Acchindra Amstaff

18/02/2024

Our first show back after some time off and had an awesome day!!
Acchindra Yuki Senshi come home with BOB and Intermediate in group under judge Ms M Clegg. Thanks to Tab for showing Yuki for me 🏆

04/04/2023

Happy birthday to Zeus and Nyx babies…hope they got spoilt rotten ❤️🎉🎂

25/03/2023

Little cutie she was 🥰
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204132745355341&id=1726946427&mibextid=0cALme

19/03/2023

Happy 2nd birthday to Jet and Nyx babies hope they all get spoilt rotten ❤️🥳🎉

25/10/2022

So true 🐾
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=490499389790765&id=100064921230581

Here’s another post I share annually. Many, many owners (and trainers) have found life changing insight and value from this short read. I hope it’s helpful. 🙏
——
Okay, so this is a word that gets an awful lot of play in the training world, and it’s definition has come to mean an awful lot of things. Many of which, are incredibly counter-productive, if not downright dangerous.

So let’s see if we can’t clarify a few things.

Socialization isn’t:
-About letting your dog freely interact with dogs at the dog park, day care, or with friends dogs.
-About allowing your dog to meet other dogs on-leash.
-About allowing all manner of people, in all manner of mental/emotional states interact/pet/pressure your dog.
-About exposing your dog to the sights and sounds of cars, buses, motorcycles, bikes, skateboards, joggers...and allowing them to freak out, panic, aggress, hide, bark etc.
-About exposing your dog to the sights and sounds of dogs, cats, and other animals, and allowing them to freak out, aggress, lunge, bark, growl etc.

Socialization is:
-About teaching your dog the proper responses to dogs. What is and isn’t appropriate behavior, and correcting the unwanted when it appears.
-About teaching your dog to walk by the barking, lunging dog(s) on walks and ignore them, completely. Correcting if necessary to achieve this result.
-About advocating for your dog and ensuring people aren’t allowed to pressure your dog, by touching, crouching down, attempting “kisses” etc. That means being a big boy or girl, and stopping others from engaging in unwanted, uninvited interactions.
-About exposing your dog to all manner of daily life “things” and ensuring a proper response. If aggression/arousal is present, it’s corrected, if fear/arousal is present (and causes an overreaction/fleeing etc.) it’s corrected. Ask your dog to learn to ignore and not care about these “life” distractions/concerns/temptations. Teach them to listen to the training, not the world around them.
-About teaching your dog to leave other creatures alone. The cat, the bird, the cow, the goat, the other dog, is simply none of their business. If they decide those things are their business, it’s your job to correct and clarify what is and isn’t their business for them.

Socialization has become a ridiculously simplified, dumbed down, all-encompassing idea. Free interaction and exposure have been presented as a panacea, the magic gateway to a balanced dog. That’s a whole lot of B.S. you’ve been sold, by a lot of people full of B.S. 🙂

Socialization is all about teaching your dog how to behave and exist in the world...properly. People have a belief that only interactions create a well socialized dog. They don’t understand that existence is almost always preferable, and more valuable than actual interaction. Yes exposure is critical, but exposure without 100% clear guidance, and corrections for poor choices, isn’t socialization, it’s chaos, and it’s not teaching your dog what’s right, what’s wrong, and that you’ll keep them safe, so they don’t have to.

A well socialized dog isn’t fazed by the world around them. And that doesn’t come from simple exposure and interactions without guidance. Ironically, that’s precisely how you create anti-social dogs.

Think on that for a minute.

01/10/2022

😂😂😂
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5561329813958749&id=557681190990328

We do not discuss this topic.

24/09/2022

https://www.facebook.com/100063678620569/posts/493943839404899/?d=n

Proactive v Reactive

We aim to be proactive in our training.
We look ahead in every situation and try to predict all the potential scenarios. With that in mind, we then set ourselves and our puppies/dogs up for the best outcome, avoiding the scenarios we don't want.

We wouldn't allow a puppy play outside with our kids and wait for puppy to nip kids and then go outside and clip on a lead... too late!

We would go outside with the kids.. with the puppy on lead so we can give clear direction to the puppy on how to behave appropriately.

We don't wait for the mistake and then correct it... we instil the correct behaviour in the first place.

06/07/2022

Love getting updated photos of the babies…well not so much babies anymore 🐾

25/06/2022

😍😍

25/06/2022

Oh they were so cute 🥰

03/04/2022

Happy second bday guys 🎂🎉🥳

25/03/2022

She was such a cute baby and today getting poops with me cause I’m leaving without her 😂🥰

19/03/2022

Happy birthday to all Jet and Nyx babies can’t believe it’s been a year 🎉🎂🥰

01/03/2022

Sitting like the princess she is 💕
https://www.facebook.com/1726946427/posts/10204034779266250/?d=n

12/02/2022

The dogs enjoying some pancakes this morning with a little training thrown in 🥰

15/01/2022

Some great info see this all the time. https://www.facebook.com/Katespawsitivepups/photos/a.208886022819795/732774993764226/?type=3

Just a thought of the day I felt compelled to share..

