We hope everyone enjoyed Christmas! So, what progress has been made now that new councillors have been elected? Not a great deal, unfortunately.
Considerable effort has gone into negotiations with Kingston to help Council understand the importance of Family Pet Education & early learning for new puppies in classes conducted by animal behaviour professionals. Removing a service that helps prevent problem behaviours in pet dogs removes choice for community members.
Classes will run at the Carrum Community Hall for the time being, with some changes and a licence being limited to 12 months. Unfortunately, the view that all dog trainers are the same seems to be the belief and a lack of understanding of the work we do and how we use the hall is a road block. Council have not offered an alternative venue.
All new councillors have been invited to view classes and the venue, or have a chat with me about the service I provide. As yet, none have found the time to visit & watch a class. I hope that when they have more time after Christmas, they take up my invitation to visit & learn how professional puppy education is delivered and the flow on community benefits. I would welcome the opportunity to meet with them!
Dog training is an unregulated industry! All pet owners should have the choice of a professionally operated family pet education service or those run by other providers without appropriate qualifications. It's totally inappropriate & unfair to reduce services available within a community.
The view that "there are other dog trainers" is ill informed and outdated. Rate payers & pet owners deserve to have a choice & deserve to have access to a service that has been available for nearly 25 years. If you are a rate payer & a dog owner, a proportion of rates & dog registration fees should be allocated to Pet Education.
Every time a new class starts, there are at least 1-2 families who came with their last dog 10 to 15 years ago. Already I am receiving emails from such local Carrum families!
Without going into detail, discussions are continuing! Thank you to my beautiful clients, local residents, folks at the dog park, local vets, animal behaviour colleagues, friends near and far! You've provided massive support which is appreciated and it's for that reason alone, I will continue to fight to provide what I love doing & what I know benefits every single puppy & family that we meet!
I still need your support! Please keep SHARING the petition to share the information & help educate pet owners in this situation which means loss of education and a potential increase in dog incidents.
If you live in City of Kingston & have used our services, please email ALL Councillors with your thoughts. https://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/council/your-council/councillors
We need MORE qualified trainers running classes in community venues NOT less!
Better education means less problem dogs in our community!