Life of Kodi, the New Guinea Singing Dog NGSD

05/02/2024

04/01/2024

Singers are an amazing size that make them quite adaptable to all sorts of living environments and easy to handle.

Yes. Kodi even does well being carried in a dog backpack.

03/31/2024

NGSD New Guinea singing dog running and jumping on bushes

03/14/2024

Kodi, NGSD uses his noggin to get a ball out for his doggo sister Ruby

03/13/2024

New Guinea singing dog singing from car sitting in his car seat. howls

03/08/2024

New Guinea Singing Dog Club of America

Three Dog Bakery

The only cookies many New Guinea singing dogs like. Some of us are on biweekly/monthly subscription deliveries. If we run out, oh do we hear the mournful howls of sorrow, confusion and begging!!

Kodi loves the howl-o-ween so much, we have to stockpile so they last the months after.

01/27/2024

I wanted to take a moment to highlight/educate that coyote mating season is officially under way (although we should be respectful all year long!!) As most know, I daily hike with two extremely primitive dogs and we’ve never once had a problem with coyotes. We were escorted this morning for quite awhile! I felt blessed to see our resident urban coyotes looking so healthy!! I have great respect for their ability to adapt by thriving and surviving overall, so for me personally I was thankful for the polite and respectful interaction. My dogs are well versed in behaviors to ensure that interactions are kept at a distance that is safe for both coyote and dogs, and neutral experiences overall for everyone. Escorting is very healthy and normal behavior from coyotes, they aren’t hunting you. Keep your dogs close, be aware of your surroundings, and let your dogs know it’s no big deal!

Please see a few videos of coyotes escorting us from a safe distance, and videos of the coyotes and my dogs all scent marking.

Please always remember once again, coyotes aren’t stalking you to sneak attack your dog. Coyotes are following you from a safe distance to ensure the actual threat (YOU and your DOGS) leave their territory….its their home. It’s now mating season which means there will be more movement and more bravado in ensuring their mates and dens are safe for their future litter. Please please please follow leash laws, they exist for numerous reasons!

Please be respectful of our wildlife and recognize that the majority of conflict actually comes from dogs harassing them, almost always off leash every single month of the year. We put coyotes in the position of all options taken away - except for the fear response of fight.

To learn how you should respond and safety measures you can take, please visit Project Coyote for more information.

01/26/2024

Kodi, always gotta be the life of the party. I think he likes the brain rush from being dizzy.

Check out Home with dogs's video.

01/23/2024

One of the many ways singers make a bit more complex vocalizations…keep an eye on his tongue.

01/18/2024

Kodi and Junior in the yard…not sure whether to actually call it “playing” 😆.

What about that singer side jump though, from standing!?

(Kodi and Junior are both adult males who live together and get along amazingly well).

12/16/2023

It’s such a tough life, someone save him or call the aspca…..

12/16/2023

Life with a singer. That’s right, not even filet mignon good enough for him. I didn’t cut it or present it right. He walked away and left that substandard food offering for the other dogs

12/15/2023

A perfect morning out on the trails.

12/14/2023

How many rules and perceptions and labels can we break in one picture?

2 males, working on their place/mat training, both near high value reinforcement, both wearing headbands too!

The kicker is both are known as “hard dogs” or “wild dogs” or “untrainable” or “dog aggressive” etc. nope. Wrong.

don’t judge them by labels others assign to them.

12/03/2023

Have you ever heard that old and tiresome saying “the dingo ate my baby?”

Well…not the NGSD.

Singers, according to sumridge et al 2021 (owner attachment publication) outlined the NGSD display less aggression than most dogs and will choose flight and avoidance above all else.

Kodi has been raised with kids and adores his human siblings.

NGSD are great family dogs. They form super strong attachments and actually struggle when their nuclear family is separated. He loves to play with his kids.

11/28/2023

A long standing 501c3 dedicated to the advancement and advocacy of the New Guinea singing dog. Your donations are tax deductible. You can also fill out a yearly membership application and for 25 dollars become a member.

Every single penny raised helps is continue advocating and preservation of the past NGSD and learning of their history, those with us today and advocacy for them, and working to ensure they thrive into the future.

Please donate, any amount helps,
and consider sharing so we can reach a larger audience.

Join us this Giving Tuesday - Your support matters to New Guinea Singing Dogs!

