AM's Walk & Train

13/08/2024

DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF!
Resource guarding – also called possessive aggression

We all guard our resources, it’s a natural reaction to a threat of something we value being taken away.

It’s essential for survival and dogs or other animals would not survive in the wild if they didn’t guard their resources.

We also don’t get to decide what’s valuable and what’s not – different things have different value to different dogs and at different times.

Food is usually the most common, but toys, furniture, different items, places, or even a certain person are all things that may be seen as a valuable resource.

A dog turning their head away, freezing, a hard stare, whale eye, moving away, growling or snapping may quickly escalate into a serious bite in an attempt to protect that valuable possession.

Punishing or forcing a dog to give something up is probably one of the worst things to do.

Resource guarding is rooted in the emotion of fear – the fear of that resource being taken away.

Punishment and force further increase that fear, which only increases and reinforces the need to protect that resource.

When a dog is guarding food or an object, we can change the negative emotion of that fear into a positive one by swopping or trading something that has a similar or higher value than what the dog has.

This is one of the most effective ways to address resource guarding of objects as it works at the root cause of the behaviour by changing the emotional response.

A dog resource guarding a person is more complicated to address. A full history of the individual dog, family dynamics, attachment styles, situation and environment all have to be assessed before planning and working on a solution.

Resource guarding can usually be prevented, managed and addressed and by starting early, understanding why dogs feel the need to resort to this behaviour and doing what we can to prevent it from happening in the first place.

30/07/2024

Be careful out there today guys 🥵 it’s saying highs of 28 degrees in Dursley - has summer finally arrived?!

21/03/2024

A WORD ABOUT WAGS
“I don’t understand why that dog reacted so badly to me; his tail was wagging!”

Contrary to popular belief, a wagging tail doesn’t always mean a dog is happy.

Dogs communicate through so many different types of body language, but the wag and the tail position are probably one of the easier to notice.

As with most things it depends on the individual dog. Some breeds naturally carry their tails in a different position and some breeds wag their tails differently to others.

Wags and tail positions should always be looked at in context and together with the rest of the body language. Body language should always be looked at as a “video” and not as an isolated “picture”.

Noticing how your dog’s tail usually looks or how the tail behaves when they’re happy to see you or relaxed and contented, provides a good base line to interpret other types of tail language.

I often watch my dogs’ tails with fascination as they stalk or hunt for something, bark at something outside or see another dog approaching while out walking.

The type of wag and position of their tails gives me so much information about their emotional state.

Although some people won’t agree, I definitely see wags to the right when my dogs are happy and wags to the left when there is arousal, uncertainty, predatory behaviour or other emotions going on.

Not only is the tail an important method of communication but it also plays a role in balance, stability, movement and counterbalancing should a dog quickly change direction.

I believe that tail docking destroys an essential part of a dog's ability to communicate with other dogs by creating a distinct social disadvantage or misunderstanding as tail signals can’t be read.

People with working dogs believe that tail docking is necessary to prevent tail injuries or improve performance, but many countries have banned this practice either completely or only under specific medical circumstances.

Start taking notice of what your dog is doing with their tail - you may find it interesting and it may open up a new way of understanding how your dog is feeling.

Here is a link to a graphic I created with some different tail positions and what they might mean -

https://www.canva.com/design/DAF_7l_2LvA/UGXVDl-TOPc_FCqHXsCWRQ/view?utm_content=DAF_7l_2LvA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=GOVbqw1dfw

06/01/2024

Due to ill health and for the foreseeable future, we are not taking on any new customers for walking.

20/12/2023

10/12/2023

10/12/2023

No rawhide this Christmas! Or EVER! It is a deadly, awful chew to give to your dog. Please don't.

11/11/2023

If you’ve tried to contact me in the last 48 hours and had to leave a message on my voicemail, could you please call back? My voicemail has failed and your message has been lost! Apologies

27/10/2023

We are taking a much needed break for half term! Back on 6 November 😁

18/10/2023

15/10/2023

DISTANCE ASSISTANCE
It’s not easy having a reactive dog. As much as we may feel frustrated, restricted, angry or even ashamed or embarrassed, our reactive dogs are also experiencing a range of negative emotions when they react to something that triggers them.

