Caroline Pope, Animal Communicator

30/11/2025

29/11/2025

28/11/2025

👇Here’s a piece I wrote and published on my website a little over a month ago. I’m sharing it again here in full because I think the points in it are crucial for dog owners to understand, especially if you want a clearer picture of why the dog training community is in such a messy state and how that spills over into the wellbeing of our dogs.

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕘𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝔻𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖 ℂ𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕠𝕘 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕪

It is becoming harder and harder to talk about dog behaviour without emotions taking over the conversation. Many owners genuinely want the best for their dogs, yet have been led to believe that love means softness, that discipline means cruelty, and that science has somehow proven that balance and consequence have no place in modern dog training.

But the truth is, we have entered a period where emotion often outweighs reason. Many people are no longer observing their dogs with clear eyes, but through a fog of ideology and guilt. This is where cognitive dissonance takes hold, and our dogs are the ones suffering because of it, and our relationship with our dogs.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗜𝘀
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term that describes the mental discomfort we feel when we hold two conflicting beliefs or ideas at the same time.

When reality does not line up with what we want to believe, instead of facing that uncomfortable truth, we often twist the story in our minds so it makes sense again. It is something we all do. It is human nature.

For example, a person might know deep down that eating junk food every day is bad for them, but they convince themselves it is fine because they work hard or deserve a treat. It is not logical, but it helps reduce the tension between their actions and what they know is true.

Now take that same principle and apply it to how people view dogs.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐔𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝
So many dog owners today have been convinced, even conditioned, by emotional and human centred ideologies to ignore what is right in front of them. They are told not to believe their own eyes, not to trust their instincts, and to dismiss their dog’s natural learning processes as outdated or cruel. This has created a culture built on feel good slogans and soft sounding ideas that completely ignore how dogs actually think, feel, and learn to survive and coexist harmoniously within their social groups/packs..

And the sad truth is that our dogs and our relationship with them are suffering because of it.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲” 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺
A major driver of this confusion is the way science is being used in the dog training world.

Dog owners are constantly told that positive only and force free training methods are scientifically proven. It sounds reassuring, but what most people do not realise is that much of the science being used to back those claims has been cherry picked to fit a certain agenda.

Studies that support balance, structure, or the role of consequence in learning are often ignored, while only the parts that sound pleasant or easy are promoted. This gives the illusion of a clear scientific consensus when, in reality, the science of learning and behaviour is far more complex and nuanced.

And here is where cognitive dissonance shows up again. Deep down, most people know that this type of learning does not exist in nature.

No animal learns purely through reward. Every species on this planet, including us, learns through both positive and negative experiences, through clear cause and effect.

That is how balance is created and how behaviour stabilises.

We accept this truth in every other part of life. We know that children need boundaries and correction as much as praise and encouragement. We know that actions have consequences in the real world. Yet somehow, when it comes to dogs, people have been convinced that acknowledging this reality is cruel, especially when it comes to any form of negative consequence.

That is pure cognitive dissonance, knowing something is true in one context but denying it in another because it feels uncomfortable to face.

And here is something every dog owner needs to hear clearly. You should never be made to feel guilty for recognising and accepting the complex reality of natural learning theory.

Natural learning is not a human invention. It is a universal process that governs all life on the planet. Every living being learns through experience, through feedback from the environment, and through understanding which choices lead to positive outcomes and which do not.

Accepting that truth is not cruel. It is wise, it is compassionate, and it is essential for building healthy, balanced relationships with our dogs, and psychological stable and confident dogs.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗨𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲
One of the most common examples of this can be seen in how people interpret their dog’s emotional state.

Take the classic situation where an owner comes home after being out. Their dog completely loses control, barking, spinning, jumping, mouthing, and unable to settle for several minutes.

Most owners see this and think, “Look how happy they are to see me.”

But if we look a little deeper, the reality is very different. That behaviour is not excitement — it is anxiety. The dog’s nervous system has gone into overdrive. They have lost emotional control, and their brain is flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, and are in a distressed state.

