviourist, Rosalie Horton guiding participants through everything from training to problem solving.

“We started with a presentation explaining the theory behind animal behaviour and how it relates to the animals they care for,” Ms Horton said.

“We also went through problem solving things so that when an animal is adopted from a shelter, we can make sure they’re not leaving with behavioural problems.”

Ms Horton said barking issues and problems walking dogs on the lead were two topics of particular importance for shelter dogs.

“Why talked about why dogs will often be fine off the lead but there’s issues when they meet another dog when they’re on the lead,” she said.

“It’s a stress response, most of the time dogs can run off but they can’t do that on the lead so they’re faced with a ‘fight or flight’ situation. Some dogs also have that safety in numbers concept where they’re a lot braver when there’s two of them on the lead.”

While Ms Horton said some of these problems stem from a lack of socialisation in the puppy stages, it’s never too late to start solving issues. 

“We certainly don’t believe you can’t teach a new dog new tricks,” she said.

“We strongly believe in practical dog training, it’s a new age of dog training where it’s all about being peaceful and force-free.”

Participants in the workshop put their new knowledge to the test, working with dogs currently at the RSPCA Shoalhaven Shelter. 

“It’s a new new age of dog training; it’s peaceful, force-free and works on a reward-based system,” Ms Horton said. 

“The dogs were great, it was a a big happy bunch of people and dogs and it was good to share ideas with other organisation and work alongside each other.” 

While Ms Horton said the AWL works hard to find all dogs and cats a new home, there’s a particular breed overrepresented in shelters.

“It’s normally a staffy cross breed, normally about a year old, notoriously male and brindle,” she said.

“It’s a big cross breed, people are scared, they hear a lot of stuff about pit bulls and lump them all together and they all seem to want something small and fluffy.

“Sadly these cross breeds need to be impeccably well-behaved because there’s much more pressure on them. We need to make sure they’re extremely well-mannered, especially around children.”

Ms Horton said all animals adopted from AWL must have passed a behaviour and health assessment.

“One of the great things about the animals from the Shoalhaven area is that they’re cared for in a person’s home, not in a shelter so you know exactly what it does in the home environment,” she said.

“It’s all important information to know and by caring for them in homes, it often stops them picking up problems that can sometimes occur at shelters.”

With positive feedback coming out of the workshop, Ms Horton said she’s hoping to return in the future.

“Hopefully it was beneficial to our carers; we absolutely love them and they’re so valuable for us,” she said.

“We’re also hoping to open it up to more organisations and people who may benefit.”