Working in veterinary medicine is where I single handedly see the most dog to dog mishaps with the general public due to simply lacking knowledge on dog behavior, and lack of respect for both their own dog and other dog’s space. Let me play it out for you, of what I see, all too often. Owner has their dog in the waiting room on a loose, long leash. The Dog is free to roam within a 6 ft radius. Another dog and its owner attempt to come in the doors, only to be blocked and greeted nose to nose by the uncontrolled dog, now tense on his leash, pulling and eager to meet. Its owner speaks out, “oh it’s okay! I’ve got him, and he’s friendly☺️” Here is where I step in to politely ask the owner to keep her dog close to her, only to get a response of “he’s fine, he’s wagging his tail!” 🤦🏼‍♀️ Little do they know, I see something else, way more complex, far beyond their assumptions.

Education and knowledge is power. Especially when you are dealing with an animal that you are supposed to mentor and guide for its lifetime, to ensure stability, confidence, and respect. In my professional and outright personal opinion, never is it okay to:
1) Allow your dog to greet another dog nose to nose on a tense leash
*A dog greeted head on is generally very rude, intrusive, and unnatural in the dog world, and can create conflict right from the get go. Any dog can take this posture as threatening, and begin defensive aggressive behavior. To make matters worse, a tense leash can build the energy in a dog to produce reactive behavior due to space constraints. If you must introduce dogs on leash, it is better to allow them to greet side by side on a LOOSE leash, and relax!

2) Assume that a wagging tail is a happy dog wanting to interact
* A dog will wag its tail for a multitude of emotions. It is VITAL to understand what your dog is saying by it’s tail wag. Based on tail position and speed will indicate how the dog is feeling. For example, A low, fast wag can generally indicate nervous energy, or insecurity, which has potential to cause a fear aggressive response. A high, stiff wag can mean over-arousal/over-stimulation or intent of ready to spring into action. The dog will make lousy choices in this state of mind and make it more difficult to control should they “rev-up” more. A medial, soft & loose wag is generally universal for a happy dog. Get to know your wags!

3) Assume the other dog is just as “friendly” as yours
* Not all dogs are dog friendly. This should be obvious knowledge. Just because your dog is friendly does not mean the other is, too. They could be undersocialized, have social insecurities, or just be dog aggressive. Give other dogs space, please.

4) Allow your dog to interact with other dogs in a veterinary office waiting room
* Dogs often come into the vet office already stressed. It is generally not a place of pleasure as the dog is usually being shuffled into a tight room, being held by strangers only to be poked and prodded at. The smell of other ill dogs or even death is in the air which makes a dog uneasy. Most owners are often nervous FOR their dog during a vet visit so their energy does not help the dog, either. There may be the the smell of cats in the room, stress pheremones, and urine markings from other dogs. Dogs come in not feeling well, or maybe have arthritis, or painful from an injury. They may be recovering from a surgery. Or coming in to be put down due to old age or chronic illness. Now tell me why this sounds like a good spot to “play”?!

We all go to the vet with our dogs. Please make your next visit pleasurable for everyone!

25/12/2021

Merry Christmas from the Acchindra family 🎄

12/12/2021

Bit late posting….. Had great weekend showing last weekend. It’s so good to watch Jas and Yuki growing and learning together. They got RUBOB and they won minor puppy group super excited. 🏆🏆

12/11/2021

She’s so pretty ❤️

13/10/2021

She’s such a poser 🥰

11/10/2021

It seems that the ultimate goal for dog owners is to have a dog they can bring to a dog park because that must mean their dog can tolerate and deal with anything 🧐

And I wonder why that's so important?

I understand that many owners with this as their goal in mind, doing it with the best intentions, assuming they’re doing the right thing and are improving the quality of their dog’s life. And for a small amount of dogs, it can be a great experience.

But…

If you have a dog that doesn't really enjoy other dogs, you don't do your dog any favor trying to get him to a point where he can "tolerate" being at the dog park...usually it's quite the opposite and you'll lose your dogs trust that you got his back.

Or if you have a dog that enjoys playing really rough, why is it so important that he can "play" with the miniature doodle at the park rather than finding him a personal play mate that is on his level?

There's many reasons why I don't bring my dog to a dog park regardless of how well tempered and balanced my dog would be...the environment is just way too uncontrolled.

It's like going to a night club, you never know what to expect LOL

The fact that the majority of dogs are dog selective, meaning they prefer a more social circle than having to hug and kiss every stranger they come in contact with, is just another one.

But one of the big reasons I don't bring any dogs there is, because it really is a very unnatural environment for dogs and if you'd like to understand more about this, read my article on that topic.

https://www.k9possible.com/single-post/2016/04/05/Why-Dog-Parks-Are-Unnatural-How-To-Properly-Socialize-Your-Dog

11/09/2021

Yuki’s first concert 😆 she was such good girl 🐾

26/08/2021

Happy national dog day 🐾🐶

13/07/2021

🥰🥰

12/07/2021

Yuki first cafe visit today 🐾🐾

30/06/2021

I have this little boy just become available.
He is 14 weeks old he comes with the following:
• ANKC Pedigree Papers
• Vaccinated
• Microchipped
• Wormed
• Flea free environment
• DNA parentage
• Ataxia Clear via Parentage
• Lifetime breeders support
Pm Enquires 🐾🐾

12/06/2021

🥰🥰

02/06/2021

I love seeing the puppies grow....how cute is he. 🥰

26/05/2021

UPDATE This little fella has found his forever home.
We’ve just had this little boy become available again through no fault of his own
Pm enquires 🐾

23/05/2021

Took these little cuties out today for some socialising. 🐾🐾