What makes it worse is that owners often encourage this response by raising their voice, clapping, using baby talk, and making a big fuss. Without realising it, they are reinforcing that frantic, unstable state of mind. Over time, this becomes a learned emotional pattern, and the dog starts living in a constant state of tension and over arousal.

It is not joy. It is distress disguised as happiness.

And here again, cognitive dissonance plays its part.

If a human behaved this way when greeting someone, screaming, jumping around uncontrollably, and completely losing emotional control, we would not call it excitement. We would recognise it as emotional instability, and probably suggest they seek professional help to work through it.

But when dogs do it, people call it love. They celebrate it. They even share videos of it online.

That is the power of cognitive dissonance. People know it does not make sense, but they cling to the comforting version of the story because it feels nicer to believe, not realising how detrimental it is to the dogs overall psychological well-being.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗘𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
When two people who care about each other reunite, they smile, they hug, they exchange a few words. It is calm, grounded, and emotionally balanced.

We have learned to regulate our emotions in a healthy way, and that is what allows us to function socially. Dogs need that same balance and calm energy from us too. Animals learn this when young from their mother and is enforced by other pack members in their social group as they mature.

A dog that can control its emotions, remain calm during stimulation, and respond to guidance is a dog that feels safe, secure, and connected. That stability does not come from endless treats or emotional indulgence. It is built through structure, trust, and clear communication.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
Cognitive dissonance in the dog world is keeping people stuck. It stops owners from seeing what their dogs truly need because they have been told that anything outside of all positive is wrong or cruel.

The truth is that dogs do not need perfection. They need balance. They need clarity, calm leadership, and consistency.

When we deny a dog’s natural instincts and learning patterns to fit a human emotional agenda, we do not make them happier. We make them unstable.

It is not that dogs are broken. It is that too many people have been taught to ignore reality.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻
Kindness is not about always making your dog feel good in the moment. It is about helping them be good — calm, balanced, and confident in the world they live in.

Real love is not endless affection, treats, or avoiding correction. It is being the steady, calm, and reliable presence your dog needs to feel safe. It is giving them structure, boundaries, and guidance, even when it is uncomfortable or inconvenient.

Dogs do not find comfort in chaos. They find comfort in clarity. They do not feel secure when they are allowed to spiral into over-excitement or anxiety. They feel secure when their human calmly shows them how to find stability.

True love is about doing what is right for your dog, not just what feels good for you.

It is about leading with compassion and fairness, not indulgence and denial. It is understanding that real kindness sometimes means saying no, stepping in to correct dangerous or unacceptable behaviours, and guiding your dog back to a calm and safe state of mind.

When we let go of the feel good myths and start truly observing our dogs for who they are, emotional, intelligent, instinctive animals, we begin to see the world through their eyes instead of our own human emotional lens.

That is when real connection starts.

14/11/2025

THE “EQUINE” TAX: APOCALYPSE EDITION
(A forensic investigation into why your horse eats better, lives better, and bathes with more expensive shampoo than you do.)

Let’s face it: the word EQUINE is not a description — it’s a financial weapon.
It’s marketing plutonium. It turns ordinary objects into instruments of economic despair.

A bucket in B&Q? £3.99.
Same bucket with a galloping silhouette and the word EQUINE? £48.
Now it’s a Hydration Delivery System™.
You will still fill it with the same hose that leaks brown sludge and occasionally waters the dog.

Fly spray.
Human: £4.
Horse: £58 — clinically proven to repel nothing but your savings account.
The label promises “long-lasting protection.”
Reality: lasts three minutes, or until your horse exhales.

Shampoo.
Human: £2.
Equine: £28.
Exact same ingredients, different label font.
You know this. You’ve read the bottle. You’ll still buy it — because “apple scent” smells like devotion and denial.

Hoof balm.
Vaseline: £1.20.
Equine Keratin Horn Nourishment Complex™: £54.
Smells like beeswax and bankruptcy.
Applied reverently with a brush that costs more than your first phone.

