Great Mates, Complete Dog Care.

17/08/2025

This!

Different dog breeds have been artificially selected (intentionally, by humans) to react to environmental stimuli in a certain way.

When we ask that dog to live in our very human world, is it ethical to punish the very hardwiring they have been programmed with (and I’ll say it again - us)?

If your dog hunts, herds, roams, perimeter-patrols, vocalises, mouths or carries things - remember that this isn’t a choice for them - it’s genetic.

And that’s on us.ms

When the "problem" is rooted in instinct and mismatched environment how is constant intentional physical punishment as feedback fair?

Lets take livestock guardian breeds as an example. Im not an expert on these wonderful dogs. I have had the pleasure of working with a few and each has been described and presented as non motivated by food, toys or praise rewards, and have little interest in taking direction from a human.

Yes, each dog is an individual, but these breeds were literally created to function without human direction. Their “reward system” is not toys or treats or human praise, but the satisfaction of doing the job they were bred for: calmly watching, independently deciding, and protecting, its beautiful to watch.

When we transplant them into an urban environment, full of noise, traffic, strangers, fences instead of open land, we are asking some of them to go against every fiber of their genetic blueprint. And when they “fail” (from a human’s perspective), punishing them is acceptable?

We dont think this could add stress and frustration, and still fail at changing their internal motivation?

Worse, it can erode trust with a dog whose relationship with humans is already meant to be more equal partner not obedient servant.

The real problem isn’t the dog. It’s the mismatch between environment, breed, and human expectations.

You can’t punish away independence, suspicion of strangers, or a low food/play drive, those aren’t “behaviours,” they’re identity traits.

You can punish a dog enough to shut them up, you just leave all those emotions bubbling away with a fear of expressing them, how sad.

So, no: punishment doesn’t make sense here. What does make sense is:

Education for owners about what dogs are and aren’t.

Management strategies and finding suitable outlets to meet breed triats.

Respect for their nature, understanding them for who they are.

Careful rehoming, because some of these dogs simply won’t thrive in a city, no matter how much work you put in, (the same for some street dogs, home is a prision)

It’s heartbreaking to see people blame the dog for not bending to an environment they were never designed for.

I want to be clear some will adapt, some wont, each dog varies, but.......

Just like left-handers weren’t “wrong", some breeds/types of dogs when placed in urban environments cant cope, they’re in the wrong context and intentional physical punishment to make them " fit" just doesnt sit well with me.

07/08/2025

The Cruel Irony of Punishing a Dog Already in Distress

There’s a painful irony in the dog world: Dog's being punished, who are already struggling to cope, who are often reacting because something in their world already feels punishing, frightening, or overwhelming.

Instead of asking, "What’s happening inside this dog? What are they trying to communicate?" instead " lets punish the dog"

A shock.
A spray bottle or collar
A prong collar, choke chain etc.

That dog is often already in distress. Their behaviour was a symptom, not the disease. Their reaction was an attempt to say, “I can’t handle this. Help.”

And yet, people respond by piling on more stress, more fear, more aversion, and then somehow framing it as a favour.

“I’m correcting him for his own good.” “She needs to learn.” “This is how you train a balanced dog.”" Now they can go off lead and be a dog".

You can’t scare fear out of a dog, but you can shut them up.
You can’t correct trauma into trust, but you can shut them up
You can’t punish away panic, but you can shut them up.

Quiet doesnt mean coping

My approach is that dogs need understanding. They need to be heard. And we owe them the grace to ask why before we decide how to respond.

This doesnt mean i dont believe in boundaries, or guidance.

It means I believe in being fair, being compassionate, and working hard to reduce worries whilst striving for change not just shuting the undesirable behaviour down.

20/07/2025

It’s not the tool you use, it’s the trainer behind it.

03/07/2025

I love they we are moving away from collars and using harnesses more but not all harnesses are born equal. I will only ever walk my dogs in a well fitting ‘Y’ shaped harness for the reasons outlined below. (Plus I want them to be comfortable and enjoy their walk!)

This is a repost(ish) but well worth repeating. Many of you have heard me harp on harness fit time and again. Having spent decades evaluating harness fit in working dogs of all types with thermal imaging (as well as having years of working and active dog experience combined with a strong biomechanics knowledge base) using front-clipping or "Gentle Leader" type harnesses only guarantee more structural stress in active dogs that makes for more work for me and other chiro/sports med colleagues. PLEASE only use harnesses that fit with proper ergonomics! [NOTE: I've tweaked the English & syntax in the added-on description below so it might read a little differently.]

"All dog owners should know this fact! A harness like this is a terrible injustice to your pet!! AVOID USING THIS TYPE OF HARNESS !

