My obsession with dogs started way back!

My story began when I was a little girl...


For years I begged my parents to let me get a dog but they just wouldn't budge. I nagged and I nagged. My whole life revolved around getting a dog. I lay in bed every night praying that a dog would somehow sneak into the house when my parents came home from dinner. I prayed that it would sneak through the garage and come into my bedroom. My grandparents used to take me to look at puppies every few weekends to try and compensate for me not having one of my own. Some weekends my nanna even borrowed a friends dog for me to play with. 


I got so desperate, I wanted a dog so badly - I decided that I needed a plan of attack. Keeping in mind that I was only about 8 years old at the time. My dad went to the letter box one day to find a letter written in very childish hand writing. The letter read:
"To Peter Thurin, I believe that God believes that you should get your daughter (Melanie) the thing she really wants, a Dog. Your Cincely..."
And guess what? He finally gave in and we got our gorgeous Spoodle, Ruffi. Unfortunately Ruffi passed away last January at the age of 15. He was a very loved dog and we all miss him dearly.

This March I got married to my incredible husband, Jase, who thankfully is also a dog lover. Jase has grown up his whole life with Border Collies. Jase has always encouraged me to follow my passions. Whilst we've been together, I completed an Accredited Professional Dog Obedience Trainer Course through the Australian Dog Trainers Academy. Since then I have done dog walking, dog sitting and consulting people on choosing the right dog.


Through my dog training course I discovered that many people select the wrong breeds for them causing the dogs to develop serious behavioural issues causing serious trouble for the owners. I also learnt that a number of people inherently blame the dog for its behavioural issues, when really the problems more often then not, stem from the owners. Dog training is more about training the owner than training the dog. I also discovered that my passion is with puppies, and in particular helping people with puppy problem solving. The idea of this blog is to teach you the right way to do things, using my own personal story.


It's been a year and a half since Ruffi passed away and Jase and I are well and truly ready to add a puppy to our lives...

And the journey begins...

'mydogjourney' is my story about getting and raising a new puppy.  

Through my journey I want to guide new dog owners and answer all those questions you may have. This blog is to help educate people who haven't had much experience with dogs and need a little push in the right direction when making the big decisions.


My journey will take you through some of the tough decisions you may face such as deciding to get a dog, choosing a breed, finding the right breeder, preparing your home, choosing the right pup from the litter, bringing your new pup home, basic training skills and much much more!!


I am a qualified dog trainer but more importantly as you could tell from my facebook or instagram account, I am totally obsessed and passionate about dogs and in particular puppies. I want to share my story and knowledge with all of you to try and make our dogs live the happiest lives they can...