Vinegar.
Tesco: 39p.
Equine vinegar: £17.99.
What’s the difference?
The horse version “promotes natural hoof balance.”
The human version promotes pickling. Same thing. Different target species.

Supplements.
You could buy human magnesium, vitamin E and linseed for £12.
Or you could pay £89 for Equine Zen Harmony Pellets™ —
now with “quantum calm technology” and a picture of a horse that looks like it owns a Tesla.

Therapeutic rugs.
For humans: a blanket. £20.
For horses: £249, lined with “ceramic nano-particles that reflect far-infrared dreams.”
You’ve been sleeping under a 2007 duvet,
but your horse is basically in a five-star spa in Dubai.

Feed balancer.
Translation: vitamins in a bucket.
Price: your dignity.
Every ingredient sounds like a Harry Potter spell — ascophyllum nodosum, methionine, unicorn tears —
and it still smells like dead seaweed and guilt.

Boots.
For people: £45.
For horses: £175 each, and sold as Impact Reduction Systems™.
They’re Velcro tubes, not NASA tech.

Even salt isn’t safe.
Human: 99p.
Horse: £29, “harvested by moonlight from an ancient Himalayan cave.”
The horse licks it once, glares at you, and goes back to chewing the fence.

But the final boss?
Equine-specific cleaning products.
Dettol: £2.
Equine Disinfectant Concentrate with Bio-Active Hoof Harmony Technology™: £35.
It’s Dettol. With a horse sticker.

We are not customers. We are believers.
We’ll pay £90 for mud (mineral clay poultice) and call it “therapy.”
We’ll eat toast for dinner while our horses get organic linseed pressed under a waning moon.

We don’t own horses anymore.
They own us — and their marketing teams know it.

(This is satire. But if you just googled “bio-active hoof balm,” it’s also an intervention.)

10/11/2025

03/11/2025

31/10/2025

Melbourne. Our beautiful Melbourne.

Here we are.

Failing our companion animals spectacularly for decades.

We are a disgrace.

These past weeks, I have almost be brought to my knees with staff and ex staff of the Lost Dogs Home coming forward and telling me of their experiences. I have listened, heard them sob, and tried to offer some kind of hopeful compassion.

Today I know the horror is continuing in there. I know who is responsible. I know what you do - and how you are doing it.

And I will stop you.

Most important are the stories that are coming from the very people who, compassionate and fair, have been personally brutalised within those walls.

I want you to hear their stories.

Remember - any staff or ex staff who want to speak to me you can always email me at [email protected]

Melbourne City Council are now launching an investigation into the Lost Dogs Home for breaches. You can remain anonymous.
Contact is [email protected]

Here is the raw and utterly heartbreaking experience of an ex staff member.

This is what's happening to Melbourne's Companion Animals.

"When Business Trumps the Heart of the Stop Convenience Killing of Victorian Shelter Animals

My time at the Shelter was meant to be a mission of mercy, a commitment to animals in dire need. Instead, it became a heartbreaking education in the brutal realities of "business over compassion" and "politics over compassion." It is with a heavy heart and deep sadness that I expose the systemic deficiencies that fail the very animals this institution is sworn to protect.
I joined when the team leader was in charge, I was assured I wouldn't be responsible for the final, devastating call of euthanasia. My recommendations were reserved for the most extreme cases—where a dog's fear and suffering were so profound that continued life was genuinely inhumane.

______________________________________________________

The Cultural Erosion:

Opposition Becomes Leadership
The moment the team leader left, a shadow fell over the behaviour department.
The interim team leader, who quickly reversed the former team leader's efforts to establish consistent, politically neutral assessments. This internal change brought with it the deeply entrenched institutional politics that resisted change. Much of the culture has been promoted or laterally moved from one department to another, carrying the existing internal conflict and subjective politics that corrupt the assessment process.
Meanwhile, a new Head of Department, represented an opportunity for change, but instead, they quickly embraced the existing toxic culture.

