About Us

Business Opportunities

C.L.E.A.R Dog Training was established in Brisbane in 2001 and has become well respected by veterinarians, veterinary behaviourists, animal welfare shelters, breeders, breed rescue groups, pet stores and other dog trainers.

In order to be able to properly service potential customers around the country and give them a greater choice of how and where they want to train their dogs, we are interested in talking to qualified instructors who share our training philosophy.

People have been using our services for private lessons and group classes, at the rate of 500+ per year from the Brisbane Metropolitan area. Many have been travelling for a two - three hour round trip from the Bay Islands, The Gold Coast, Buderim on the Sunshine Coast and Gatton in the west.

Students from the University of Queensland's Veterinary Science School have been coming to us for work experience, as have students (x 12) studying for the Delta Society Australia's Certificate IV in Behavioural Dog Training.

Several of our ablest and keenest first time puppy owners have completed our training courses and then attended our in-home 'people training', workshops and seminars before eventually becoming assistant and lead instructor's at CLEAR.

Some of them have moved on to replicate our systems and procedures and successfully spread the positive reinforcement training message at Vet puppy schools and dog classes, Pet Stores or at their own dog training schools.

Initially 90% of CLEAR's business originated from Yellow Pages advertising. Almost ten years later 90% of it is from vet referrals, client referrals and repeat customers.

Our newly upgraded website has a page one ranking in Google for 'Dog Trainers Brisbane' and 'Puppy school Brisbane' and is number one in the other search engines. As a result we are currently receiving 1000 + visits per week from South East Queensland as well as around the country and around the globe.

Our local enquiry rate has more than doubled. Business resulting from Internet enquiry is soon likely to overtake referrals as our main source of business.

As the dog-owning public becomes more knowledgeable people are increasingly looking for training methods that are an alternative to traditional training. This increased demand could readily be extended to other regional and metropolitan areas.

The people we are interested in talking to in order to satisfy this demand may already be in business and want to increase their client base. Or they may wish to reduce the considerable time delays and start up costs of establishing a new business, including developing a website, and hit the ground running.

[By having an immediate and effective Internet presence, together with established and proven procedures, they will be well ahead of the competition and instantly able to provide superior customer service.]

They must enjoy adult education, have excellent communication and people skills and want to run their own business in association with and under the umbrella of CLEAR Dog Training.

If interested in further details please send a brief resume to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Our instructors

The People Who Can Help You and Your Dog

Training with a CLEAR winner: Caroline Strainig

Caroline Strainig is the owner and senior trainer of CLEAR Dog Training and has been working within the business for many years. She has owned and operated CLEAR since October 2019, and during that time has helped train hundreds of family pets across Brisbane.

Caroline genuinely loves working with dogs of all breeds and backgrounds and is just as passionate about helping everyday family dogs as she is about high-level performance training. Her approach is practical, positive and focused on real-world results, always with the goal of building strong, happy relationships between dogs and their people.

Alongside her professional training work, Caroline continues to enjoy the fun and challenge of competing with her own dogs. In recent years she has achieved numerous national, state and Royal Show awards for excellence in Obedience, Rally Obedience, Dances With Dogs and Tricks. She has also previously competed in Agility and Flyball.

Australian Obedience Championships success.

Caroline loves working with dogs of all breeds.

Trip south to the NSW Dog Obedience Championships.

Her most recent major success was at the Australian National Dog Obedience and Tricks Championships in Sydney last year, where she competed four times for three national championships and one reserve championship. Highlights included Highest Scoring Border Collie in Rally Obedience and Highest Scoring Border Collie in Tricks with her young dog Lockie, who was only 14 months old at the time.

Caroline openly admits she still gets nervous competing and believes this makes her a better teacher.

“I love the challenge of training and competing,” she says, “but I also understand how hard it can feel when you’re being watched or trying to learn something new, so I am very empathetic with my clients.”

