A pooch-obssessed pack-walker has just started a new dog-walking service, one day a week, for senior dogs.
Justin Meade is a long-time dog-lover, even a bit of a dog-whisperer, and a fixture at Wellington's South Coast dog park, Tawatawa Reserve.
He's there with half a dozen canines, rain or shine - and it just so happens to be the former, when RNZ joins him for a pack-walk.
"We're out in everything and the dogs love the vitality of the bad weather, and like Billy Connolly said, 'There's no such thing as bad weather, just poor choice of clothing.'"
As the southerly rolls in - he's kitted out in a full-camo army jacket, seemingly made of pockets, with ropes and carabiners everywhere.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
"I've got first-aid kits, I've got biscuits, poo bags, a place for everything and anything. People either think I'm in the military or that I'm an abseiler. If I go to the supermarket, people ask me what roof I'm working on.
"I've been told it's got a bit of a McGuyver look."
Meade's been running 'Blissed Out Dogs' for close to three years now, a service offering eight 90-minute off-leash walks a week, or as he puts it, "Two packs a day, Monday through Thursday - (it makes me sound like smoker)".
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
But today, is a little bit different - it's his new service on a Friday afternoon reserved for older dogs only.
Meade opens the station-wagon and helps the members of his pack clamber out - eight-year-old Pixie, 11-year-old Ellie, and 12-year-old Magnus.
Katie Simmons said unlike her other dog - young golden retriever, Floyd - Magnus is old, with mobility issues, "he needs help getting in and out of the car".
Katie Simmons. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Floyd, already a pack dog, would bound out the door for his weekly walk with Meade, Simmons said, and Magnus would be left gazing "forlornly" after him.
She thought it would be bit much for the 12-year-old pooch, and told Meade as such - a couple of weeks later, however, he had the solution and Magnus became his first senior client.
Simmons said he loves it.
"Magnus comes back absolutely chuffed with himself, that he's been out and about, he's had a good sniff - man about town."
Back at Tawatawa Reserve, Magnus - a pensioner in human years - has just ripped through a muddy puddle, while Ellie is rolling on the ground - much to Meade's amusement.
"This is my senior dog walk and I'm sorry, but some of them are just racing around the shop, and it just shows they love to do it.
"For those who do have the arthritis this is the best thing for it."
For Meade, the free-wheeling nature of the off-lead parks is where the magic happens, but he didn't always envisage pack-walking like this.
Magnus. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
"The guy who mentored me has got a pretty strict regime of how he walks dogs and he keeps them on a lead ... and I quickly realised that wasn't the sort of dynamic I wanted.
"I wanted dogs to socialise. All the alchemy happens for dogs, as far as I'm concerned, when they're free and socialising."
It's an approach that Sondra Bacharach credits with helping her dog, Miss Sass, whose personality is in the name.
Miss Sass. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Miss Sass joined the family just before the nation went into a pandemic lockdown, Bacharach said, and she missed the opportunity to socialise with other dogs and humans.
"She had a lot of reactivity."
It was a struggle, Bacharach said, to find a dog walking service, or day care for Miss Sass when everyone returned to school and work.
"She just didn't seem happy there, she never wanted to go, and she never seemed very happy when she came home ... and then we met Justin."
Miss Sass has been pack-walking with Meade's usual crew for the past couple of years, Bacharach said and is now a "staff member" at Wellington Hospital's emergency department, visiting the medical professionals and patients.
"She's had a lot of lessons, but she's never learned how to play or make friends and Justin did that for her. I don't know what his magic secret is, but he did it."
For his part, Meade said he loves nothing more than spending time with dogs.
Justin Meade. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
"People up here at Tawatawa kinda refer to me, it sounds cringey to say this, but kinda refer to me as a bit of a dog-whisperer.
"But I'm actually a little bit privately unapologetic about that because I am strongly empathetic with dogs, I bond with them extremely quickly.
"People think it's about blatting out and dogs getting all the energy out and exercising - and that's a great byproduct - but there's something else, there's community here, and the dogs let me share it with them."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