This reaction is usually caused by anxiety, fear, feeling threatened or frustrated.

These emotions cause high levels of stress and stress prevents both us and our dogs from being able to process information, think clearly or learn a different, more acceptable way of reacting to whatever triggers us.

This is why creating enough distance is so important.

I’m really scared of snakes and even struggle to look at them. The only thing I want to do is run away and create as much distance as possible.

If someone was restraining me, forcing me to sit down and look at the snake while trying to feed me my favourite chocolate (or any type of chocolate!), telling me there was nothing to worry about or trying to educate me about the specific species, it would do nothing to alleviate my fear and would only increase my stress levels.

Doing this at a sufficient distance, where I felt safe would be far more effective and my stress levels would be much lower. I may even eat the entire slab of chocolate!

In time, with patience and practice, I may even be able to get much closer to the snake without having a negative reaction.

The same principle applies to reactive dogs. Creating sufficient distance where they can see the trigger but still feel safe, comfortable and don’t react is the best way of helping them to cope with their feelings.

Some dogs (and people) may never be able to decrease that distance and that’s also okay.

Accept your dog for the unique individual they are, work on the things you can change and accept the things you can’t.

24/09/2023

Question:

My corporate owned veterinary practice has now said that they will provide care for my overseas dog if he/she tests positive for Brucella canis but have said that any urgent surgical procedure would need to be approved by the Chief Veterinary Officer at [corporate name]. Should I accept this as a client?

Answer:

Obviously I cannot tell you what to do, and this will part depend on:

• Availability of alternative veterinary care within your geographical region, and distance willing/able to travel to another veterinary practice

• Your wider trust in the veterinary team at that practice and in respect of the veterinary service they offer

• You willingness to accept the above caveat in respect of surgical care for your Brucella canis positive dog (and potentially other in contact dogs – clarify this with them!)

My position on this matter:

• I absolutely would NOT accept this restriction on the veterinary care offered to my dogs in my household if any of them were to test positive unless I was desperate (i.e. had no viable alternative)

• It is good that they have told you this as part of early stage discussions around the care that they could offer your dog as a dog with a Brucella canis positive status. This is part of giving you information likely to be important to you when giving your implicit informed consent to stay with them as a veterinary practice and provide potentially suboptimal care after being told this.

• However, the devil here is in the detail and you may need additional information before ‘implicitly consenting’ by staying with the practice.

• I would be concerned that this may operate as a ‘get out clause’ for local level staff who want to avoid offering surgical veterinary care to your dog by shielding them from direct blame for this and I see no good clinical need for the CVO to be contacted. A decent risk assessment and personal protection equipment provision and use should be sufficient to allow local level clinical assessment.

Things to consider:

• Why ‘urgent’ care? Why not all surgical care? Does this imply that non-urgent surgery just would not be carried out? This is potentially a massive red flag and needs exploring further with your veterinary professional.

For example non-urgent surgery might be:

- Neutering

- Stitch ups which could be managed by second intention medical management but where surgical closure would be preferable

- Orthopaedic procedures to repair broken bones (where they could be splinted instead) or torn cruciate ligaments (where they might be conservatively managed or braced)

- Dental procedures undertaken before periodontal disease has become advanced enough to be causing significant local (in or around the mouth only e.g. root tooth abscess) or systemic (e.g. bacteria floating round in the blood stream causing potential issues elsewhere in the body) disease.

Would you be comfortable if these kinds of procedures were denied to your dog as non-urgent routine procedures? As a former registered vet nurse with 25 years experience I would NOT be so I would be wanting to explore this further to understand better the parameters for inclusion as a service.

Clues for inferior limited care may include:
• Refusal of any kind of dental or surgical care
• Documents that outline that they will provide medical care and/or non-invasive care and/or remote care and don’t mention surgical/dental! Do NOT assume medical care means everything you think it does. If in doubt, ask an independent veterinary trained and familiar professional to look at the information given.

