PUPPY SCHOOL
Attending a professionally run puppy school is critical to having a well behaved dog joining your family. Learn why it is important to attend a puppy school early on, that emphasises socialisation more than obedience. Trust your puppy to a full time behaviour specialist, not a dog walker or vet nurse that only does behaviour on the side.
PRIVATE TRAINING
Mark offers private, personal dog training sessions to help with most behaviour issues, based in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and Inner West. Get personal, customised training in your home. Mark will asses the situation, and explain what is going on in a clear and detailed manner. He will then show you what you can do differently to change your dog’s behaviour.
POSITIVE TRAINING
Mark Ehrman of Canine Counselling is the first Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Trainer (VSPDT) in Australia, and a faculty advisor and mentor for the Victoria Stilwell Dog Training Academy. Learn about Mark’s qualifications, training philosophies and methods by clicking below.
COVID-19 UPDATE (21.Sep.2021): Puppy School classes are currently ON HOLD due to Sydney stay-at-home orders. Classes will resume once restrictions are eased to allow retail shops to open (fully vaccinated people).
Face-to-face private consultations are possible now that outdoor gatherings of up to 5 fully vaccinated people are permitted. I am fully vaccinated, so we can conduct consultations and training sessions outdoors. Please get in contact for more details.
I am available for consultations via Zoom if you have urgent issues that you wanted to address prior to restrictions easing. Please click one of the Book Now buttons to set up an online consultation.
Waverley
Every Tuesday
7:30pm
Starts TBA
Classes will resume
once restrictions ease.
(Next Class Starts: TBA)
Surry Hills
Animal Doctors
Surry Hills is
Temporarily Closed
Why Hire a Professional?
It is quite normal to try and fix your dog’s behavioral issues by speaking to friends and family, searching Google, reading books, and watching videos on the internet. Often times this advice can contradict itself, and it can be difficult to know which advice applies in which situation.
Dog training has also been compared to a sport, where technique is important. Often it takes a professional to offer advice on where to improve your technique and help you know which action to take in a particular situation.
What Problems Can I Fix?
Mark offers private consultations for a variety of common behaviour problems such as:
- excessive barking
- separation anxiety
- barking / lunging / aggression towards other dogs or people
- pulling on lead
- not coming when called, or “selective hearing”
- puppy behaviours such as jumping up, nipping, toilet training, etc.
- most other undesired behaviours
Read Our Customer Reviews
A long overdue review for Mark and K9 Counselling! I contacted Mark after receiving complaints from a neighbour that my puppy was barking and distressed on returning to work. After a quick 15 minute phone conversation I was already armed with some practical tips to help with assessing what was... going on. After a virtual consultation I definitely came away further reassured and more confident in enjoying my puppy and getting used to living life together. Would highly recommend as uses true positive reinforcement opposed to some of the more outdated pack/dominance theory training. Thanks!read more
Alexandra D.
08:37 05 Sep 21
We engaged Mark back in June to understand the behavior of our dog. He has given us many valuable insights as well as practical training to help with our dog's behavior. He would capture our dog's behavior on a video and explain the situation to us. I am impressed with his ability to understand... our dog's behavior and provided the right training to tackle specific issue. I cannot thank Mark enough because the training helps improved the issue tremendously. My dog doesn't get overly excited and is much calmer than before! Thank you Mark, we are very thankful for all the information and training you have given to us. Hope to see you again soon! Stay safe.read more
Lys S.
01:04 14 Aug 21
Great mixture of theory teaching and practical teaching. Easy to follow, good tips to monitor puppy play, learnt puppy essential, well structured and well sized puppy class. Recommend
Celia H.
12:26 22 Jun 21
We really enjoyed Mark's Puppy School and found the sessions very beneficial both for our puppy and for ourselves as owners. The handout material was a great help in putting the theory into practice between sessions. The sessions were also a helpful early introduction to supervised play with other... dogs. I would highly recommend enrolling your puppy as early as possible because classes fill up quickly.read more
Richard S.
03:19 03 Jun 21
Mark was really good to work with and he helped us understand a lot of what the underlying issues were that have contributed to some of our Dog's issues. We found the advice quite useful and are working in implementing the strategies he provided us with.
