Welcome To Cooper and Kids
Making Dogs and Their Families Happier and Safer.
Cooper and Kids specialise in creating safe, happy and positive relationships between babies, kids and dogs. We are here to help educate families around the safety of living together with babies, kids and dogs.
We use kind, gentle, positive science-based training methods.
Our aim is to help you see the dog in front you. To help you understand your dog better. Know how to meet their needs and ultimately give them a happier life.
Cooper and Kids is here to support and prepare you at each phase of your journey.
At Cooper and Kids We Believe In

Making Dogs and their Families Happier and Safer

Building Trusting Relationships

Positive Reinforcement Science-based Methods

Dog and Child Safety

Family Friendly Dog Training

Our Products
About Mel

Mel is an IAABC accredited dog trainer, a certified Family Dog Mediator, a Family Paws Educator and a Fear Free Certified Professional. She is also a busy mum of three gorgeous human babies; Harper, Paxton and Brooklyn plus her two beautiful golden retrievers, Cooper and Scout. She absolutely understands the chaos and the juggle that comes with running a busy house. Mel has a psychology background and has always had a serious love for dogs as well as a love for learning about the science of behaviour.
The aim of Cooper and Kids is to help educate families and dog guardians about the importance of using positive reinforcement training to help build better and safer relationships. Mel is also a Family Paws® Parent Educator, dedicated to helping families create dog aware generations.
What My Clients Are Saying
“Mel spent time with our 4-5 year-old kinder class and was incredibly warm, engaging, patient and fun with our group! The children responded so well to Mel’s videos, songs and role playing of ways to positively engage with dogs and empower children to make responsible decisions when around animals. The children continued talking about Mel and her program in the days following, a real indication of their enjoyment and take aways from their time with Mel!”
“Mel is the best in Melbourne! From the very beginning when I booked the 6 week program, Mel was constantly checking in on me and my family, sending me useful resources when needed. Mel has a beautiful nature and is such a lovely person to have in your home with your pet and family. The greatest compliment was from my son- when we graduated from the program he asked for Mel to come back!”
“The Preps had a fantastic session learning about dog safety with Mel. The environment was calm and safe for those students who were apprehensive and hesitant about dogs. Students had the opportunity to practise essential skills of communicating safely with dogs and how to approach them appropriately. Mel immediately connected with students by sharing photos of her pets and allowed students to share the names of their dogs. The session was engaging and fun too, we look forward to having her back next year!”
“Mel really helped us understand our young puppies body language so we could work out when she was happy and also when she was stressed, worried or uncomfortable, who knew dogs gave so many subtle signs when they weren’t happy! The kids really loved learning how to teach Summer new tricks and really enjoyed the games Mel taught them to play with her. Thanks again Mel, we really enjoyed our sessions with you and learnt a lot about Summers wants and needs.”
“Mel delivered two fantastic workshops for our team at Bondi Behaviourist on Dogs and Babies and Dogs and Toddlers. Both workshops gave us not only solid foundations on how to approach working in these situations but also layers of details and considerations that might not come to mind without the level of expertise that Mel offers. We loved having her around, she’s warm and friendly and full of knowledge. We can’t wait to have her back up again in the future.”
“Mel helped us so much with managing our 3yo and dog together. I can’t believe how successful her tips were. I messaged her thinking it was a lost cause, but I was becoming desperate. I wish I called her 6 months earlier!?”
“We followed all of Mel’s suggestions in preparation for our first baby and it’s been very successful. Our dog, Obi has been amazing with her little sister, Mia, since bringing her home from hospital. So gentle and caring! Thank you!”
“Mel has been an absolute god send for our little family. Our 2 year old Labrador is full of energy, so once we found out we were pregnant our first thought went to ‘how are we going to manage this energetic dog and a newborn baby?’; enter Mel! Mel visited our house and spent the time getting to know our dog and understanding our lifestyle to provide us with key insights as to how to ensure Freddy’s manners were up to scratch and helped us to create a plan in the lead up to our baby being born. Following our catch up Mel has continued to check into see how Freddy is tracking. Mel has gone above and beyond for us and we couldn’t be more grateful for her ongoing support.”
“Mel seriously from the bottom of our hearts thank you so much for today! We appreciate your help so much!! Everything you told us makes so much sense and will help manage when the baby comes….. Again thank you so much, you really know what you’re talking about and your passion for dogs and dogs with kids is amazing!”
“Mel was incredibly helpful when we spoke to her about our puppy Mickey and how to manage some typical puppy behaviours! She was so knowledgeable about the positive reinforcement training and had a helpful answer to all of our endless questions. Particularly during these times of social distancing, it was great to be able to access excellent advice over the phone. We have seen massive positive differences in our pups behaviour since implementing Mel’s techniques.”
“Mel was absolutely incredible to work with. She has such a kind and gentle approach that was so effective in helping us with the issues we were having with Lenny. She has a wealth of knowledge and we saw improvements in a very short time frame. So happy we got Mel in to help us. “
Latest Blogs

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