Mutts Angels

14/11/2025

💥 Fireworks & Empathy 💥
I’ve seen a few posts recently on local groups where people proudly share videos of dogs who are “desensitised” to fireworks — often with comments like “you just need to put the work in” or “it’s all about training properly.”
As a qualified, accredited behaviourist who has spent years helping dogs with noise sensitivities and fear-related behaviours, I want to gently say — it’s not that simple.

Yes, training and preparation absolutely help. But fear of fireworks isn’t a sign of a dog who hasn’t been “trained enough.” It’s a complex emotional response involving genetics, previous experiences, and even medical factors like pain or anxiety disorders.

These kinds of posts can unintentionally make loving owners feel guilty or ashamed when their dogs are terrified — and that’s not fair. Every dog is an individual, and some will always need a little extra support, patience, and compassion.

So if your dog shakes, hides, or trembles at loud bangs — please don’t feel you’ve failed. You haven’t. You’re caring, you’re listening, and that’s what matters most. ❤️
With the right behavioural support and guidance, fear can often be reduced and managed — but it’s never about “just putting in the work.” It’s about understanding, empathy, and science-led support.

🐾
Zoe Willingham
Accredited Behaviourist | Best Behaviour Dog Training

21/10/2025

Definitely worth a read xx

As our beloved dogs enter their golden years, they become more vulnerable to health emergencies. Knowing what's normal for your senior dog and recognising warning signs can be lifesaving. Regular monitoring of vital signs isn't just for veterinary professionals. Learning these simple checks empowers...

28/09/2025

25/09/2025

I’m going to miss you Willow. You were definitely the one who kept Syd and Poppy in check, who ate her body weight in gravy bones and who trained me to put treats on your food and who kept my lap warm when I visited. It won’t be the same without you 💔

15/08/2025

There are few heartbreaks that hit as hard or as silently as the loss of a beloved dog. Grieving the loss of a dog is not “just” grief over an animal. It’s the grief of losing a best friend, a confidant, a part of your daily routine.

Dogs don’t just exist in our lives; they shape them. They are there in our moments of joy and our moments of sorrow. They witness the mundane and the monumental. For many, a dog is a source of unconditional love in a world that rarely offers it.

Dr. Guy Winch, psychologist says that when we lose a pet, we lose a source of unconditional love, security, and emotional connection. Grieving them is not only natural, it’s necessary

Yet, many people feel a deep pressure to "get over it" quickly. The grief is often dismissed by others, leaving people to feel isolated in their mourning. This is known as disenfranchised grief, when your loss isn’t openly acknowledged or socially supported.

But you are allowed to grieve. You are allowed to feel the weight of this loss. Your grief is valid.

What is less commonly understood is that dogs also grieve the loss of their companions both canine and human. In a 2016 study by the Italian Institute for Animal Protection, 86% of dogs displayed changes in behaviour after the loss of a fellow dog. They became more withdrawn, vocalised more, or showed changes in sleep or eating patterns. Much like us, they may search for the one who is no longer there.

Grief is not a linear process. Some people find comfort in rituals lighting a candle, keeping a photo nearby, planting a tree in their memory. Others benefit from writing, or talking to someone who understands.

What matters most is that you allow yourself to feel it. Don’t rush it. Don’t diminish it. Grief is simply love with nowhere to go.

So when the house feels too quiet, and the lead hangs untouched by the door, know that your sorrow is a reflection of how deeply you loved and were loved. That is never something to be ashamed of.

08/08/2025

This is an interesting follow on from yesterday’s post.

A 2024 a study investigated whether changes in guardian stress levels influence canine stress in novel environments. The study was measured by monitoring heart rate and heart rate variability in both dogs and their guardians.

The test participants were divided into two groups: one exposed to a stress-inducing intervention (short term digit memory test) and another to a stress-relieving intervention (meditation).

The test showed that changes in guardian heart rate significantly predicted changes in their dog's heart rate, suggesting dogs exhibit emotional contagion and social referencing towards their people.

Guardian stress levels increased significantly in the stress-induction group, whilst the meditation group showed a trend towards decreased stress. We know that meditation can relieve our stress, but now we know that by addressing our own nervous system responses we affect the physiological responses of our dogs.

Dog behaviour during the experiment correlated with their HR and HRV, the dog’s body language and their heart rate matched.
The research shows that our dogs can easily and quickly match our own stress levels. So not only can they smell our stress, but they also match it via heart rate.

The test also showed that a dog’s heart rate will settle over time, highlighting the importance of allowing dogs to acclimatise to novel situations at their pace, and not rush them through novel experiences.

We know we are connected with our dogs, but do we know how much?

Science is helping us find out.

What a wonderful evolution our species is going through.

Stressed, scared or reactive dog?

Check out my bookstore.

09/07/2025

🐾😞 WHEN SAFE SPACES NO LONGER ARE…😞🐾

Twenty years ago yesterday, I left for work like I did every morning.

Caught my usual train. Walked to the tube. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Until the tube didn’t leave the station.

I’d been sitting on it for ages. No announcements. No explanations.

I headed back up to the train station, unsure what was happening, and with no idea how to get to work. I only knew how to get there by tube!

That’s when I bumped into a friend who was confused as I was about the tubes.

Fortunately though, she was more clued up than me & suggested getting a bus. So we did.

We were chatting quietly, trying to make sense of the closed stations, the rising police presence, the sirens, when we heard a loud noise.

She was listening to the radio on her phone and suddenly she said ‘we have to get off this bus’.

At that moment our bus pulled over. The driver told us all public transport had been suspended and that we should continue our journeys on foot.

We didn’t know it at the time, but we were less than a block away from the bus that had just been bombed.

We walked the rest of the way; it was a strange experience. People rushing though the streets heads down. Others looking around them in fear. Others jumping at every noise.

As we now know on that day 52 people lost their lives, and hundreds were injured, following the senseless attacks of 4 su***de bombers.

I can’t remember when the tubes reopened. But I know I didn’t use them again right away.

Even once everything was “back to normal,” I didn’t feel safe on tubes.

People eyed each other suspiciously. Any bag left unattended even for a couple of seconds was a potential threat. And any unusual noise or the train stopping where it didn’t usually raised anxiety levels.

I knew, logically, that it was OK. But my body didn’t believe it.

It’s stayed with me. Even now, twenty years later. That experience reshaped the way I move through certain spaces. Not all the time. But enough that I notice.

Because something had changed.

And it’s the same for our dogs.

One unexpected noise. One sudden experience. One moment, and the world doesn’t feel the same anymore.

A bird scarer going off near a field they once loved.

A mug smashed on the kitchen floor just as they walked past.

A thunderstorm booming above the car they’re resting in.

An encounter with a dog who wasn’t as friendly as they expected.

It doesn’t take much. Just one moment. And suddenly, the safe place doesn’t feel safe anymore.

It’s not that they’re being difficult.

It’s not stubbornness.

It’s that their body now feels wary where it once felt calm.

And rebuilding that sense of safety? It takes time. Thought. Patience. Softness. Confidence.

Just like I didn’t jump straight back on the tube, dogs might not leap back into that field, that route, that situation straight away. And that’s OK.

When Sam heard a low-flying plane a week after we moved house, he hit the ground and didn’t move for minutes. For weeks afterwards, he wouldn’t (couldn’t 😞) walk out of our gate. For him, it just wasn’t safe.

Our job isn’t to force them through it.

It’s to walk with them. Show them the world is still safe, slowly. Let their confidence return on their terms.

That’s what connection looks like.

Not demanding they “get over it”,but showing them, gently, that they can.