A lifelong background with animals

Caroline has worked with animals from a very young age, beginning her training journey with horses long before dogs. As a junior, she competed in equestrian three-day eventing and went on to achieve major success, including winning the Junior National Three-Day Event Championships of Great Britain and representing Great Britain in a friendly international competition in Ireland.

She also holds riding teacher qualifications, and her years in the equestrian world laid the foundation for her deep understanding of training, timing, feel and communication across species.

This broad background gives Caroline a unique perspective and a calm, intuitive approach to working with both animals and people.

Caroline is professionally qualified through the National Dog Trainers Federation of Australia as well as holding teaching qualifications with the British Horse Society, and brings decades of experience in animal training to every session she teaches.

Based in Wynnum and servicing inner Brisbane and the southside, Caroline offers one-on-one home training for puppies and adult dogs, as well as advanced obedience and behavioural support.

She believes great training is about more than commands – it’s about confidence.

Founder and consultant trainer: Oliver Beverly

Oliver Beverly, the founder of CLEAR, has now retired on a full-time basis but still acts as a consultant.

Oliver came from a traditional training background before discovering positive-reinforcment training.

"For 25 years I trained 'obedience' by punishing undesired behaviour out of dogs with 'push and pull' techniques - for much of that time I simply didn't realise there was a choice," he said.

"I stopped using a check chain, initially with hesitation and skepticism, only after noticing the consistently steeper learning curve of reward-based trained dogs and seeing the dogs and their owners enjoying training."

About_us_-_photograph_of_Oliver_and_Millie

His most successful competition dog and much loved family pet, Millie, now sadly deceased, was entirely taught with positive-reinforcement methods.

"Unlike our previous dogs she never received a collar correction in her life," Oliver said.

Millie obtained her Master's title with the Agility Dog Association of Australia before she was 3½. In 2000 she was ADAA's Dog of the Year in the Mini class and in the International Agility Link Competition she was the highest placed Australian dog and ranked twelfth internationally. She won the Mini class in the Agility Dog Club of Queensland's Monthly Top Dog Competition in '00, '01 and '02 and for the same three years was a member of the Eukenuba Agility Demonstration team.

Millie was also used regularly in school education programs (see below photos).

Oliver is a Dog Obedience Trainers Association Instructor, has a Certificate IV in Behavioural Dog Training and am an accredited Delta Canine Good Citizen Instructor - the highest level of nationally accredited dog trainers in Australia.

While now formally retired, he still acts as a consultant occasionally and is very supportive of CLEAR's new owner, Caroline Strainig, who worked for Olliver for several years before taking over the business.

Our History

Puppy_school_23rd_October_05_028

At C.L.E.A.R Dog Training Sunday Puppy School - October 2005

C.L.E.A.R Dog Training provides the most effective and enjoyable solutions to Brisbane Dog owners who wish to co-exist happily with their dogs, enjoy their company on walks and have rewarding long term relationships with them.

Originally formed in 2001 to fill a gap in the Brisbane market for giving a head start in life to puppies and adolescent dogs in the immediate post-puppy-school stage C.L.E.A.R is nowadays well respected and referred to by local veterinarians, veterinary behaviourists, animal welfare shelters, breeders, breed rescue groups, pet stores and other dog trainers.

Until the early 1990s nearly all obedience training in Australia was done by traditional correction methods. In recent years a greater understanding of learning theory, animal behaviour and psychology has revolutionised how we are able to communicate with and teach our dogs.

As the dog-owning public becomes more knowledgeable people are increasingly looking for an alternative to the traditional correction based training methods.

Our gentle reward- based training techniques, together with a 'Yes! That's right!' marker signal, are designed to ensure that people's dogs learn willingly and quickly through Cooperation rather than compulsion, Love rather than subservience, Enthusiasm rather than stress, Authority rather than domination and Respect rather than fear.