As we embrace this time of generosity, we're thrilled to remind you that Giving Tuesday, the global day of charity and goodwill, is tomorrow, November 30th. This special day harnesses the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world.

Our organization has always thrived because of the commitment and kindness of people like you. Your contributions, big or small, have been the lifeblood of the initiatives that we are incredibly proud of. This year, we've set our sights on our projects listed on our website, and we're excited about the impact we can make together.

How Can You Make a Difference?
1. Make a Donation – Any amount you can contribute goes a long way. Your generosity will directly support our mission.

2. Spread the Word – Share our Giving Tuesday campaign on social media! The more people we reach, the bigger our potential impact.

3. Volunteer - If you have time to give, we are always looking for helping hands to support our ongoing projects.

To donate, please visit,
https://www.ngsdconservation.org/donate

Contact us at,
[email protected]

To learn more, please visit,
https://www.ngsdconservation.org/

https://youtu.be/5YqkP-oC4wU?feature=shared

11/20/2023

Last week on my own personal page, I posted a funny pic with captions that explained “I had put my thanksgiving centerpiece on my dining table and Kodi was biding his time standing there (for hours!) waiting for me to leave or forget - so he could destroy it”.

Well, of course he was interested in it and possibly wanted to taste it, so for the sake of saving my centerpiece I put up the floral wreath and left the center candle.

Except…..

Kodi continued to get up on the table and stand there, many times a day in fact.

It was this morning during a simple conversation my teenage son brought about the glaring fact that I had completely missed. He said to me, “mom, Kodi is so smart, he figured out to stand by the candle to warm himself”

And it hit me: Kodi wasn’t going to the table and “biding his time” so he could make my centerpiece his destruction toy, Kodi was standing at all angles around the candle because he liked the warmth it emitted .

🤯🤯🤯.

Small details came flooding back to me. Yesterday I noticed him going to the floor vent before heading to the table, but the heat wasn’t on for him to stand beside. Or, noticing him heading straight to the table after coming in from the rain. OR, he was whining and grumbling and crying at me when standing on the table at one point. Now I’m realizing when he did that, I hadn’t lit the candle yet for the morning. He was trying to tell me what he needed.

Singers are so communicative and so intelligent and such problem solvers, they will almost always try to figure out a way to let you know they need something , but sometimes it’s much more difficult for the dumb human (me) to put together what they are trying to tell us. If we can’t work together to learn their communication, they may escalate behavior to get what they need on their own. That may pose issues or problems and especially unrealistic expectations if we expect some type of perfect non personality robot dog. The biggest challenge is that they have the cognitive ability to understand things like “candle = warmth = make me feel more comfortable”. I do not necessarily think many dogs grasp that complexity enough to tell you “light the candle because I’m cold”.

This is a challenge living with a singer because if we don’t listen to them, and be opened minded, we miss things and their needs aren’t met and frustration builds in both dog and human.

Listen to your dog, think outside the box, look at all possibilities. Remember, all behavior has a function, and for a singer…that can even mean using “fire” to get warm.

11/14/2023

Some bush bouncing and pummeling - singer style - this morning.

Look at his face though, he’s such a happy boy!

(This is Kodi hunting critters below…pummeling the branches can break them down and trap small prey underneath. Plus, it’s fun!!)

11/09/2023

Long hike in napa valley with my jindo sista. We hunted critters, covered some territory, did steep hills.

It was a good day for a singer .

11/09/2023

Out looking for critters to move, so I can pounce on them.

10/30/2023

NGSD “teeth scraping”.

For Kodi it seems to usually be a displacement or coping behavior/way to self soothe when a little
uncomfortable.

Notice he creates safe distance from the other dogs first. Olive was kind of stressing him out a bit.

10/29/2023

Sunday morning enrichment ?

for Kodi the singer, it’s standing out on the patio table ~((mimicking car exhausts))~ as they go
past the main street a block down from our house.

Notice how his “howls” change tone and frequency from high to low and back again, and at the end of one he puts in a “grrrr”. His vocalizations are more deliberate and controlled than a typical non cognitive howling “response” to something like a siren that most dogs offer.

10/29/2023

Throwback to early 2023, when the snow (and a singer!) are on the beach of Lake Tahoe.

We are looking forward to a trip back this winter. Kodi LOVES exploring in the snow !!