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Doghouse Sessions Welcome To Doghouse Sessions
Help for anxious, reactive, overwhelmed dogs using a kind, ethical, ‘outside-the-box’ approach to dog behaviour and training.

Christmas Eve gift opening. Have a splendid break everyone 🐾🐾🐾🐾2025 has been a lot. So many big shifts and challenges fo...
24/12/2025

Christmas Eve gift opening. Have a splendid break everyone 🐾🐾🐾🐾

2025 has been a lot. So many big shifts and challenges for me/us in this doghouse. There’ll be a few stories here and there but I’ll mostly be taking a break from posting until Jan 5th.

Relish this time with your precious dogs, they really are the greatest gift.

A study has shown that when jumping from the boot of a car, six times the dog’s body weight will pass through the joints...
22/12/2025

A study has shown that when jumping from the boot of a car, six times the dog’s body weight will pass through the joints of the front legs. Imagine that on already painful joints! Just because they still do it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt them…they will do it to please you, out of habit or due to lack of other options. So give them a better, safer option like a ramp or being lifted and spare them a lot of pain and possible injury.

Injuries are not only caused by getting in and out of the car but also by dogs having to brace themselves for unexpected turns, bumps and braking which can be tiring and painful. These repeated, painful car journeys can lead to your dog showing behavioural changes during car journeys.

Car travel can continue to be a source of joy for your senior dog with the right approach.

The festive season brings a lot of social pressure not just for us but our dogs too!In my experience, no matter how poli...
19/12/2025

The festive season brings a lot of social pressure not just for us but our dogs too!

In my experience, no matter how politely you ask friends and family to give your dog space they can’t help themselves. Children should never be expected to wear that responsibility.

The safest approach is to remove the pressure and risk entirely. Set your dog up in a safe, comfortable, dog-friendly space before guests arrive, so they don’t have to manage greetings at all.

If you choose to advocate verbally remember it’s not a guarantee people will listen. That’s why giving your dog a designated space is far kinder than relying on others.

Where this space is will depend on your dog (upstairs, office, play pen, behind a baby gate, in a stroller or in a carry pouch with you). This takes time and thought.

Your dog’s safety and comfort come first, even if it feels awkward socially.

Let’s please keep our dogs safe and stress-free this Christmas.

04/12/2025

Kinder. Softer.

How we show up for our dogs shapes how safe they feel.

I watched a woman ignoring her young puppy whilst at a cafe the other day because some jerk probably told her she had too. The puppy was unsure and needed reassuring, not ignoring.

Support your dog, you are their caregiver.

29/11/2025

Imagine if you were walking down the road and a stranger ran up to you and you just had to let them do whatever they wanted without sticking up for yourself?

It's a bit unthinkable isn't it?

That's often the position we are asking dogs to be in when we try to silence their "reactive" behaviours that are actually not reactive at all, they're boundary setting.

Dogs are allowed to set boundaries. Some dogs have stricter boundaries than others. Some dogs get overtly cross when their boundaries are crossed, others get fearful. But expecting dogs to NOT have boundaries and allow absolutely everything anyone wants to do with them without push back is unrealistic.

🐾 If play gets too rough and rude, dogs are allowed to say so
🐾 If a greeting is far too fast and impolite, dogs are allowed to say so
🐾 If a human is touching a dog in a way that's making them feel threatened, dogs are allowed to say so.

The thing is, if we try to punish these boundary setting behaviours, we run the risk of making them worse. Boundary setting behaviours are controlled and appropriate to the situation. But if we try to silence them the dog may just react with more aggressive behaviour responses in a way that becomes inappropriate to the situation. For example, much more exaggerated a response, unable to control themselves, unable to have their say and move on.

Any cross words from our dogs and we immediately feel we need to apologise, they're in the wrong. But are they? Lily is one of the most gentle and friendly dogs I know. Certainly the most sociable I've ever parented! But even Lily gets cross. Even Lily has boundaries. A short sharp collection of woofs towards dogs jumping in her face too often and she moves on. That's boundary setting. That's normal.

Picture: we give our dogs boundary setting behaviours ALL THE TIME. Telling dogs to get off things, telling dogs to sit and wait, teaching a dog to walk nicely.... These are all boundary setting behaviours. We need to allow our dogs to have their own boundaries too. Boundaries aren't aggression 🐾💜

I went down the rabbit hole of brain games and enrichment in 2020 when Bunny became paralysed in her back end from a bac...
29/11/2025

I went down the rabbit hole of brain games and enrichment in 2020 when Bunny became paralysed in her back end from a back injury. Surgery wasn’t recommended and we went through 10 weeks of strict crate rest.

Bunny could not stand let alone walk and whilst she took to the crate really well having never used one before I was concerned with her mental health from lack of stimulation, boredom and frustration.

Here are a few lessons I’ve learnt as a dog behaviour professional about appropriate enrichment for crate rest 👆

28/11/2025

It’s not only hot today, it’s awfully humid and if you’ve not walked your dog well before 7am it’s too hot to be out walking them.

Even a sniffari in the shade today might be too much. You see dogs can’t pant and sniff at the same time and they need to pant to cool down. Sniffing on a hot and humid day can overheat a dog pretty quickly. Senior dogs and dogs with medical concerns like a heart condition are also more at risk.

Today we’ve had a morning drive followed by some scent games, a sleep and now a lunchtime coconut bone broth “ice cream”.

Please keep your dogs cool. Heat stroke is an awful thing for you and your dog to experience.

26/11/2025

All dogs can smell, it is their “super sense” but for some breeds and individual dogs it’s more instinctive eg. hounds.

Teaching and encouraging your dog to use their noise more in different contexts can help them later in life when they can no longer rely on other senses like hearing and vision to navigate and map environments.

Although a decrease of smell-ability can happen in older age smell can still be very useful for a dog in adjusting to hearing and vision decline or loss, especially if they have developed a strong sense of smell.

So how do we encourage a dog to use their noise more regularly and confidently? One of my favourite ways is through guided scent games and puzzles!

This is so much more than enrichment you see on social media or the internet. It’s more intentional, it’s interactive (as in you are involved) as opposed to you giving your dog something to occupy them. It’s the most beautiful way to not only work on their nose work but also for bond and connection.

Bunny is experiencing hearing loss and currently relies on sight and scent. It’s not uncommon for old dogs to loss vision and hearing either progressively or quickly depending on the cause. We are preparing for this when or if it happens.

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