Plenty of guides tell you a dogging course exists. This one tells you what it's actually like — day by day, through to the moment the assessor signs your Notice of Satisfactory Assessment. If you're booked in (or deciding whether to book), here's the inside view of how a DG ticket really gets earned in Sydney.
Before day one: what to bring
- Photo ID matching your enrolment (driver licence or passport — your RTO will send the evidence-of-identity list)
- USI (Unique Student Identifier — free at usi.gov.au if you don't have one)
- PPE: steel-capped boots, hi-vis, long pants. Hard hats and gloves are usually supplied
- Calculator — non-negotiable; the maths component is real
- A decent night's sleep. The first day is dense.
Day 1–2: theory and the maths
The opening days are classroom-heavy, and they set up everything else:
- The dogman's job, legally: slinging loads where judgement is required, and directing the crane operator — including when the load travels out of their view.
- Load weights. You'll learn to estimate and calculate weight from material tables — steel, concrete, timber, pipe — because "the forklift driver reckoned it was about two tonne" is not a method.
- Centre of gravity and why a load hooked off-centre swings, tips or slides its slings.
- Lifting gear: chain, wire rope and synthetic slings; shackles, hooks, eyebolts, spreader beams; working load limits and the markings that state them.
- Sling angles. The big one. As the angle between sling legs widens, tension in each leg multiplies. You'll practise these calculations until they're automatic — they are guaranteed to appear in assessment.
- Exclusion zones, including the powerline distances every dogman must know cold.
Expect practice questions each day. Do them. The people who fail the written assessment are the ones who skipped the homework, not the ones who found maths hard at school.
Day 3–4: hands-on slinging and signals
Now the yard work starts:
- Gear inspection. Running chains through your hands looking for stretched links, checking sling tags, rejecting damaged gear. Assessors love asking why a sling should be quarantined.
- Hitches. Direct, choke and basket — when each applies, how each changes the sling's capacity, packing sharp edges so the load doesn't cut the sling.
- Connecting and controlling loads. Shackle orientation, tag lines, keeping fingers out of pinch points, never standing under the load path.
- Directing the crane. The standard hand signals (hoist, luff, slew, travel, stop, emergency stop), whistle signals, and radio protocol for blind lifts. You'll run full lifts where the operator responds only to your calls — this is the core of the practical assessment.
By the end of day four you should have run multiple complete lifts: plan, inspect, sling, signal, land, unsling. If you feel short on reps, say so — trainers would rather give you another run than send you into assessment underdone.
Assessment day: the three hurdles
A SafeWork NSW-accredited assessor runs three components:
- Knowledge (written). Theory questions across everything above. Closed book.
- Calculations. Load weights from dimensions and material type, sling-angle tension, selecting gear with adequate WLL. Show your working.
- Practical. You plan and execute lifts end-to-end: assess the load, choose and inspect gear, sling it, direct the crane through the move — including a blind section on signals only — and land it. The assessor watches everything, including what you do with your feet and where you stand.
Pass all three and you're issued a Notice of Satisfactory Assessment on the spot. Miss a component and you re-sit that component, not the whole course — ask your provider about re-assessment windows and fees up front.
After assessment: turning the NSA into a licence
Within 60 days, take the NSA, your ID and a photo to Service NSW and lodge your high risk work licence application (SafeWork fee, roughly $100). The photo card — class DG, valid five years, recognised Australia-wide — arrives by post, usually inside a fortnight.
The three places people come unstuck
- Sling-angle maths. Practise until the multiplier logic is reflex. Every failed written paper has this in it.
- Talking through the plan. Assessors want to hear your reasoning — load weight, gear selection, exclusion zone — not watch you silently wing it.
- Signal discipline. Vague or hesitant signals fail practicals. Big, deliberate, textbook signals every time, even when it feels theatrical.
A provider with small classes and generous yard time fixes all three before they become assessment-day problems. That's the single biggest factor in choosing where to train — at Training Combined in Regents Park (Western Sydney, 25+ years of dogging and rigging delivery, 5.0-star Google rating), courses are structured around exactly that repetition, with combo pathways into rigging and crane tickets when you're ready for the next step.
FAQ
How many days is a dogging ticket start to finish? Four to five course days including assessment, then a Service NSW lodgement and one to two weeks for the card. Two to four weeks all-in is typical.
Is the dogging assessment closed book? The knowledge and calculation components are done under exam conditions. The skills you need — WLLs, sling angles, exclusion zones — must be in your head, which is what the course drills.
Can I do the course with zero site experience? Yes. Dogging has no prerequisite ticket or experience requirement — just be 18+, bring ID, and be able to complete the assessment in English. Total beginners pass every week; the course assumes nothing.