Tawai - Training for Companion Dogs

01/03/2025

In this episode of Cesar Reacts, these dogs go at it! There are no warnings and there are no indications between these pups before they go at it. These Germa...

25/11/2024

I love this video.
She had probably weaned her puppies not too long ago.
It shows how she demands respect and to not have her space invaded by the puppies.
She’s strict and it’s not about making them fear her; it’s about making them respect her space.

(For licensing or usage, contact [email protected])Rosalie is an experienced dog mother. This is her last litter (she just had 4). She wants to enter th...

09/11/2024

29/10/2024

Guy Fawkes Night is coming and many pets are terrified of fireworks. Tips for helping your pet cope with fireworks include exercising them beforehand, giving them rescue remedy, having the TV or radio on loud, keeping them indoors, offering a secure den, and being calm and breathing. Horses should be kept in a safe, fenced area. Magnesium dosing earlier in the day can also help.

29/10/2024

Guy Fawkes is coming and many pets are terrified of fireworks.
Tips for helping your pet cope with fireworks.
Have them do exercise (age appropriate) that day so that they are not full of energy helping them be calmer when fireworks go off.
Give them rescue remedy to help cope with the stressful moment.
Have tv or radio on loud.
If you can have them indoors, close all windows and doors to minimise the outside noise.
Remain calm and remember to breathe.
Offer them a secure den to hide in (a covered crate or a blanket draped over a table where they can hide under).
Be careful not to leave any gates open that they can bolt and run.
Some dogs will run for their life.
If possible keep horses somewhere with safe fencing so that they don’t panic and go through fences and get injured. If safe, be there with them and remember to stay calm and breathe. Do big relaxed sighs to show them that you are not stressed. Dosing with magnesium earlier in the day can help.

28/10/2024

18/10/2024

Rosie doing a perfect recall

18/10/2024

Pippin, practicing recall in one of the paddocks

18/10/2024

Pippin, while on Board & Train, having fun off leash on Alps to Ocean and learning that it’s her responsibility to stay close and know where I am at all times

18/10/2024

Pippin , while on Board & Train, learning to not just barge in into the house

05/10/2024

Indi and Layla on Alps to Ocean. Trotting off leash beside bike in a safe environment teaches them that it’s their responsibility to follow, to keep up and to always know where I am.

05/10/2024

Ella & Layla doing one of my favourite tricks.
Love how dramatic Layla was in this one.

30/09/2024

This is something everyone should see.

When you get your 8/10 week old puppies, please keep this image in mind. Their bones do not even touch yet. They plod around so cutely with big floppy paws and wobbly movement because their joints are entirely made up of muscle, tendons, ligaments with skin covering. Nothing is fitting tightly together or has a true socket yet.

When you run them excessively or don't restrict their exercise to stop them from overdoing it during this period you don't give them a chance to grow properly. Every big jump or excited bouncing run causes impacts between the bones. In reasonable amounts this is not problematic and is the normal wear and tear that every animal will engage in.

But when you're letting puppy jump up and down off the lounge or bed, take them for long walks/hikes, you are damaging that forming joint. When you let the puppy scramble on tile with no traction you are damaging the joint.

You only get the chance to grow them once. A well built body is something that comes from excellent breeding and a great upbringing-BOTH, not just one.

Once grown you will have the rest of their life to spend playing and engaging in higher impact exercise. So keep it calm while they're still little baby puppies and give the gift that can only be given once.

27/09/2024

I’d like to share with you all something I have discovered over the years.
I have always had German Shepherds and other breeds living in town with me.
As a kid I used to bathe my German Shepherds and they always smelled bad and had itches or skin problems.
Following the vets advice I would bathe them with special shampoos, etc.
We had a farm in which we had a pack of 8-10 dogs of all sizes and coat lengths.
I realised those dogs had really healthy coats and skin and had no smell whatsoever.
And I realised that the big difference was that those dogs had never had a bath in their lives.
I decided to quit bathing my dogs and for the last 30 years I have never bathed any of my dogs. I have lived with them in farms and in big cities.
They have always had healthy skin and fur, no skin issues and have no doggy smell whatsoever.
By bathing with shampoo or soap, even the mildest, we are washing away the natural oils that protect the skin against bacteria and fungus. Those natural oils also make them sort of water proof so they dry quicker and if they are muddy, once they dry off the dirt just slips off.
We live on a farm and my dogs get full of cow poo or love to lie on the rotten, stinky mud beside the stream. After some hours, once they have dried off, they come into the house and are clean again and have no smell at all. I joke that they have self cleaning powers.
If I’m in a hurry to clean them, to get in car, I just hose them down.

I have converted many people by making them put their nose on my dogs and smell them so as to confirm their lack of smell.
Always that I meet a dog, or have a friend that has a dog with doggie smell I ask the owner if they bathe their dog and they proudly answer yes, every fortnight, month or once every 2 months.
I explain my theory to them and I recommend to stop bathing them for at least 3 months to allow their dog’s natural oils to reestablish and again offer protection against pathogens, and to then decide if they want to continue bathing them.
Most of them never go back to bathing their dogs.
Playing with hoses, sprinklers; swimming in lakes, rivers and sea is ok.
It’s just using anything that will wash away the natural oils (soap, shampoo or any chemical product) that affects their skin negatively.
Even when I took my dogs to shows, if they were muddy or had been in the sea I’d take them for a swim in the river or just hosed them down (ideally non-chlorinated water).
Here some photos of my dogs, Layla, Indi and Ella and their coats.
I don’t even brush my dogs regularly. I only brush them during moulting time.
Please feel free to ask me any questions about this non bathing way of having dogs.