Toraq Portuguese Water Dogs

08/13/2024

Tuli (Thor x Sayyida) earning WWDX title with owner/handler John Wilson.
These dogs love to work and this is a great way to bond with your dog!

Tuli earns her Working Water Dog Excellent Title

08/08/2024

Virmithor living his best life seeing the sites Alaska has to offer!

06/29/2024

Happy 4th Birthday to Dani’s first litter
Titus/Enzo, Maddox/Cooper, Morgiana/Olive, Sarsanel/Jojo, Nahalla/Rose, Korror/Olive, Assyrah/Callie, Kyra/Josie and Castanya/Anya

06/13/2024

For those of you who have not seen an ORT/Odor Recognition Test dogs must pass in order to participate in NACSW/ National Association of Canine Scent Work trials below are the videos of Triss and Janis completing their ORT. Odors are Birch, Anise and Clove.

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04/21/2024

Sayyida (GCH CH Toraq’s Sayyida Al Hurra De Pirate’s Cove BN SWN CGC TKN ORT) Pirate x Kiara, Earned her fist NACSW title with a Level 1 Element Interior Title.

04/21/2024

Triss Q’d in both AKC Novice scent work trials last weekend with Janis Watts🎉🎉🎉
She came away with 8 qualifying ribbons with 2 legs each in Containers, Interior, Exterior and Buried. Plus 3 first places, 2 second places and a 3rd place. This was their first AKC trial and they did a fantastic job!
Triss is CH Toraq N’Legado Triss Merigold TKN (Thor x Sayyida)

04/18/2024

Love my Clementis

04/17/2024

Happy 7th birthday to Jaco, Augie, Luna and Maji.

04/15/2024

MoonDancer (CH Toraq’s Tribute to the Midnight Sun CGC) went BOB yesterday and BOS today earning 6 Grand Champion points. MoonDancer is out of Hank x Dani

04/15/2024

Rocco (Toraq’s Rocco Borges) out of Breno x Dani earned his first 2 points this weekend at the Sacramento KC shows in Lodi, CA.

04/11/2024

For those who think a doodle is a breed or worth the cost read this first because those breeding doodles are not always honest but pushing a sale hence the absurd amount of these dogs in shelters.

Wally Conran was the first to breed a doodle and to quote his thoughts "I opened a Pandora's box, that's what I did. I released a Frankenstein. So many people are just breeding for the money. So many of these dogs have physical problems, and a lot of them are just crazy.”

Taken from another post but was too good not to share:

❤️food for thought....All three of these dogs look like a doodle...right? A non-shedding, intelligent, trainable pet that looks like a teddy bear & without the “fancy poodle” look. Guess what my friends... these 3 dogs are poodles ... purebred, standard poodles with a teddy bear cut.

🧠Intelligence=poodle
🧹Non Shedding = poodle
🎓Easy to train = poodle
🐻Teddy bear Cut = Groomer

🛑People spend 2.5x (plus) the price of a purebred poodle,for a mixed breed dog that comes with no papers, typically no genetic testing & zero knowledge of the genetic history and pedigree. Please realize that doodles are popping up in rescues in crazy amounts due to unforeseen behaviors and physical traits that the breeders had no idea of knowing.... ie: shedding. It’s rare that you will find a well bred poodle in a shelter... why? Because reputable breeders take their puppies back if you can’t keep them.

⭐️Wally Conran was the first to breed a doodle and to quote his thoughts "I opened a Pandora's box, that's what I did. I released a Frankenstein. So many people are just breeding for the money. So many of these dogs have physical problems, and a lot of them are just crazy.”

💰Just because someone stuck a high price tag on the product, doesn’t mean the product is worth the price.

Buyers also don’t realize the slim chance that the puppy will not shed, or may not get the good behavior/intelligence of a standard. Wally Conran tested a litter of 10 doodles, 3 were non shedding.

Goldendoodles are a cross between a golden and a poodle. How can ANYONE guarantee non shedding when golden’s shed? Even if it’s 5th generation doodle, how can you guarantee non shedding unless genetic testing is done to guarantee that the golden gene didn’t make its way down through the gene pool? They can’t!!!

Poodles come in MANY different colors too! And yes you can get a cream/Appricot/red poodle that is the same color as a golden.

03/28/2024

California take note and take action against Assembly Bill 2425. This bill is sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation seeking to address concerns in animal shelters, has been amended to also include regulations on hobbyist dog breeders. The proposal insinuates that people who breed as few as ONE litter are contributing to animal shelter population concerns. Remember it is these small hobby breeders that work through their regional and National clubs to keep their breeds out of shelters and provide foster homes for dogs in need.

What You Can Do:
Although the bill is not currently scheduled for a hearing in the state Legislature, it is important for those impacted to contact the author’s office and respectfully express your concerns with AB 2425. If you are a constituent, be sure to mention that when contacting his office:

Contact Assemblymember Bill Essayli (Dist. 63 – Riverside County):
(916) 319-2063; [email protected]

California Assembly Bill 2425, a bill sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation seeking to address concerns in animal shelters, has been amended to also include regulations on hobbyist dog breeders. The proposal insinuates that people who breed as few as ONE litter are contributing to animal she...