The Code of Euthanasia:
Under this new leadership, the code phrase "not within Shelter pathways" became a chilling euphemism for a death sentence. This outcome was highly subjective, dependent entirely on the assessor's capabilities and on their "grooming to assess an animal"—a process heavily influenced by politically-driven internal team and management dynamics.

The Haunting "Congratulations": The ultimate gut-punch came when the new Head of Department congratulated me for making a decision to euthanize a dog—a moment that haunts me on a daily, ongoing basis. This celebrated a failure of compassion, a surrender to expediency, demonstrating that even fresh oversight was willing to prioritize business expediency over rehabilitation.

When I voiced my ethical differences, I was given a chilling ultimatum by the Department Head: I had to make a choice of either leaving or accepting the ethics of the company and the process.
______________________________________________________

Systemic Failures: Denying Basic Rights and Ethical Horror
The problems were not just ethical; they were operational and deeply political, limiting the animals' chances for a future across the entire facility:

Breach of Care and Safety:
I personally witnessed breaches of the code of conduct, including animal pen cleaning with F10 and washing out while the dog was still in the pen. Causing red raw paws on the dogs from the contact with the cleaner on more times than I can even bring myself to reflect on. I also saw the unacceptable sight of more than one dog in a pen due to a persistent capacity crisis. Dogs never leave their pen for days(lack of manpower). Dogs unwashed long fur with faeces for the greater part of the day(lack of manpower).

Flawed Record Keeping: The dangerous practice of backdating assessment information—sometimes 24 to 48 hours after the fact—compromises the entire assessment process, leading to the risk of inappropriate euthanizations.

Blacklisting Hope: The Shelter's internal politics have led to the blacklisting of some rescue organizations. This eliminates vital safety nets for animals and ultimately condemns them. (The “How do we feel about x, y or z rescue” one Vets exact words when I suggested a rescue that had capacity for a breed specific).

The Uttermost Betrayal: I had Animal Attendants describe difficult days where they had to assist and witness death.

______________________________________________________

These agonizing circumstances are fuelled by a corrosive environment where the issues are only fractionally due to "public irresponsibility" (the blame phrase in the shelter that people dump dogs irresponsibly) The true poison is the cold, calculated business model overriding care, coupled with the ego and internal politics of departments. This culture allows people to wrongly reconcile their own internal conflict with the defence of, "I'm doing so much good," but enabling inhumanity to persist.

______________________________________________________

To the many caring employees who work tirelessly within the Shelter: I know you are feeling the exhaustion, the compassion fatigue, and the cognitive dissonance of this environment. You are the last line of defence for these animals. Your silence only allows the broken system to continue.
Your conscience is your guide. The time has come to document the truth.
I urge you to use whatever means you can—be discreet, be careful, but bear witness.

Document Pen Conditions:
Take pictures of dogs remaining in their pens while they are being power-washed or chemically cleaned. Capture images showing instances where more than one dog is being kept in a single pen.

Record Political Obstruction:
Document any internal communications, emails, or procedures that show the unethical conduct around rescue organisations and attempts to limit their vital life-saving work.

Log and Witness the Unthinkable:
We need the truth about the most vulnerable. Any staff member who can come forward with witness testimony to substantiate the rumours.
________________________________________________________

We understand your sadness and frustration—you are absolutely not alone. The path to change isn't paved just with external demands, but with the courage of every individual who witnesses this suffering daily. We must rise up and hold this institution accountable for its failures. Let's not just complain about the culture of business; let's tear it down and replace it with a culture of true compassion.
The specific details you've uncovered in the Code—the ones that are being conveniently glossed over or omitted in information sessions—are the keys. Please, before the investigation closes, notify the Senior Animal Management Officer City Safety, Security and Amenity at City Of Melbourne. If anything is going to change, it starts with you. You are not alone.