In a dog's forward movement, a harness with a tape that crosses its chest from side to side hinders it in the same way humans would bother going hiking with an elastic band holding their arms. Physiological movement of the front extremity is prohibited. Just like rubber would inhibit the pendular movement of our ARMS.

Thanks to the "Study of Canine Movement at the University of Jena", we now know that in the dog, the center of rotation of the front limb is at the top of the scapula, but in the human the center of rotation in the arm is in the shoulder (head of the humerus). Jena's study demonstrates, among other things, the importance of scapular movement for dog locomotion. Now we understand the importance of taking into account the free movement of the dog's shoulder when choosing a chest harness.
That means there SHOULDN'T be bands across the scapular (orange) area, and they shouldn't cross the chest side to side either.

From the point of view of biomechanics and physiotherapy, it is recommended not to choose getting harnesses that have a strap that goes through the chest laterally, or that have straps that touch or press the scapula.

Always lean towards harness models with ERGONOMIC design, to allow maximum freedom of movement for your dog, improve his well-being and safety during his walk.
Source : REAL CEPPA"

28/04/2025

★ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝘆 𝘁𝗼 ★ + a little bit of wine… ★

31/03/2025

★ 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗯𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 ★ Despite your best efforts, we’ve managed to keep you alive for 9 whole years ★ We are both greyer because of it, but I expect there is some gratitude at both ends if we dig deep enough ★
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21/12/2024

Dogs are not robots.

Even a dog raised from puppyhood by two exceptional trainers can have quirks.

Your dog is an individual and as their guardian it is your duty to question what you can ethically expect from the animal you have brought into your very human home.

Every dog is different and if a trainer tells you they ‘guarantee’ to ‘fix’ behaviour… find another trainer.

Poodle doesn’t like dogs.

Poodle is a very selective dog that has a tendency to respond aggressively to strange dogs.

We’ve had him since he was a pup and from day 1 he has always been very stiff and combative when greeting new dogs. If we were to do things again we would have done a few things differently but hindsight is a bitch and we are always learning and changing how we do things for the better (hopefully). Even now, with dogs he likes he will not roll over and we have to make sure the interaction is nice for both dogs.

As dog trainers, this is a mild inconvenience. Having a dog that is very selective towards other dogs can make things tricky but through careful planning and training we have a dog that can tolerate other dogs at a small distance. Poodle has helped us with countless reactive dogs as a stooge over the years.

This is only one thing that makes things a bit tricky. Having a dog will likely mean we will have to compromise at some point and accept the cards we are dealt. We can choose a breed that might meet our expectations and what we are after in a dog, but it can never guarantee how they will behave, what they will like and what they won’t like. Training is there to teach them how to behave but we can’t teach them what to like and what not to like. Counter-conditioning and/or classical conditioning can create pleasant associations but very rarely can it make our dogs like something they simply hate.

If we are stuck focusing on one or two things that our dogs a bit tricky this will likely over-shadow all the things that make them a pretty damn good dog instead.

Around the house Poodle is super easy. If we're not up for a busy day and want to blob he'll just blob with us. If we're up for hiking for hours he's keen as too.

In nearly all aspects he's the ideal dog for us. He is very responsive and very tolerant in nearly all situations and he's very safe - meaning, though he might respond aggressively, it's very loud but it would be incredibly unlikely any damage would be caused. Plus, through careful management and training we almost never see the aggressive responses now.

Adolescence was tricky, but it usually always is and that's usually the most important time to train but often a time lots of people give up as they don't see results immediately.

If there was one piece of advice I could offer anyone struggling with a dog that is between 6 months and 2 years is to just keep going and get help if you need to get more support.

Moral of the story - don't focus on the bad stuff about your dog. They're dogs, they're going to have quirks that we might not agree with but having a dog means we need to compromise certain things and accept some of those quirks. If you can't change it, focus on things you can change or just be thankful for all the good things they naturally dog that others might be struggling with.

Training will modify behaviour, it won't make them any less of a dog and dogs are individuals just like us. Work with the dog you have, not the one you had hoped for.

Here’s Poodle with our latest adoptee - he naturally acts as an unpaid babysitter. We couldn’t really have hoped for much better than that with our lifestyle.

www.Thinkdog.nz

15/12/2024

★ 𝗠𝗮 𝗚𝘂𝗿𝗹𝘀 + 𝗧𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 ★ #🫶🏽
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23/11/2024

★ “𝗗𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗱𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.” ~ 𝘉𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘩𝘢 ★
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16/11/2024

★ “𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁, 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗸𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱.“ ~ 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 ★
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12/11/2024

★ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗵𝗼𝗹 ★ Thas all I’m sayin’ ★ Thanks for another epic trip, NB ★ #🫶🏽
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