01/27/2024

Another AKC titling program designed for dogs like ours that love to fetch! Starts this year.

Welcome to AKC Fetch! When dog owners are asked about activities they like to do with their dogs, the most common responses are to take their dog for a walk and to play ball (fetch) with the dog.

12/25/2023

Important work please check it out and think about donating to this worthy cause

Learn more about the canine health research that your contributions have funded. We couldn't have done it without your continued support. Thank you!
https://www.pwdfoundation.org

12/24/2023

Well written post and totally agree with the conclusion and training used to correct the behavior. Training is a science and a good trainer is worth their weight in gold.

Until a year ago, I was a trainer with a very force free approach. I didn’t believe there was a place for aversives in dog training. I didn’t have a dog that required them. Lucky me!

Until I got this chap. My very much adored kelpie, Evo. Bred to move HUGE flocks and herds of livestock out in rural Australia. A hard-headed dog, with a mega independent streak.

I worked hard with him. I’m a trainer. I laid my foundations, as I have done successfully with my other 4 dogs before him. They worked, to a point. And then, they didn’t.

I was fully prepared to give him a breed-appropriate outlet. Alongside the other work I give my dogs, I have my own sheep, meaning I can work my own dogs regularly on stock. However, my small flock of flighty sheep was far too jumpy for him to work, and he was becoming dangerous out and about in any sort of proximity to sheep.

So, you may say, just keep him on a lead! Problem solved. Well, not really.

Management can and does fail. I have heard it from countless clients. I have had it fail myself.

I also live, with sheep on my property, and surrounding it on 3 sides. Everywhere we turn, there are sheep. There’s no avoiding them.

Keep him on a lead in the garden? We have a large garden and keeping him on the lead would be unfair. He’s an incredibly active, working bred dog, who would end up spending his entire life on a lead.

We also encountered prey drive issues out and about, particularly around deer. His recall was fantastic, but once we moved, our walks were either full of deer, or sheep and he could rip a long line out of your hands to chase something particularly tempting.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and e-collar train. Controversial, particularly online.

But, the absolute best thing I ever did.

The alternative solutions I had suggested were:

Keep him on the lead - I buy good quality leads, but they have failed on me before
Move house - we’ve moved to a dream house, not an option
Avoid places with sheep etc - hard when they’re in the garden
Long line - he could still pull a long line out of reach
Train him - he was trained to a very high level and we had reached the limits via force free methods.

Management fails.

I went through the process of conditioning him properly to the e-collar. I spent ages ensuring I got it right, he understood what was expected and that he knew how to switch it off. I invested in a pricey bit of kit, and I went about it by the book.

It’s transformed his life.

He can romp around the garden, he can walk through my sheep without batting an eyelid, he can walk off lead on the hills and he can enjoy walking in the forest even when deer run out in front of us.

For him, that wasn’t ever going to be an option without it.

Nothing was more reinforcing than chasing.

And it was going to get him killed. He’d have been shot, or hit by a car, or lost. All because I wouldn’t open my mind to using different tools.

Am I suggesting every dog requires one? Absolutely not. But there are MANY cases where they save lives. It’s both saved and enriched his.

He’s happy, he lives his best life. He hikes everywhere with us, he’s well mannered and fully reliable off the lead. He knows the rules, and that’s the key.

He’s not suppressed. He can still go off and be a dog. He tears around the garden with our other dogs, he sniffs and does dog things. But he’s safe when doing it all.

I see a lot of judgement towards these tools from people owning dogs who would never require these tools. That’s great. And that’s also not a problem. But it is completely unfair to demonise the use of a tool which you haven’t taken the time to fully understand. I was 100%, without a doubt, against them before I took the time to understand how they worked and how they were used.

It’s imperative that they’re used with a trainer well versed in using them. It’s also crucial that the equipment used is good quality and not something cheap from Amazon or eBay. It’s an investment, but one that is so necessary for a lot more dogs than you might realise.

Take the time to understand others’ points of view. There is truly not a one-size-fits-all approach in dog training and my change of opinion has opened up a whole new world for all of my dogs ❤

Photo by Saffy Leyfield Photography

11/22/2023

Here is an article about the deadly pneumonia that is going around mostly in Dog boarding and day cares.
Keeping dogs apart as much as possible and keep your dog home if coughing.
Early antibiotics seem to help so don’t delay going to the vet.

Cases have been reported in Oregon, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Washington, Idaho, California, the Northeast and more.

11/15/2023

The Toraq dogs were well represented in Napa last weekend. We had a great time with friends and the extended Toraq family.
Love our dogs, our people and all the fun we have together!

11/06/2023

Want to join us for a fun 1/2 marathon, we will be walking in Roseville

The Santa Hustle Roseville is on Sunday December 10, 2023. It includes the following events: Half Marathon, 5K, and Kids Dash.

10/04/2023

Today is the Feast of St Francis. Look to you local Catholic parish for a blessing of the animals. Fun event and all are welcome!