Goodwood Private Dog Park, Wellington

03/04/2025

Upgrade: heads up that we’re building a netting double buffer to the road boundary so I can plant it up with natives. It’ll improve privacy & separation from road users, and screen views of livestock across the road. Humans please be mindful of sharp ends to star pickets at mo. I’ve sprayed them pink & they’ll be capped.

31/03/2025

So cute! Thanks for sharing your visit

31/03/2025

Had a wonderful review we wanted to share. Thanks for your visits Nicole.

21/03/2025

Happy dogs! Thanks to all recent visitors to Goodwood. This weekend is looking good & a few spots still available. Here's a discount invite link for new visitors: https://www.sniffspot.com/to/8a0jz

Oh, and CLAIM YOUR DOG below...some very happy ones too

07/03/2025

Very relevant

Not long ago, dogs were valued primarily for the jobs they performed, such as hunting, herding livestock, and guarding property, all of which required boundless energy and a wariness of strangers. But “as more city dwellers adopt pets, and cultural shifts have led dogs and people to spend more time inside, some behaviors that made dogs appealing to our ancestors have become maladaptive,” Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods wrote in 2024. A dog wary of strangers is tough to take for a walk, for instance, and gets consigned to a fenced-in yard where it can’t spend its energy. https://theatln.tc/YWRfWeSv

“Dogs have gone from working all day and sleeping outside to relaxing on the couch and sleeping in our beds,” the authors write. “Thousands of years of domestication couldn’t prepare dogs for this abrupt transition.”

Dog owners have attempted to correct for this by picking a hypoallergenic breed, a smart breed, a breed that is supposedly good with children—but the main thing a breed usually tells you is what your dog will look like.

“Service dogs are the exception and the answer to the domestication puzzle,” Hare and Woods write. “For more than a century, service dogs have had to sit quietly in a café, calmly negotiate the stress and noise of urban life, and interact gently with children. They can do this not because they are smarter than pet dogs, but because ... service dogs are uniquely friendly. Unlike most pet dogs, service dogs are attracted to strangers, even as puppies. And increasing friendliness seems to have changed these dogs’ biology, just as it did thousands of years ago.”

“We believe these changes are the early signs of a third wave in dog domestication,” the authors continue. “If dog lovers shift their demand from a dog’s hair color and tail length to their comfort with strangers and new places, this friendliness could quickly ripple through the population and become amplified with each successive generation … A breeding program that prioritizes a friendly temperament could show results within just a few decades.”

In the meantime, as the third wave of domestication gets under way, humans must continue caring for the pets they have now.

🎨: Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty

04/03/2025

Update: Good news is that First Gas came and cleared the plastic matting that was choking the stream at swimming hole #1. Looks much better! Photo below

02/03/2025

Clem (our part owner, operations manager and new stick calibration specialist) met her sister Bella (a fluffy coated Pembroke) for the first time since they were 10wks old. Was really cool to see.

14/02/2025

UPDATE: First Gas are coming for a look this week to see what they can do. Yay. So hopefully no more….
**Algae NOT Algae** A few questions about toxic algae at Goodwood given it’s in other large rivers around. As far as I’m aware there isn’t and never has been any here. We’re the very headwaters of the Porirua Stream and clean water comes out of Belmont Regional Park. We swim in it. But I did notice something that looks terrible but IS NOT ALGAE. The stream has washed down to some terrible plastic geotextile fabric that laid when doing pipe protection works a few years back. I’m not happy about having plastic fibres in our stream and will ask they can remove if possible. You’ll see it in swimming hole #1. So nothing to worry about in the algae department (oh and I’m a biologist with some experience in stream health and would let you know if I had concerns fyi).

10/02/2025

Lots of INTERESTING new smells for dogs in the dog park this week! All open again now. 📖 at https://www.sniffspot.com/to/8a0jz

10/02/2025

Clem (our assistant ops manager and new stick calibration specialist), who is just over a year old did her first sheep muster tonight, and I’m super proud of her. So the small flock will spend the night in the dog park ready for the shearer in the morning. Any dogs visiting this week will get a beaut smell experience FYi.

09/02/2025

Tuesday morning we’re shearing sheep in the dog park yards. So any dogs visiting afterwards this week will have an extra olfactory pleasure to explore - with sheep smells, dags and I’ll leave a bit of wool to romp in for you. 📖 at https://www.sniffspot.com/to/8a0jz. Photo for attention is while photographing the Country Calendar book, world record shearer Sam Welch making sure I didn’t go home without finding out how hard his sport is!

06/02/2025

*ADDED* Wellington summer has been pox, so to trick the rain away, we’ve installed two umbrellas for anyone caught out by our summer weather! Dogs don’t care about rain, but owners can, so feel free to borrow and return to their rocket launch pods by the 💩 bin. Book a visit now at https://www.sniffspot.com/to/dyubs, or newbie referral code at: https://www.sniffspot.com/to/8a0jz

31/01/2025

Love it when people visit Goodwood at dawn, it really is the loveliest time as the valley wakes up, the rabbit smells still hang in the air, and the bird chorus. Bring a coffee or thermos, be those people. Good for your soul as well as your 4 legged mate’s.

28/01/2025

Recent happy dogs! Thanks so much for visiting Goodwood and bringing some summer weather for change! Weather looking reasonable this week still. Oh, and CLAIM YOUR DOG below...

27/01/2025

*Discount for new members to Sniffspot*. New members have to sign up for sniffpass subscription now (SniffSpot control this not me sorry). But there's a referral invite code for which gives some discount. You can also sign up, use a free trial, cancel and not be charged if it's not for you. So give it a trial now. Here's the discounted link code is: https://www.sniffspot.com/to/8a0jz Please pass it on to others.

24/01/2025

Installation and testing phases complete. Sign off from the Facilities Testing Supervisor and New Stick Calibration Specialist Clem. ‘Book Your Own Tug™️’ at https://www.sniffspot.com/to/dyubs