Also, these are just examples of potentially‘ non-urgent’ procedures. But, as always, it can be a grey area, and I would want to know what urgent procedures would not be considered either. For example, my dog broke, it’s two lower canines and these are all infected and exuding pus. As you can imagine these were painful too! This could have quite profound behavioural and health implications of both the local and systemic level and so they need removing for the welfare of the dog. Would this procedure be considered?

• Why does the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) need to be contacted? Why is the vet not able to make the clinical decision based on the clinical need for your dog to receive this veterinary care in line with modern day standards and expectations? The litmus test here to ask is: If my dog did not have Brucella canis, what would you be currently offering in order to maximise animal welfare outcomes for my dog? If it differs from what is currently being offered, what can the CVO offer that you cannot as my primary care vet? You have already now told me what would be best practice to be offered after all. Your vet will probably tell you the CVO is needed to assess the risk to the veterinary staff. Read the next point.

• Why is the CVO needed to assess the risk to veterinary staff? I would be concerned that this is an inefficient way of assessing risk. A robust approach is a proactive risk assessment that removes the need to contact one individual before every decision is taken and would be the norm. If other veterinary organisations can achieve this, why cannot all corporates? You may be told this is because it is it is a schedule 3 pathogen (see link below) – but so is Covid-19 (SARS-cov-2) and clients and staff are not screened before entering the building or the CVO contacted before they are allowed entry to the veterinary clinic! Also in this schedule is anthrax (which we would want very stringent controls over!) illustrating that there is no a one size fits all approach to pathogens in this category and a bit of evidence-based common sense is needed here.

• Will the CVO always be available 24/7? Some corporates have businesses that operate night services as well as day services (e.g. CVS owns MiNightVet which provides out of hours emergency care every night and all weekend in many areas). Will the CVO be available to be woken up at any point of the day or night in order to give an immediate answer? We are talking about urgent (read: emergency) procedures here so by virtue of their nature quick decisions are needed. If your dog had a gastric dilatation for example, every additional minute delaying surgery could have major implications for the likelihood of your dog surviving surgery. Some procedures are less urgent but any delays in order to discuss with a vet ‘remote to the case’ are still likely to be suboptimal and clinically not necessary. Remember: these discussions are not being taken with your dog’s animal welfare at the forefront of their endeavour – if that was the case, the vet would already have cracked on with surgery. They are contacting the CVO because they believe that surgery is in your dog’s interest and are basically seeking permission to proceed (or potentially as a get out clause if they don’t personally want to carry out the surgery).

• If the CVO has delegated this decision making to a team of senior remote clinicians, is there a rota that ensures that no matter what time of the day or night it is, there will be a senior member of the clinical leadership team at the corporate prepared to be contacted (and guaranteed to respond with a suitable timeframe e.g. 5 minutes) to make this decision? Remember that the company has made the professional decision that a regular vet is not sufficiently competent to make this assessment (otherwise there will be no need to escalate it), and therefore it needs to be undertaken by a very senior member of the clinical board/leadership so it is beholden on the CVO to ensure that this top level provision is always available.

• Is the CVO prepared to take responsibility for committing to always being available and to ensuring that, where a proxy is used (e.g. a wider trained clinical leadership team) that there reasonable endeavour (use of rotas, clear evidence of overtime payment to members on an out of hours rota, etc) such that, should anyone be not available to contact, there is clear evidence of culpable failing on their part? I.e. could you have reasonable grounds for reporting the CVO to the RCVS for failing to meet reasonable standards of clinical service that has led to poorer welfare, outcomes or death of your BC+ dog?

These are just some of the considerations, and I’m sure others can think of additional ones. If you can pop those in the thread to provide owners with additional guidance and food for thought.

• As always, you ideally want answers confirmed in writing as part of your decision making needed to consent to accept the provision of veterinary services being offered to your Brucella canis positive dog. You may also want to make a note in the reply to the practice that you’re not in agreement that it would be appropriate to delay offering surgical care in the event of an urgent procedure inorder to contact the CVO and it’s not clear that this offers animal welfare benefits to your dog. By putting this in the reply, you’re making clear that there is no implicit informed consent to accept that restriction should come to pass. This will not be a fool proof approach though, as you could find this parameter redefined, should your dog subsequently tested positive and then you would be in a difficult position trying to find another practice to take you on.