Jessica S.
04:54 21 May 21
Thank you Mark for helping us understand our new puppy, the importance of training and positive re-enforcement. You helped us tackle a lot of unknown issues from the outset.Now we have an 8month old puppy who is obedient, calm, playful and sassy of course. We get compliments about how obedient... he is for his age. We can leave him off leash confidently and know that he will come back instantly when called; we can leave him at home for half a day and know that he will be clam and sleep; we can eat chicken and know that he won’t bark or jump on the dining table or chairs; we can drive with him being happy in the car; he no longer digs in the garden, does not chew our furniture and does not take our shoes (well most of the time). Finally, we just love being around him and he loves being around us. A big thank you for everything, we could not have done this without you!read more
Michelle B.
21:29 07 May 21
Mark's teaching style has provided us with the skills and outlook we needed to understand and train our puppy. Will definitely reach out to him again when we need further assistance.
Ellis B.
03:49 02 May 21
We engaged the services of Mark to help us sort out some excessive barking with our 6 month old border collie and to transition her from sleeping inside to outside. She has been sleeping outside for almost 2 weeks now without issue. First night she didn’t even make a sound and does not protest at... all. Mark not only addressed our problems but passed on tips and knowledge to help us understand the reasons behind our dog’s behaviour. We could not have hoped for a better outcome. Our family could not have been more impressed with Mark’s services - his knowledge and genuine approach to solving our issues.read more
Chris H.
21:10 29 Apr 21
Really great puppy training course with lots of puppy play time, 1on1 advice & support and great take aways to support beyond the 5 week course. Small groups so feels very personal. Highly recommend!
Meghann H.
23:50 28 Apr 21
Mark was terrific with our rambunctious bulldog Turbo. We have a long way to go, but the techniques were working the very next day after our first session. Mark was very patient and calm (which is difficult to be when Turbo is jumping all over you). We learnt a great deal and feel like there has... been a bit of a communication break through between us and Turbo 🙂read more
Roderick W.
12:18 07 Apr 21
Mark was great. He came in to help us with our two pups, Millie the Groodle and Franklin the Springer Spaniel that had each had different issues. He had a great manner and gave us some clear positive training principles to live by and talked about why certain behaviours happen, which really helped... us understand the why behind training methods. We worked on managing the two dog dynamic, pulling on lead, greeting visitors, impulse control and also focused on managing our expectations, acknowledging that dogs will be dogs and to work within our dogs' nature.read more
Jeremy T.
01:36 07 Apr 21
Alfie loved going puppy school! Thanks Mark!!
Myra B.
09:01 11 Mar 21
Absolutely highly recommend Mark and his 5 weeks puppy school course! We enrolled our high energy, playful and cheeky Spoodle, Taco at 9 weeks old and he absolutely loved every minute of it. The first time Taco went to puppy school, he actually fell asleep (!) and didn't really engage with the... other pups. But over the weeks, with all the lessons and helpful information pamphlets that Mark provides weekly we've been able to train Taco a lot easier based on how Mark explains it and our little pup is engaging really well with many dogs (although probably way too excited!). We are glad we found Mark as Taco is our first pup and Mark is so genuine, professional, open and realistic in his lessons and truly, a dog whisperer! It's also a great way to start socialising your pup safely and we absolutely trust Mark around Taco and the other pups as he worked so well with all of them with their different temperaments. We are a bit sad that it only ran for 5 weeks and wished it could go on for longer! Thank you so much Mark!read more
Cheryl S.
10:24 09 Mar 21
Mark was very informative through the full 5 week course - Benji got a lot out of each session and so did i. We got leaflets after each session which helped with the training back at home. I saw a difference week after week in Benji's confidence and how he developed. Thanks Mark
Lucia D.
22:57 18 Feb 21
Mark’s warm, friendly, informative and entertaining. Our puppy loved the classes and so did we.
Natalie K.
03:42 27 Dec 20
thanks mark, mango enjoyed his 5 weeks lesson and learned to socialize well! he cant wait to go out to doggy park and make new friends
Susan T.
10:35 17 Mar 20
Thanks Mark! Bear loved his 5 weeks learning obedience skills and how to socialise with other dogs.
