Tamarani Border Collies

02/01/2026

04/12/2025

Not an intended drinking fountain but border collies are problem solvers, lol

17/11/2025

💜

I often joke that raising a dog is a lot like raising a child—except my daughter has yet to destroy an entire roll of toilet paper for fun, and none of my dogs have ever demanded a rainbow-inspired birthday party… yet. But if you’ve ever watched a toddler and a puppy side-by-side, the similarities are uncanny. Both have zero impulse control, and both genuinely believe that anything in the environment is a potential invitation for exploration, adventure, or mild chaos—especially if you look away for half a second.

And here’s the thing: most of us would never dream of raising our children the way many people unintentionally raise their dogs. Let me explain.

When my daughter was two, imagine me handing her a multi-pack of permanent markers and saying, “Sweetie, you’re smart. I trust you. Don’t draw on anything important.” Then turning around to make a cup of tea. Thirty seconds later, she would have created a mural that Banksy himself would applaud—on the living room wall. Would my reaction have been: “She’s so stubborn!” “She’s over-aroused!” “She has a predisposition to artistic defiance!” Of course not. She was a child. Children need guidance, boundaries, and supervision (and ideally, washable markers).

And somewhere around this stage—whether with the child or the puppy—comes one of the biggest misunderstandings people have: the idea that the puppy actually “knows” something. People say, “But he knows sit,” or “She knows this at home,” but what they really mean is the puppy can do it when nothing else is going on. The second you add the real world—leaves blowing, birds flapping, kids laughing, smells wafting in from six miles away—the environment becomes the most fascinating thing on the planet. In the early stages, the environment will always win. Every. Single. Time. That’s not the puppy being naughty or stubborn—it’s simply nature. Our job is to help them navigate distractions, guide them through chaos, and gradually become the most interesting and safe place for them to anchor themselves. Without that support, the world becomes one giant, irresistible playground they are absolutely not equipped to handle on their own.

Fast forward to my daughter being older—if I gave her unrestricted access to desserts, let her stay up as late as she wanted, go out with friends whenever she felt like it, and make all her own decisions at a young age, we all know what would happen. Questionable judgment. Meltdowns. Sugar-fuelled chaos. A total disregard for structure. And we’d all agree that the issue wouldn’t be her personality… it would be my parenting approach.

Yet this is exactly what happens with dogs all the time. People bring home an adorable puppy with fluff, charm, and the cognitive ability of a damp sponge, and then give them free access to the entire house, let them rehearse chasing the cat “just once” (which turns into twice… and then twenty times), allow them to greet every stranger like an enthusiastic debt collector, expect them to magically “know better,” and then act surprised when the dog begins to make poor choices—daily, enthusiastically, and with full commitment. Suddenly the labels start flying: “He’s reactive.” “She’s over-aroused.” “He’s stubborn.” “She’s got no impulse control.”

But the reality is far simpler and far less dramatic: the dog is responding exactly how any young creature would respond—with the information, experiences, and freedoms they’ve been given.

Puppyhood is childhood, just with more fur. If a child grows up with intentional structure, healthy boundaries, and appropriate experiences, they develop into a confident, capable human. If instead they grow up with overwhelming freedom, chaotic environments, and zero guidance… well, the journey gets bumpy. Dogs are no different.

Before we label a dog as “difficult,” we should ask ourselves: What experiences have we exposed them to? What environments have we allowed them to rehearse behaviour in? Have we set them up to succeed? Have we actually taught them the skills to make good choices—or just hoped they’d somehow figure it out?

Dogs don’t magically absorb correct behaviour through osmosis. They’re not born understanding polite greetings, impulse control, or the nuanced art of “perhaps don’t launch yourself at the elderly neighbour holding shopping bags.” They learn from us—just as our children do. When we raise our dogs with the same intentionality we use to raise our children, we create dogs who are confident instead of chaotic, thoughtful instead of accidental, and able to navigate the world calmly rather than being overwhelmed. And we become owners who can confidently say, “Yes, my dog is brilliant,” instead of, “He’s just a bit… erm… enthusiastic… sorry… he’s friendly, I promise!”

Thoughtful upbringing leads to thoughtful behaviour—every single time. Puppyhood is not something to merely “survive.” It’s something to curate. Because when we invest in those early moments, we’re not just teaching our dog how to behave… we’re shaping who they’ll become. And trust me—wall art is a lot easier to avoid when you don’t hand the puppy the metaphorical permanent markers in the first place.

So tell me—what do you do to intentionally raise your puppy to be a great adult dog?

10/10/2025

We welcomed 6 beautiful border babes on Tuesday night, five boys and one sable girl. 🥰

Mum Samira and babies are doing super well so far. There likely will be some availability pending decisions by waiting families.
Please contact us for an expression of interest form or for more information. 💜

08/09/2025

https://youtu.be/ZZQhGBFID24?si=jNVMB0nIk49ds48c

This is the stop when you stop game. A game to play if your dog starts to PULL or forget about you on a walk. Its one of my favorite relationship building ga...

18/08/2025

Puppy exercise tips to support growth plates, build coordination, and prevent injury with expert-guided puppy fitness strategies.

31/03/2025

Update: Kai has found his family! 💙

Sometimes placing puppies doesn't work out in the interests of puppy and family, as the reality of dynamics can be different to expectations.

As a result, little Kai came back to us quite soon as his new owner realised their family situation wasn't in his best interests.

He is a super puppy, very chilled, loves cuddles but with lots of character.

