CANINE NEUROPARK® CHARITY TRUST

Canine NeuroPark® ©2025

Canine NeuroPark® is a Charitable Trust founded to create unique Canine Rehabilitation Facilities to support adaptation and the maintaining and promotion of energy regulation (Allostasis) in dogs and their owners.

Canine NeuroPark® is not a dog park and must be used as per our Terms and Conditions.

We share net profits with other canine rehoming charities.

Canine Neuropark Headquarters, located in Christchurch, New Zealand, are THE ONLY & THE SAFEST Rehab facilities for the rehabilitation & maintenance and promotion of Allostasis in dogs which recover from surgery, show insecure, defensive and / or offensive behaviours.

Through the natural need to SLOWLY explore (Levy Walk), your dog will exploit and efficiently satisfy its metabolic energy needs while moving within the natural field (environment). It is through these intrinsic exploratory - exploitative cycles new experiences are built, along set knowledge and thus reduce uncertainty. All in the safety of our enclosed field, leading to behaviour adaptation and efficient Allostasis over time- if used correctly.

"Canine Neuroparks are NOT dog parks or training fields and should not be used as such."

Canine Neuropark Trusts' main focus is to help dogs and owners through education about canine behaviour in partnership with our Franchisees in Dunedin & Austria

Allowing Dogs to be Dogs

Ultimately, Canine Neuropark® allows dogs to explore and express themselves independently through agency.

The feeling of uncertainty is the hidden cause of many of the behaviour sets we often categorize as "Issues". The root of uncertainty may arise from physical (inefficient energy regulation, illness, discomfort, pain) or / and mental states (negative memories, rigid action patterns) and / or because the brains regulatory predictions can't synchronize with the sensory input well, curating a state of experiential blindness. All of these conscious states mean that a brain cannot establish the causes from the outcomes (sensory inputs) it experiences, and those sensations create a conscious feeling of uncertainty.

Neuropark helps your dog to learn how to construct new perceptions through active exploration (self evidencing through movement) and past experience (memory), in relation to the sensory input; freely moving to gain information about the body's future needs to provide for those needs before they arise and to act efficiently in the environment at all times. These actions adapt existing experiences (memory) in the dogs' brain's inbuilt neuronal "library" with new meaning making of their body and the world they move in, which can be observed in form of changing behaviour(s).

This approach leads to better maintenance and promotion of the systems energy regulation (Allostasis) which we can observe in a calmer, more content and resilient dog.

Your time at Neuropark will be the foundation of a healthier and closer relationship with your furry family member.

But change needs work and time by both YOU and your dog.

"Exploration build's confidence"

The use of our automated booking system ensures you & your dog have uninterrupted time to explore & exploit throughout the natural field (Environment). Offering uninhibited off-leash exploration allows the dynamic abilities of your dogs' brain to exploit environmental and physical information to reconstitute and/or construct new experiences, thus building new sets of action plans to interact with the world, reducing the exhibition of rigid / "go-to" behaviour(s), leading to a more confident & calmer dog over time and maintaining and promoting Allostasis.

Uncertainty feeds anxiety and negative feelings in all of us. Neuropark's enclosed space ensures a sense of certainty and safety for your dog - and you!

Rehabilitation and strength

The Physio stations and Adaptation Maze throughout Neuropark are designed in conjunction with Animal Physio NZ & SpeakingDog K9 Services to build muscle strength, proprioceptive, navigational, interoceptive & exteroceptive adaptation to enhance & promote predictive energy regulation (Allostasis), to build confidence and holistic wellbeing & efficiency.

Simply put, the whole brain and it's body are at play interacting efficiently with the immediate niche.

Members have access to video tutorials explaining the benefits of the different stations and how to introduce them to your dog.

Pain and illness are the leading causes of many so-called "bad behaviours". We recommend all members get their dogs checked by a vet and a registered animal physiotherapist or qualified animal osteopath. Neuropark proudly works with the best Animal Physiotherapists from Animal Physio NZ and their Registered Associates.

When you are at the park

Members can hire the field by the hour (NZ$12) or by the half-hour (NZ$8). Membership (NZ$30 per year) is available to any responsible dog owner. Neuropark is securely locked and members will receive the code by separate email, to be able to enter Neuropark during their booked time.

Always bring treats, yes! Owners can and should encourage their dogs to discover new things and then let them explore what they can find! Dog owners, Stand back and observe your dogs capabilities!

We expect all Neuropark Members to work on their observation & interaction skills to learn more about their dog.

Please don't be offended when we tell you to throw all aversive tools and methods out the window. These methods create uncertainty in the dogs physical and mental states, increase Allostatic load, meaning the system has to work much harder to interact energy efficient with the environment, leading to increased uncertainty, anxiety and defensive behaviours. Interactions at Neuropark aim to promote Allostasis thus reduce uncertainty & anxiety, chronic stress and physical discomfort, making it more likely for your dogs' brain predict better or to integrate sensory information and learn better rather than follow a rigid believe state that everything moving may be a threat, resulting in offensive & defensive behaviour outputs.

If you have concerns about your dog's behaviour, please start with a physical assessment at your vets and with a Registered Animal Physiotherapist / Osteopath to see if a pain-related issue is contributing to it, before you just apply behaviour modification.

The "Geeky Nitty Gritty"

The stations provide specific exercises to support a brains dynamic abilities, to anticipate the most efficient metabolic state needed by providing for those needs before they arise (Allostasis), and construct well predicted explanations of the cause of sensory inputs from the body and the immediate environment, by updating discrepancies between the incoming sensory information from the world and the body (Input) with the brains intrinsic predictions (Output) to minimize uncertainty.

This process we all know as:

LEARNING

Uncertainty feeds anxiety and negative affective feelings leading organisms to express very hardwired (rigid) behaviour patterns to keep the body safe. The longer a being stays in these energy taxing uncertain states (high Allostatic load) the quicker rigid behaviour patterns occur. They can become so automatic that even unrelated things moving in the world around them are predicted by the brain to be threatening, leading to defensive or offensive movements. (aroused state, freezing in defensive postures or pacing, running up & down the fence line, barking, lunging, growling, jumping, air snapping, air nipping, nipping, biting)

This is why it is vital to understand that the health of the body and efficient, predictive regulation (Allostasis) is the most important job for the brain, not thinking.

A fancy way of saying:

Reconstitute Action / Anticipating / Motor - movements / Feeling / Comparing/ Matching (Learning) / Perceiving / Memory Consolidation

THE ACTION - PERCEPTION LOOP

The Brain and Behaviour

Our "Behaviour Adaptation" approaches are heavily influenced by contemporary systems neuroscience.

What a brain does in relation with it's body matters!

A brains constant chemical - electrical excitement and inhibition always constructs models (belief states) of its body and the world that body efficiently moves in, to reduce uncertainty. Our approaches take those predictive actions of a self-organizing, dynamic system such as a brain into account.

We do offer "Supportive Sessions" at Neuropark through SpeakingDog (NZ$60 per session) for our Neuropark members. This includes the field hire.