For ten years owners came to our group classes from as far away as the Bay Islands in the east, Mt Tamborine and Surfers Paradise to the south, Ipswich and Gatton to the west and Caboolture and Buderim to the north. Some people, including several vets and breeders, drove a round trip of two or more hours to attend a second, third and even a fourth course.

Third years students from the University of Queensland Veterinary Science School came to us regularly for work experience, as did students doing the Delta Society Australia's Certificate IV in Behavioural Dog Training.

We always welcomed vets, vet nurses, breeders and other trainers who brought their own dogs to our training classes, professional development workshops and seminars. Although potentially we were training future competitors we always encouraged people to use our systems and training techniques back at their own puppy schools or dog training establishments.

In late 2012 we discontinued group classes in favour of in-home training only. Why? Even in small group classes of up to six dogs like ours used to be one of the obstacles to the successful application of positive reinforcement principles is that it is impossible to consistently reinforce desired handling actions of the OWNER within one second of it occurring.

This lack of immediate feedback affects not only the owner's rate of learning but also their level of motivation (which is why the dropout rate at group classes at many dog schools and clubs is often high). However, with individual lessons an instructor is able to immediately reinforce correct handling techniques of the OWNER and give non-judgmental feedback for anything that could be done differently. If the owner acquires good skills in terms of timing, raising criteria gradually and knows how to correctly reinforce their dog then training at home is simple, quick and fun - at both ends of the lead.

Since then people have found that CLEAR's private in-home lessons have been enjoyable, effective and time efficient for owners of puppies and older dogs in need of some more training or that have behaviour problems. In terms of knowledge gained and time spent they are, in the long run, more economical than group classes.

Click HERE for recent comments by in-home clients and HERE for further benefits of home training

About Us - Professional Development

As part of on-going education and professional development all the instructors at C.L.E.A.R Dog Training - present, past (and future!) - attend as many workshops, seminars and conferences on modern training and behaviour modification as possible.

C.L.E.A.R Dog Training has also organised several seminars and workshops in Brisbane with interesting and knowledgeable presenters. These have included Dianna Cooper in 2007, Debbie Calnon 2008, Cyn D Fisherand Debra Millikan 2009, Theresa McKeon (USA) 2010 and Terry Ryan (USA) 2012.

2010

September 2010: “Teaching with Acoustical Guidance” 2 day primary accreditation workshop in Brisbane with Theresa McKeon (USA), Co-founder and Vice President of TAGteach International

June 2010:Kay Laurence's workshop ("What’s new in clicker training ?") for established clicker trainers to keep abreast of new developments at her internationally famous 'Learning About Dogs' centre in Gloucestershire, UK.

2009

October 2009: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's 3 day conference in Sydney with Dr Pamela Reid (Canada) 'The Stages of Exel-erated Learning' ,'Training on the Cutting Edge', 'Canine Cognition', and Sarah Kalnajs (USA) 'Serious Aggression in Puppies', 'Living and working in a Multi-Dog Household' and 'Guarding: Food, Bones, Toys and Beyond'.

March: Kay Laurence's workshop ('Teaching with reinforcement - for every day and in every way') for established clicker trainers to improve their micro-shaping skill at her internationally famous 'Learning About Dogs' centre in Gloucestershire, UK.

February - September 2009:Brisbane Veterinary behaviourist Dr Cam Day's monthly "Help! PetFix'" seminars on 'My Dog is Aggressive to Other Dogs', 'My Dog is Aggressive to Other People', 'My Cat is Aggressive to People and Other Cats', 'My Dog Has Separation Anxiety' ,'Getting good behaviour from delinquent dogs' ,'MyDog is Bored, Escaping, Destructive and Barking' and 'My Dog Has Noise Fears''.

2008

2008: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's 3 day conference in Sydney with Dr Roger Abrantes (Denmark), Pamela Dennison (USA) and Dr Jennifer Messer (Canada) - "The Evolution of Canine Social Behaviour, Redirection and Desensitization for Aggressive Dogs, Striving for Puppy Wellness'.

