Meraki

26/08/2024

Fergus, Zephyr and Hayst.

The last week of Fergus' holiday with us. Been a great young dog to have around, the clown socialite type. Been an absolute pleasure.

21/08/2024

Cool day today with a visit from Valor and her guardian. Managed to get some family shots of her with her granny Zephyr and half sister Hayst (sire Bandit).

The trio Zephyr, Fergus and Hayst are getting on great although I have to keep an eye on Zephyr and Fergus as both are very possessive, merely a stick can spark a bit of conflict through attempted theft. Hayst just goes with the flow.

Wish had some Fergus time today also but she basically ignored him. More interested in trying to activate me into a play session.

14/08/2024

Zephyr & Wish, mother and daughter 😊

29/07/2024

U Litter all settled in to their forever homes and growing like weeds @ 13wo.

Ladies first: Tui, Lazu and Nala
Gents: Jodha, Zen, Induna and Niko. No recent photo of Enoch made available so here's one before he left.

28/07/2024

Meraki Valor (Zuri x Bandit) @ almost 10 months old. A stocky compact unit like her grandma Zephyr. She's a very social dog with good drive and an off switch. Will be doing her health tests in a few months 🤞

15/07/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/PygJ9RfJf9TZ6uG2/?mibextid=oFDknk

💭𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙧💭

On the whole, dogs do not generalise nearly as readily as humans do.

Behaviour for dogs is very contextual.

They rely a lot on context cues, and this is especially true when they are trying to learn a behaviour or skill that is more part of human expectations than of the natural canine repertoire.

For example, if we teach a dog how to go to their bed at home, they typically perform it well. However, take that bed to the park, and they struggle to complete the task at hand.

Dogs are most likely to generalise more quickly with strong emotional responses.

This is where things can get tricky.

Being able to perform a behaviour or to experience an associated emotional response across different settings.

In my day to day training, I am typically working on being able to get a clients dog to be able to generalise behaviours successfully in new environments, as in other cases we are trying to prevent.

I see so many train in the same area and wonder why their dog can't perform outside of a house, walk, club, etc..

This seemingly presents a huge grey area for pet dog owners left wondering why their dog..

A. Won't listen?

B. Knows the behaviour being asked?

Right or wrong, the dog likely doesn't understand what's being asking as it's in different surroundings.

The dog needs enough information to complete the task being asked, and more often than not, the owner is not providing enough at that given time.

Many, I am sure, can relate?!

It can be very frustrating for the pet owner to understand the "why" behind it in the moment.

Let take this, for example.

You take your dog to the same place each week to train, that be your house, local park, club, football grounds, friends.. the dog can perform everything perfectly there, then you decide to take them elsewhere for a change, you find they are disengaged, not listening, switching off, distracted.

This is the product of not generalising the behaviour dersired, nearly enough.

There are generalisations,

•Stimulus

•Response

•Maintainace

For your dog to have consistent behaviour in a range of environments, these are important to solidify around.

So next time you think your dogs are not listening, ask yourself, have you generalised the behaviour expected, or maybe they have generalised the undesirable behaviour themselves?

Food for thought?!

*Photo of Ludo learning how to settle on our deck*

15/07/2024

Happy 5th Birthday today to the Y-Litter (Zephyr x Talos).

Frost, Judge, Lyric, Coby, Yawa, Asta and Hazel aka Yeti.

11/07/2024

Hayst and her new mate Fergus, adding more 1 year old energy to Meraki for a 7 week stay.

27/06/2024

Just some random pics taken this week at Meraki.

Has been a busy few weeks here, as the U Litter departed for their next chapter. Feedback recieved from new owners has been positive. Mr Turq is leaving this weekend and Mr Red has got a wonderful home to go to in Dunedin this week.

Hayst had her hip, elbow and spine xrays this week and results were recieved at lightening speed the next day. Very good results 👌 So I will be able to use her in my breeding programme!!

Plans for next year?? It all depends on the number of committed buyers, as you may already know I don't do matings unless there are at least 4 committed homes. I will post expressions of interest when I plan a mating, but otherwise feel free to contact me to discuss further.

Have a great Matariki day 🙂

20/06/2024

UPDATE - Mr Red is now spoken for 😊

Mr Red is the photogenic dude that is still available, looking for a forever home.

He is going to be a big lanky fella and a fantastic companion.

I will start his crate training next week and he will have exposure to cats and more environmental experiences.

He has had his vet check and is strong and healthy, vaccinated, deflead and wormed every 2 weeks.

He comes with 4 weeks free pet insurance, free access to many Michael Ellis training videos and lifetime support from me.

19/06/2024

U Litter are 8 weeks old today and so the departure begins.

1 boy I will see trained at Apex club, 1 girl possibly attending Dogsport and 1 girl going to be trained in LandSAR, my first dog ever so looking forward to seeing how she goes. The remainder are going to lovely homes as pets and companions. I wish all the best for both pups and families especially those first few restless nights 😬

1 male still available, I will put a post up of him soon.

13/06/2024

U Litter are 7 weeks old today!!

Instead of crashing out amoungst blankets in the day-house they prefer creating pup-piles outside it.

1 male is still available, I will know who that lad is next week and will do a special post for him if he isn't sold prior.

11/06/2024

Zuri's 5 greys!!

Not that colour matters but pretty cool to have had these oddballs in all 3 of her litters and for her finale litter have 3 of them.

06/06/2024

U-guys are 6 weeks old today!!

Clearly some found a spot on the lawn that needed further investigation judging by most the noses, it's all chaos now.

