Goin' Muttz

Goin' Muttz Goin' Muttz aims to empower & educate dogs & their owners on how to effectively communicate.

14/06/2026

Canberra friends, this one’s for you.
Something big, something special is on the way, and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Follow along to be the first to know. 🐾🤫😍

13/06/2026

Oh, that neck flex… 💪🔥🤭🪭

12/06/2026

Let’s break this search down👇

The hide is positioned behind and underneath the watering can on the right-hand side.

Bonnie inhales as she reaches the watering can, but the odour is unavailable to her because it is blocked by the can itself. She lifts her head to move over it and then exhales as her nose drops down onto the odour side, causing her to miss the scent. As soon as she clears the top of the can, you can see she has mentally ticked that area off and is already thinking about the next item in the search.

I could argue there is a slight hesitation around the pink blocks, but there isn’t enough odour information there for Bonnie to fully commit. She continues searching.

When she reaches the corner and begins to turn, she immediately dismisses the far corner as having nothing of value to investigate. There is no indication that she detects anything worth pursuing in that area. As she follows through with the turn, she catches the edge of the scent cone and confidently chases it away from the odour source until she reaches the end of it, bouncing off the table.

At 19 seconds, Bonnie checks in with Mum - a quick “hello.” That wasn’t coincidental. If you rewind, you’ll see the leash slacken just beforehand, right as Bonnie reaches the end of the scent cone. From Bonnie’s perspective, Mum may as well have tapped her on the shoulder.

The interruption is only momentary, but it has a significant impact on her thought process. Bonnie recovers nicely and remembers that she was working odour and attempting to source it. She then encounters the opposite edge of the scent cone. Prior information has already told her that moving left causes the odour to weaken, so she turns into the stronger odour picture on her right.

She then bounces back across the scent cone once more, which lines her up facing the correct direction. The items ahead now provide odour information from the right direction, allowing her to process what she is receiving and drive confidently straight to source.

Phenomenal work Bonnie and Jodie 😍

07/06/2026

If you saw two ladies and a German Shepherd chilling out on the floor at … that was us. 🙋‍♀️

We weren’t tucked away in a quiet corner either. We were smack bang in the middle of a big open space, with nothing around us, where you could look up and see the next two levels above. Absolutely a bit weird. 

But also very intentional.

By chilling out on the floor with Ava, we were helping show her that even big, open, busy public spaces can be calm and safe.

Our bodies were doing the talking, not our voices.

I didn’t want her to just listen and obey. I wanted her to feel what to do. To take in what was happening around her, notice that we were calm, and work out that she didn’t need to be worried.

At first, yes, she was lying down, but you could still see her brain was switched on. She was clocking the movement around us, noticing the people, the space, the noise, and the weirdness of it all. She definitely wasn’t relaxed.

She popped back up to ask Mum for a bit of reassurance and gave Lucy’s face a little displacement lick. Lucy had a giggle, gave her a reassuring pat, and smiled. Ava took that in. You could see her little brain processing it all.

Then came that beautiful come-down stretch.

She dropped again, looked to Mum with a cheeky little “look how amazing I am” face, calmly noticed her surroundings, and then grounded back into Lucy, who was right there to meet her with a warm smile.

Then came the regulatory yawn. Her body softened. She got heavy.

And then the spectacular head rest.

Bingo. There it was, the moment we were looking for. 😌

31/05/2026

Just sitting here doing admin, minding my own business…
Is he planning my demise? 🔪👻😅

🐾🎓 Meet our Intro to Nose Work graduates from Alana’s Sydney February starting class! 🎓🐾A huge congratulations to Marley...
30/05/2026

🐾🎓 Meet our Intro to Nose Work graduates from Alana’s Sydney February starting class! 🎓🐾

A huge congratulations to Marley, Bonnie, Luna, Loki, Molly and Moshi! 👏🐶🥳🎉

Every dog comes into class with their own way of moving through the world.

Some are ridiculously keen (*cough cough* Molly), some are thoughtful, some have big feelings, and some need a little more time to realise they can do hard things. This class had all of the above.

