About us
The Holdfast Dog Centre offers services in puppy and adult pet dog training, dog sports and doggy day care.Whereas most dog clubs focus on training to "trialling standard", our primary focus is on pet dog training, responsible dog ownership, socially acceptable dogs and a loving, respectful relationship between you and your dog. Trialling will always be an option, as is Agility and other dog sports. The choices are yours, we will help you to achieve your aims.
We make use of scientifically proven learning theory and use positive reinforcement as our training method. It is our experience that this builds a solid, trusting relationship between the dog and the handler. Using this method the dog is gently encouraged to offer acceptable behaviour and is rewarded for doing the right thing instead of being punished when things go wrong. We do not use slip collars or choker chains on our dogs - they can cause unnecessary stress and fear in a dog and achieve nothing that cannot be better achieved with patience, respect and understanding.
The links in the border at left give more details about our services.
Our logo
Our logo was designed by member Frans Kat in 2005.At the base of the design is a 'Plus' sign representing Positive. Positive Training is the basis of all that we do at the Holdfast Dog Centre. The plus is coloured Gold to allude to this 'Golden Rule'.
Above the plus, the line forms a circle to symbolize our dog centre embracing the dog owning community.
The line then continues to form the profile of a playful dog. This represents our dogs being free to express their true personalities without fear of punishment. The rainbow of colours represents joy, as well as the diversity of dogs and people that are welcome as members of our dog centre.
Delta affiliation
Our centre is affiliated with the Delta Society.
All of our trainers have either completed or are enrolled in the Delta Certificate 4 Canine Good Citizen Instructors Course. This course involves over 450 hours of state-of-the-art distance and hands-on education. The national Canine Good Citizen™ project is designed to produce well behaved, socialised pet dogs and informed, competent, responsible owners - good citizens on both ends of the leash.
You may have heard of Delta previously through their national Dog Safe Strategy™ campaign or their Pet Partners Visiting program. For more information on Delta please click on their logo above for a link to their web site.
Our History
A little over 10 years ago, a small group of people decided to form an association to represent local dog owners in an effort to provide reasonable by-laws relating to dog access to beaches in the area. From there, the Holdfast Bay Dog Owners Association (HBDOA) has grown to play a vitally important role in the community. The association continues to be active in representing dog owners by dealing with local council and government agencies, and provides a communication channel between the council and the dog owning community.Over the last 7 years the HBDOA has been running regular training programs for dog owners. Since 2003 it has offered Doggy Day Care services. Both have proven enormously successful and in recognition of this we officially registered the Holdfast Dog Centre as our business name in 2005.
The Holdfast Dog Centre is run as a community club and is governed by a steering committee. For information on the trainers and committee structure click on the "Contact Us" link in the left hand border and scroll down to the "Who's Who" section.