2 weeks and they all depart 😔 Homes will be decided after temperament assessments and vet check on the final week. The 'breeder picks your pup' has worked well for me so far. The amount of time I have spent interacting and observing them gives me clues as to who they are and what home they will thrive in given the personality I see consistently for 8 weeks. They are all very individual.

1 male is still available. I will not know which one till the final week before they go, 2 weeks, 20th June.

30/05/2024

Before and after your mother reprimands you 😁😅

30/05/2024

U Litter are 5 weeks old today!!

It stopped raining for a second so we ventured out to the bigger paddock with vehicle and machinery noise nearby.

1 male still available.

28/05/2024

The ladies are pink, purple and orange.

23/05/2024

U Litter are 4 weeks old today!! The half way mark.

Weather has allowed us some time on the lawn for some grazing and frolicking.

1 male still available.

19/05/2024

Happy 1st Birthday Hayst!!

16/05/2024

U Litter are 3 weeks old today!!

Whelpbox is gone. Teeth are starting to come through now, started on solid food. Alot of interaction happening, even some growling at their mother.

1 male still available.

16/05/2024

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When it comes to allergies, quercetin for dogs is a mighty flavonoid with anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine powers. Find out more about Nature's Benadryl.

14/05/2024

RETIREMENT HOME WANTED

I have been considering this for a long time for Zuri as she is a highly loyal dog that needs to be the centre of a family or someone's world. She has given us 3 beautiful litters and currently has a litter so will not be ready to leave here till end of June.

Zuri is a Zephyr x Yaal daughter, she is 6 years old this September.

She is typical of the GSD working line with medium/high energy, high drive, high prey drive. She has been trained to switch off when required. She is very biddible and trainable.

She has been raised as a pet inside the house as well as kenneled and crate trained. She was raised around kids and cats, however she would need to be carefully introduced to other cats as she has high prey drive. She is good with my dogs, not dog aggressive.

She has a good level of obedience due to my training with her in IGP and Protection sports in her earlier years. An active experienced home is essential to provide the mental stimulation and physical outlet she needs. She requires a firm fair leader.

I have not covered everything, as it would be a novel 😁 so please feel free to phone with any questions. Only the best home for her as she has been a huge part of our family since the day she was born, this is not easy for me but believe it will be better for her.
0272488241 [email protected]

09/05/2024

U Litter are 2 weeks old today!!

Making great gains in fur, weight and activity, I even heard a growl. Eyes are opening so they are now able to detect movement.

1 male is currently unspoken for.

04/05/2024

https://www.facebook.com/share/yNjLp2bsR7gy3y4u/?mibextid=oFDknk

👀👁 Which is which? 👀👁

👀 Looking - It can look like this - Dog has soft body posture, soft eyes with normal sized pupils, glances, looks away, sniffs the ground, takes another look, may lay down & quietly observe, may groom themselves, may interact with owner looking for feedback about the situation, may want to just keep moving & carry on doing whatever else they were happy doing.
Aka Not that bothered.

👁 Loading - It can look like this - Dog usually has stiff, forward, still posture, they can be wide eyed with enlarged pupils, hard staring trying to lock eyes with dog/person, sometimes very quiet until they start to lunge, bark & release the pressure of the stress/adrenaline.
Aka Very Bothered.

🤔 Once you recognize the sequence of -
- Looking turning into Locking (intense focus).
- Locking turning into Loading (adrenalizing).
- Launching (releasing the internal pressure by display).
You will get better at recognizing where your dog's behavior is headed & what you should do about it. And you should want to do something about it so your dog doesn't actively engage, as that is a whole other world of trouble.

😶 Things that don't help your dog -
* Talking non stop to them, constantly patting them especially when posturing forward.
* Pulling them back while posturing forward.
* Letting them pull you closer to other dogs/people when overaroused.
* Standing stationary or too close to other dog or person in that state of arousal.

🥰 Things that can help your dog -
* Watching at a distance & redirecting their attention to you until they are more comfortable. Reduce distance if need be.
* Treat scatter in the presence of distraction so they are doing something else.
*A well conditioned "leave it" with a leash pop (until your verbal "leave it" is conditioned enough that that's all you need to say) at the looking phase & keep them moving. As movement can be rewarding, you can also give them a quick pat or treat as a secondary reward.
We personally like to address them fairly before correcting their behavior (every trainer has their way of doing things but that's dog training, so whatever gets you the best results, then choose that).

🤙 Ideally we want to be catching them at the "Looking for too long buddy" phase before they start loading up. Don't let them stare out & posture forward. This means paying proper attention to what your dog is actually doing & interrupting the sequence of events before it occurs. If you know your dog is prone to these behaviors, then you need to be prepared to work on them instead of constantly putting them in situations they keep displaying it. The longer they do it, the better they will get at it & it is extremely unfair to let it become an engrained behavior that is very hard to address.

02/05/2024

U Litter is 1 week old today!

All are thriving and quickly detect when Zuri has returned to the whelpbox, then it's a mad scramble to locate her.

There are some pups yet unspoken for so feel free to contact me if you are genuinely interested 🙂

28/04/2024

U Litter are doing very well @ day 3.

25/04/2024

The U Litter graced us with their presence this Anzac day. U is for Unity.

8 healthy sable pups arrived within 5.5 hours during the day, 3 females, 5 males.

Zuri and pups are doing well.

17/04/2024

Happy 2nd Bornday to our singleton Wish!! (Zephyr x Monsimbee Navigator)

You are an absolute pleasure to have around. Quirky, biddible and fun.