Mum & Dad also picked up plenty of plenty of helpful tricks.
Mum & Dad also picked up plenty of plenty of helpful tricks.
Natalie H.
10:29 30 Jan 20
Mark came in and did a session with our two dogs and was perceptive, to the point and gave us clear directions. No judgement and lots of encouragement....as of course it's really about training the owners! Thoroughly recommend him.
Damien E.
02:31 22 Sep 19
Mark came to our house for a one on one consultation. He was fantastic. He gave us plenty of advice and new tricks to try with our new puppy. It was up to us to make sure that we took on all of Mark’s advice and put it into practice. We have had a lot of progress with our puppy and a lot of it has... to do with Mark’s tricks of the trade. I will definitely be recommending him! Thank you Mark!read more
Renee T.
07:52 02 Jul 19
Mark's Puppy Preschool was absolutely brilliant! Our Cooper was very nervous and stressed during his first lesson and wouldn't socialise with the rest of the puppies. By the end of the 5 week program, he was playing with all the puppies and was very well socialised. Mark is not only amazing with... the puppies, but keeps the class entertaining and inclusive, taking the extra time to answer any questions we may have. Mark is well organised during every lesson and also provides handouts which are very helpful and informative. We highly recommend Mark's Puppy Preschool to everyone! 😊read more
Mersina H.
11:29 09 Feb 19
We were lucky to find such a knowledgeable enthusiastic and brilliant communicator in Mark. Such an important process to go through with your puppy and mark inspires and gives both confidence to owner and puppy alike. Highly recommend his classes.
Yolande G.
00:30 04 Oct 18
We recently completed Mark's 5-week puppy school classes. Knowledgeable about modern, force-free methods of training, Mark focuses more on training the owner than the puppy. By the end of his course, you'll be well on your way to being a responsible and confident dog owner.
Claire H.
07:48 29 Jul 18
Mark taught us so many tricks for Oscar our Amstaff. The classes were good fun for him and really a lot of excellent informations for us. Thank Mark for your patience
Ciara N.
11:40 25 Jun 18
We recently finished a 5 week puppy school class with Mark and we would absolutely recommend his services. He was very professional and we learnt loads about how to teach behaviour and discipline. He often stayed back after the class had finished to assist us with specific issues we were... experiencing with our puppy. It was a very valuable 5 weeks! Thanks Mark!read more
Ryan W.
06:03 24 Mar 18
We really enjoyed our five week puppy training course. Mark makes the evening lighthearted and fun (shouldn't be hard with a bunch of puppies!!). Over and above the basic training (sit, toileting etc) we really enjoyed seeing insight into behaviour when the puppies played together. Highly... recommended.read more
Alex C.
22:41 21 Mar 18
Mark is a dynamic, personable and clear trainer who teaches you all the best ways to train and care for your four legged friend! Our puppy Merlin loved him, and Mark always gave us ample time for questions and socialisation outside of the formal curriculum. Could not recommend him more!
Sabrina H.
00:44 12 Mar 18
Highly recommended! Our little Sushi loved every single class. Thank you so much Mark for what you taught us!
Katia V.
11:01 06 Mar 18
Mark led an excellent class and went above and beyond. Highly recommend.
Jonathan M.
04:08 05 Sep 17
Thankyou so much for todays session! Lots of great tips. Very helpful. Would definitely recommend!
Kay P.
06:27 05 Jan 17
Mark is clearly very passionate about what he does and in our class we saw excellent progress. He was also happy if you called him outside hours and asked questions, providing plenty of advice and guidance. My pup loved her time in class and I highly recommend Mark for your special pup!
Michelle R.
06:32 16 Dec 16
We initially found out about Mark through word of mouth, and decided on Mark for our puppy training as he had fantastic reviews. We loved Mark's puppy classes. He has a wealth of knowledge and his classes are easy to understand and well structured, with loads of additional take home information. I... would recommend Mark to anyone wanting positivity training for their puppy. Thanks Mark 🙂read more
Kieren W.
10:18 03 May 16
Even though I live in the USA, Mark's information and advice have helped us as new pet owners. He is patient and has excellent information.
Steven M.
23:27 15 Jan 16