Warning!

• If you are currently the owner of a Brucella canis positive dog you will not have a good range of veterinary choices so be careful not to be too inflammatory.

• Establishing the above is much more easy to do while you have an untested dog or if you have another dog with a negative status but may go on to adopt further dogs that could potentially test positive.

• Ask the questions calmly and non-aggressively but it is not unreasonable to seek further clarification here. You would not hesitate to do so before many very expensive purchases (e.g. when you buy a house you pay for a survey!), and these questions are about ensuring the best veterinary practice to meet the needs of your dog – an important member of your household!

• Remember that your financial spend is important to a practice, particularly if you are a multiple pet household, or a ‘bonded client’(e.g. you buy your pet food from the practice, you subscribe to one of the ‘preventative healthcare plans’ that many vet practices offer), or you otherwise spend a lot of money at the vets! When I left my vet practice the financial lost to that practice over the next 15 years was approximately 75k gross income at today’s prices 🧐

As always, what you’re seeking is a vet practice that will align ethos and service wise with the standards of care that you want for your dog, whether your dog has a positive or negative or uncertain status!

I hope this reply helps. I’ve put it public because it’s obviously a very detailed response that you needed to have, and I think it will be useful to others too.

Me: In my vet nurse scrubs prior to stepping off the register to concentrate on raising awareness and empowering owners to advocate for their dogs.

06/08/2023

Please support this campaign to ban shock collars

Don’t let the UK Government back out of banning shock collars. Help us increase the pressure and contact your local MP today.

15/07/2023

Oooo how exciting!

We are excited to invite you all to an evening bbq at AurasHQ!

Let’s hope the ☀️ finally makes an appearance 😁

Supporters, volunteers, previous adopters, prospective adopters you are all welcome to join us for some snacks and soft drinks at our kennel base in Gloucestershire ❤️

Doors open at 630, this will be a chance to show you our lovely HQ, and some of the dogs that call it their temporary home 🌸

Free entry, food and drinks can be paid for by cash or card, all proceeds go towards running our shelter ⭐️

12/07/2023

Sometimes, caregivers will say to me that they’re not sure why something has hit their dog so badly. Why that one incident has crushed their dogs confidence, eliminated their self-esteem and led to their reactivity.

The reason is simple - you can drown in the ocean, but you can also drown in a puddle. The depth of the problem, however we perceive, is irrelevant. What matters is how that situation made us feel.

For your dog, whether they were pinned by another dog, were in a traffic accident, or were restrained harshly at the vets, that may have been enough.

I’d also make the same argument for you.

Because I’d argue, if your dog is reactive, you’re probably reactive to. You feel the sting of fear when you spot another dog. You feel a burst of anxiety when you’re going to have people over. Vet visits leave you an emotional wreck.

That’s okay, though. Because you can drown in the ocean, but also in a puddle.

What matters is that those feelings are there. So we need to change them.

Let’s do it. Webinar on Friday 14th July all about Reactivity. You’ll be given practical tips to help your dog through their stresses.

I’ll also be announcing:

🔸 A new website.
🔸 The launch of an incredible programme that’s already helped anxious dogs all over the world.
🔸 More information about a reactive dog camping experience.

And more!

Link in the comments to join!

26/06/2023

A behaviour is only a problem depending on the context it occurs in.

A collie attempting to herd cars has a ‘problem behaviour’. That same behaviour with a herd of sheep? A massive asset.

A German Shepherd guarding the living room when a friend comes over for a cup of tea has a 'problem behaviour'. That behaviour with a stranger breaking into your home? Considered to be perfect.

A Gundog stealing slippers and shoes has a ‘problem behaviour’. That behaviour with retrieving a dead pheasant from a tangle of bracken? Considered a testament to the breed.

You can apply this to anything. A Beagle who ignores your calls because they’re on a scent is a pain for us, but ace at ignoring distractions when hunting. A Dachshund who loudly barks to alert us is an annoyance, but so useful when they’re deep in a badger sett and need to be dug out.