If you think you and Kai could be good mates, send me a message at Tamarani Border Collies including the type of home you will provide.

*Please don't apply if you work full time, with no one at home for long periods of time.

30/03/2025

There is a question I get asked constantly:

“Bart, should I play fetch with my dog every day? He LOVES it!”

And my answer is always the same:
No. Especially not with working breeds like the Malinois, German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, or any other high-prey-drive dog, like hunting dogs, Agility dogs, etc.

This answer is often met with surprise, sometimes with resistance. I get it—your dog brings you the ball, eyes bright, body full of energy, practically begging you to throw it. It feels like bonding. It feels like exercise. It feels like the right thing to do.

But from a scientific, behavioral, and neurobiological perspective—it’s not. In fact, it may be one of the most harmful daily habits for your dog’s mental health and nervous system regulation that no one is warning you about.

Let me break it down for you in detail. This will be long, but if you have a working dog, you need to understand this.

Working dogs like the Malinois and German Shepherd were selected over generations for their intensity, persistence, and drive to engage in behaviors tied to the prey sequence: orient, stalk, chase, grab, bite, kill. In their role as police, protection, herding, or military dogs, these genetically encoded motor patterns are partially utilized—but directed toward human-defined tasks.

Fetch is an artificial mimicry of this prey sequence.
• Ball = prey
• Throwing = movement stimulus
• Chase = reinforcement
• Grab and return = closure and Reward - Reinforecment again.

Every time you throw that ball, you’re not just giving your dog “exercise.” You are triggering an evolutionary motor pattern that was designed to result in the death of prey. But here’s the twist:

The "kill bite" never comes.
There’s no closure. No end. No satisfaction, Except when he start chewing on the ball by himself, which lead to even more problems. So the dog is neurologically left in a state of arousal.

When your dog sees that ball, his brain lights up with dopamine. Anticipation, motivation, drive. When you throw it, adrenaline kicks in. It becomes a cocktail of high arousal and primal intensity.

Dopamine is not the reward chemical—it’s the pursuit chemical. It creates the urge to chase, to repeat the behavior. Adrenaline and cortisol, stress hormones, spike during the chase. Even though the dog “gets the ball,” the biological closure never really happens—because the pattern is reset, again and again, with each throw.

Now imagine doing this every single day.
The dog’s brain begins to wire itself for a constant state of high alert, constantly expecting arousal, movement, and stimulation. This is how we create chronic stress.

The autonomic nervous system has two main branches:

• Sympathetic Nervous System – “Fight, flight, chase”

• Parasympathetic Nervous System – “Rest, digest, recover”

Fetch, as a prey-driven game, stimulates the sympathetic system. The problem? Most owners never help the dog come down from that state.
There’s no decompression, no parasympathetic activation, no transition into rest.

Chronic sympathetic dominance leads to:
• Panting, pacing, inability to settle
• Destructive behaviors
• Hypervigilance
• Reactivity to movement
• Obsession with balls, toys, other dogs
• Poor sleep cycles
• Digestive issues
• A weakened immune system over time
• Behavioral burnout

In essence, we’re creating a dog who is neurologically trapped in the primal mind—always hunting, never resting.

Expectation Is a Form of Pressure!!!!!!

When fetch becomes a daily ritual, your dog begins to expect it.This is no longer “fun.” It’s a conditioned need. And when that need is not met?

Stress. Frustration. Obsession.

A dog who expects to chase every day but doesn’t get it may begin redirecting that drive elsewhere—chasing shadows, lights, children, other dogs, cars.
This is how pathological behavior patterns form.

Many people use fetch as a shortcut for physical exercise.

But movement is not the same as regulation.
Throwing a ball 100 times does not tire out a working dog—it wires him tighter.

What these dogs need is:
• Cognitive engagement
• Problem solving
• Relationship-based training
• Impulse control and on/off switches
• Scentwork or tracking to satisfy the nose-brain connection
• Regulated physical outlets like structured walks, swimming, tug with rules, or balanced sport work
• Recovery time in a calm environment

But What About Drive Fulfillment? Don’t They Need an Outlet?

Yes, and here’s the nuance:

Drive should be fulfilled strategically, not passively or impulsively. This is where real training philosophy comes in.

Instead of free-for-all ball throwing, I recommend:
• Tug with rules of out, impulse control, and handler engagement

• Controlled prey play with a flirt pole, used sparingly

• Engagement-based drive work with clear start and stop signals

• Training sessions that integrate drive, control, and reward

• Activities like search games, mantrailing, or protection sport with balance

• Working on “down in drive” — the ability to switch from arousal to rest

This builds a thinking dog, not a reactive one. The Bottom Line: Just Because He Loves It Doesn’t Mean It’s Good for Him

Your Malinois, German Shepherd, Dutchie, or other working dog may love the ball. He may bring it to you with joy. But the question is not what he likes—it’s what he needs.

A child may love candy every day, but a good parent knows better. As a trainer, handler, and caretaker, it’s your responsibility to think long term.
You’re not raising a dog for this moment. You’re developing a life companion, a regulated athlete, a resilient thinker.

So no—I don’t recommend playing ball every day.
Because every throw is a reinforcement of the primal mind.

And the primal mind, unchecked, cannot be reasoned with. It cannot self-regulate. It becomes a slave to its own instincts.

Train your dog to engage with you, not just the object. Teach arousal with control, play with purpose, and rest with confidence.

Your dog deserves better than obsession.He deserves balance. He deserves you—not just the ball.


Bart De Gols