And that’s one of the many reasons we love nose work. There isn’t one “right” kind of dog for it. Each team gets to build confidence and the skill of searching in their own way, at their own pace.

It has been beautiful watching these dogs go from hesitating to doing, from shy to bold, from reactive to choosing to settle into the search in front of them, from chaotic to considered, and from high energy to purposeful work.

We’re so proud of you all. 🥰

My clients will always hear me say, “Be in the room with your dog.”I don’t just mean physically. I mean mentally.Is your...
29/05/2026

My clients will always hear me say, “Be in the room with your dog.”

I don’t just mean physically. I mean mentally.

Is your brain actually in the same place as your dog, or is it off somewhere else?

How can you expect your dog to be calm, focused and open to connection with you, when you haven’t actually offered that same presence back?

And how can you expect them to stay in the room with you, if when they finally join you there, you are no longer there to be found?

History builds quickly.

And quickly your dog will realise: what’s the point of being in the room, when you are never there to greet them.

24/05/2026

Puppies and kids 👦🏻🐶 two pure souls learning the world for the first time.

I’m a big believer in getting kids involved early, because these first moments help set the dog and child up for a wonderful friendship.

This is Waffles and Matty. We had a little outing to the playground to work on some exposure training and clear communication between the two.

I want Waffles to understand that he has control over his own body, and later on, because of that, he will be more willing to give things a go.

Kids can be very intense with puppies, and sometimes treat them more like an object than a little being with feelings. My goal with Matty here is to help him understand what Waffles is saying, and how best to communicate back to Waffles that he hears him.

That is what fills up the trust money box between the two.

We placed my jacket down in the middle of the spinning thing, partly for grip for Waffles, and partly as a makeshift snuffle mat. We hid treats throughout the scrunched up bits so Waffles could explore it in his own time. I didn’t want Waffles to just get the treats, I wanted him to choose to find them, which is why you hear me say to Matty “make it so he can’t get the treats”.

We also used it as a cooperative communication tool.

Not only were we at a very busy playground with moving kids, other dogs, picnics and noise, but Waffles was also on a spinner with movement and little grip, which really had his brain working on proprioception and body awareness.

If Waffles was sniffing for the treats, Matty could slowly and predictably spin it around. Whenever Waffles disengaged from sniffing, Matty had to stop. You could see in the moments that Waffles disengaged, it wasn’t out of fear, it was just that his brain needed a little moment to catch up with all that was happening around him.

It was a beautiful little moment of Waffles learning that he had a choice, and Matty learning how to listen so they could keep “playing”.

17/05/2026

Anyone who’s been inside knows how intense it can be with the bright colours, compact spaces, busy aisles, smells for days, and endless product choices.

In this session, we focused on helping Stitch feel more comfortable being “parked” beside the trolley between the shelves and tolerating having very little space around him.

Naturally, when shopping, Ally is going to pivot back and forth, and in a shop like Chemist Warehouse, Stitch moving with her can become more of a hindrance than an assist unless he needs to perform a medical alert.

So we worked on Ally stepping away and disengaging, building Stitch’s trust that Ally will return to him, particularly when she moves around behind him and he’s blocked in by the trolley and can’t easily watch her.

We also worked on intentional body language from Ally and being thoughtful about when her hand goes into the treat pouch, as it conveys so much information to Stitch.

Safe to say, it was intense. Great work team 👏.

🐾🎓 Meet our Intro to Nose Work graduates from Tamika’s Sydney February starting class! 🎓🐾A huge congratulations to Nova,...
17/05/2026

🐾🎓 Meet our Intro to Nose Work graduates from Tamika’s Sydney February starting class! 🎓🐾

A huge congratulations to Nova, Maggie, Roxy and Wilson, Kel, Tongs, and Alara! 👏🐶🥳🎉

These teams have been busy building confidence, sharpening their scenting skills, and discovering just how powerful their dog’s noses really are.

We’re so proud of all you’ve achieved and can’t wait to see where your nose work journey takes you next.

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