Every dog breed on planet earth is now being asked more and more to suppress their instincts. Before we had outlets - all of these wonderful jobs they could do.

But now dogs do far less jobs, but are still bred with all of that genetic code willing them to perform these behaviours.

We’ve changed a lot. But they haven’t.

So find them something to do. I go to Nosework because almost every dog job involves a dog using their nose in some way. It’s easy to get started with, there’s loads of trainers around (including me, even if you’re not in Dorset) and it’s so beneficial.

But if that’s not your bag, all good. Got a herding breed? Try Sheepballs. Got a Gundog? Gundog work might suit them. Terrier? Why not try Barn Hunt?

You’ve got a dog who has instincts, in an environment that no longer easily caters to them, who has to suppress themselves every single day.

So we might not have changed. But the things we can provide for our dogs? Those all important outlets? They have. There’s so many more.

You just have to go and find them.

22/06/2023

Let’s talk Cocker Rage Syndrome.

Or let’s not. Because it’s bo****ks.

(This is a Jack on his soapbox post. Buckle up).

There’s been lots of discussions in the media recently about dogs - in some positive and not so positive ways. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend some time with breed-specific experts, masters of their chosen breed type or group. The people that know the breeds inside and out.

One key takeaway that I’ve had, is that there are still so many myths and misconceptions surrounding the dog breeds we’re privileged to share a home with.

Cocker Rage Syndrome is one. Sudden onset aggression, where a switch is flipped, and the Cocker becomes so ‘violent’ that they have to be put to sleep.

Here’s the thing - if your dog randomly becomes aggressive, with very little warning, there’s most likely a medical issue involved. Pain and discomfort plays a key role in most reactivity cases.

Most of the time there is an increase in behaviour, from the subtle ‘please go away’ to the overt ‘I’ll make you go away’.

But it isn’t specific to Cocker Spaniels. Pain is universal.

Frustratingly, when we’re talking about breed specific behaviours or concepts, we miss the mark. Cocker Rage Syndrome isn’t something you should be concerned about, but there are other genetic triggers that you should be aware of.

Collies herd. They’re sound sensitive. Spaniels carry things, and might guard them. Livestock Guardians won’t appreciate someone wandering into our home unannounced. Bull breeds like play tug and need an outlet for that.

Despite this, we fall into the trap of putting our dogs into situations that repeatedly ask them to perform these behaviours.

We get upset with our Spaniel for picking stuff up, but we leave shoes and socks everywhere. We get upset that our Shepherd barks at visitors, but they’ve just walked in loudly and unannounced. We get upset that our Collie might lunge at cars, but we continue to walk them down city streets.

Let me be clear - we don’t know what we don’t know. So many caregivers do not realise that these behaviours are innate. That they are likely to rear their head if certain circumstances are met. I’m not saying that people should just know these things.

But it is also our responsibility to educate ourselves about the breeds we share our lives with. It is our responsibility to learn about body language, and understand where the breeds come from. It is our responsibility to make peace with the fact that you can’t out train a breed response.

Can you utilise it? Absolutely. Does it mean life is over? No!

But we cannot blame our dogs for doing the things we have asked them to do for generations. We should not be putting them into situations they cannot cope with until they’re ready.

I will make it clear once again - we do not know what we don’t know. So many students have had a walk or incident in the home and have gone ‘Oh s**t, I didn’t think that would happen!’.

That’s human nature. You should not be made to feel bad for making a mistake, because we all do make them.

But with that newfound knowledge, that is then on us. To protect our community, and keep our dogs safe.

Look at the dog you have in front of you. Learn their history. Understand their behaviour. And remember that just because a television show guest or newspaper have said something about a breed, it doesn’t make it true. Look to the experts. They’ll let you know about the breeds, warts and all.

20/04/2023

19/04/2023

We are taking a break until 28 April to recuperate from the surgery, we will get back to you then. Thank you

16/04/2023

We will be taking a break from 19-26 April, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you on 27 April

14/04/2023

We’ll be here tomorrow if you want to come along and meet us to discuss your requirements