BARK’s Backyard

07/10/2024

Waiting for these two to lift their heads from their dinner for a photo…

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I should know that they rarely surface before they have finished all of their Fiber Fresh 🥰

22/09/2024

Today was a horsey day at BARK’s Backyard. Wanda and her newly adopted paddock sister, HoneyBee, had a pedicure (hooficure???), followed by a groom and some massage. Wanda always falls asleep when she gets any kind of healthcare 🤣

With the girls back in their paddock for a snooze in the sunshine the two-legged volunteers moved the 50 bags of FibreEzy that we got from Jo Cu***ng Fiber Fresh Territory Manager - Northland, that’s a lot of feed 🤩

28/08/2024

Our pretty girl Wanda is looking forward to eating some grass up near our roadside. Sadly, some of our neighbours (people that don’t have all the information about her injury and lifelong physical condition) have made assumptions about her health and wellbeing.

So we have asked both her vet and her equine physio to write her updated reports on her health and welfare for anyone that wants confirmation that she is in fact pain-free, healthy and happy.

Our girl is feed twice a day with hard feed and hay, is moved around every few days for access to new fresh grass areas, has a beautiful paddock mate and other horsey friends over the fence. She is well-loved by all of our team and we are dedicated to all of her needs.

If anyone would like any further information about her please reach out, we would rather provide evidence from appropriately credentialled professionals than have people question her care.

20/08/2024

Wanda and her temporary friend Diel got to have a new paddock area today. There are not many horses enjoying grass like this at the moment 🤩 Almost lost their cute faces in the long blades of grass 🥰

22/05/2024

One of the things we do at BARK’s Backyard is host the Kiwitahi Road Community cupboard. Today, with help from our two4nine crew, we cleaned it out, restocked it and made a wee weatherproof path.

Keeping in line with the “Take what you need and leave what you can” ethos, we hope this fresh start will encourage others that can to support our community with any excess fruit, veges, pantry or household items 🤩

21/05/2024

02/05/2024

I think we are going to need to find more tree donations… 😬

27/04/2024

Meet Wanda. She is a 12yr old ex-racing thoroughbred bay mare and our latest rescue/rehome.

Wanda needed a home that would provide all the love and care she needs to love a health, happy and enriched life. She is not suitable for riding, as she has suffers from a serious fence accident that effects her left hind quarters. She is very thin and her injury is evident (even to the untrained eye) but she has settled well at BARK HQ and we think she will be a great asset to the team in an equine-assisted interventions role ❤️

27/04/2024

And the smiles 😃 So many smiles thanks to BARK’s Backyard 🤩

BARK HQ four-legged residents:

Django
Black Lab
Happily retired BARK Buddy enjoying life on the farm.

Lucas
Huntaway cross
BARK Buddy - Education support

Tardis
Huntaway cross
BARK Buddy in-training

Finn
Lab cross
BARK Buddy in-training

Wanda
Thoroughbred horse - rescue horse/lawn-mower/therapy horse

Friends of BARK

iLean
English Mastiff
BARK Buddy - Education support

Flicka
Swedish Valhund
BARK Buddy - Education support

Aura
French Bulldog
Honorary BARK Buddy

Patch and Mouse
Neighbour horses and champion carrot eaters

And of course regular two-legged support from our two4nine crew 🥰

26/04/2024

So what happens when you have the space but it is not yet usable?

You work hard!

Hard work is an understatement! It’s been a long and challenging year and that has just been setting up the education room and preparing a safe surface in the paddocks. There has been a lot of drainage to resolve and we are still working with clay as we await more topsoil, but we have a hole ready for our pond and some garden beds taking shape.

Thanks to some amazing volunteers and supporters, here is a look at some of our progress to date 🤩

26/04/2024

So… where did we start…

April 2023. That’s right one year ago already 😲

And why are we here?

Our founder, Heather Summers, with husband Jon and family purchased almost 10 acres in Helensville, Auckland. The purpose of this space was to provide a safe and predictable environment for the work BARK NZ does to support children and their families that are experiencing Cynophobia, an intense and persistent fear of dogs.

“When our Dogs Without Fear children are ready to progress to walking a dog, it is important that the environment is safe and controllable. With any public space there is very little predictability around other people and their dogs. Each step of our Dogs Without Fear program must be delivered with the care, respect and consideration for each individual participants situation and circumstance. Flexibility is important and this can only be achieved safely in an environment with which we can have management strategies in place.”

Photo: One of our first DWF families to visit BARK’s Backyard.

26/04/2024

Welcome to BARK’s Backyard.

This is a page dedicated to the activities happening at BARK HQ that relate to the animals in our care, the property that supports the work we do and the fundraising activities undertaken to maintain our facility.

Join us on our journey to create a sustainable facility that enables us to provide the best care and enrichment opportunities for the BARK Buddies (our support dogs) and the other BARK support animals while working towards an inclusive space for our partner organisations and wider community supporters.

Photo: Tardis enjoying his spot in the sun at BARK’s Backyard 🥰