2008:Mary Ray UK (the originator of the Sport of Freestyle and Heelwork to Music and three times winner of Crufts Obedience Championship) workshop at Coolangatta on puppy training and junior obedience.

2007

2007: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's 10th anniversary 3 day conference in Sydney with Ian Dunbar and Nicole Wilde Nicole Wilde ('Needs of the modern dog owner, in-home training, treating canine fear issues, growing your business and the future of dog training').


		Nicole Wilde, Oliver Beverly, Ian Dunbar, Sandra Lawrence

2006

2006: Kay Laurence's 3 day Seminar at the Learning About Dogs Centre in Gloucestershire, UK where many world experts gathered to raise their clicker trainings skills a notch or two and to share their extensive cutting edge knowledge.

2006: The Delta Society Australia's 2 day 'Current Best Practice' update seminar in Brisbane for Delta Accredited Canine Good Citizen Instructors with veterinary behaviourist Dr Gaille Perry from the Sydney Animal Behaviour service.

2006: Hills Dog Club, Sydney, 3 day seminar with internationally renowned Terry Ryan from USA, below with C.L.E.A.R instructors, on 'Coaching People to Train Their Dogs'.

From left: Tina Quinn, Danielle Dickinson, Eliza Borlace, Oliver Beverly, Emma Riches

2005

2005: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's annual 3 day conference in Sydney, with Sue Sternberg ('Bite-O-Meter' and temperament testing for shelter dogs prior to adoption).

2005: Steve Martin's 'Parrot Behaviour and Training Seminar' at the University of Queensland. This half day seminar was a challenging eye opener for all the dog trainers and trainers of other types of animal, vets and veterinary behaviourists in attendance. Click HERE to read notes taken at the seminar

2004

2004: Delta Society Australia's "Anxiety and Aggression" 2 day seminar in Brisbane with veterinary behaviourists Drs Kersti Seksel and Gaille Perry from the Sydney Animal Behaviour service.

2004: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's annual 3 day conference in Coffs Harbour with Dr Suzanne Hetts(Raising behaviourally healthy dogs and pet behaviour protocols').


Kate Meadows, Tina Quinn, Rose Kefford, Oliver Beverly

2004: Kayce Cover from USA (exotic animal trainer and consultant to Taronga and other leading zoos) 2-day bridge and target seminar in Sydney.

2003

2003: The Fourth International Veterinary Meeting, a 3-day animal behaviour conference held for the first time in Australia - at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast.

2003: Association of Pet Dog Trainers Australia's annual 2-day seminar in Sydney with Dr Patricia McConnell (Canine psychology and aggression).

2002

2002: Dr Ian Dunbar's 3-day seminar on the Gold Coast (behavioural problems, temperament problems & motivational training).

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25 years of excellence

Caroline Strainig is the senior trainer and owner-operator of CLEAR Dog Training, having taken over the business in 2019.

Caroline has a long history of working with animals, beginning with horses and three-day eventing at national level, before building an outstanding career in dog training and dog sports. All three of her own dogs are national champions across a variety of dog sports.

CLEAR Dog Training was founded in 2001 by Oliver Beverly, who has since retired but remains available to the business as a consultant.

CONTACT CAROLINE

VIEW CAROLINE'S BIO

What Clients have to say

And yes, CLEAR's positive training methods do work. Here is what one recent happy foundation client had to say:

"We met Caroline from CLEAR Training a couple of weeks after we adopted our rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Archie. He came from a background with no boundaries and after being moved a few times from home to home was stressed with lots of reactivity issues.

"Caroline tailored a session for all our needs. Using the strategies she has given us he has turned into a different dog, and it was wonderful to see the change and confidence grow immediately. Since that first session we have had no more accidents inside and he no longer barks at everything that moves or makes a noise, or rushes through doors.

"We now have a fantastic, loving relationship and he is much more confident in our leadership. The sessions with Caroline have consolidated our bond. We cannot thank her enough."

Adrian, Cath and Archie