Jolly Walker

11/04/2024

13/02/2024

This!

24/01/2024

Long walks are not the solution for a hyperactive or anxious dog. 🥰

BE A DOPAMINE DEALER NOT A CORTISOL CREATOR

Although there are other chemicals that have an effect on behaviour, the neurotransmitter dopamine and the hormone cortisol are important ones to understand.

Force free, positive reinforcement, reward-based methods result in a release of Dopamine which provides important motivation to seek out rewards, increases attention, memory and reinforces a behaviour. Behaviour is far more likely to be repeated when Dopamine is released.

Using punishment or aversive, old fashioned methods causes stress which increases the release of cortisol. Cortisol inhibits learning, affects memory, decreases motivation and can cause emotional, psychological and even physical damage.

Some ways to increase Dopamine levels and lower Cortisol levels –

Only using positive reinforcement, force free, reward-based techniques.

Slow, sniffing walks in a quiet area, interactive play, puzzle toys, lick mats, snuffle mats, foraging, providing mental stimulation activities, routine and predictability, enough rest and sleep and a balanced and nutritious diet.

Give your dog a “cortisol holiday”. Cortisol levels can take between two to six days to return to normal after stress.

This “holiday” could look like stopping walks for a week or changing the time of day you walk to a quieter time, covering or blocking access to a gate, fence or window, avoiding visitors or generally just taking a break from anything that may be causing stress.

16/01/2024

I’M NOT GUILTY!
Dogs might look guilty, but that doesn’t mean that they feel guilty.

“My dog knows that he’s done something wrong, just look how guilty he looks!" This is something that we hear so often.

People are highly amused and entertained on social media and even dedicated websites where pictures of “guilty” dogs are seen.

The “guiltier” the dog looks, the more popular these posts are and the funnier people find them.

I find this really sad because it’s a complete misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of a dog’s body language.

That “guilty” look is actually a dog showing the signs of fear, stress, anxiety or appeasement.

The fear of being punished, the stress and anxiety of hearing the person’s tone of voice, demeanor and noticing the person’s body language, appeasement behaviour in an attempt to calm the angry person down.

As people, it’s natural for us to want to believe that our dogs feel guilt and remorse about whatever they’ve done wrong. Maybe thinking that they really do feel guilty somehow makes their behaviour more acceptable and is a form of an apology.

Dogs are capable of a wide range of emotions that could be compared to that of a 2 to 2½ child, but it’s highly unlikely that they feel more complex emotions, like guilt, regret, remorse or shame.

Guilt is a complex emotion and defined as an unhappy feeling that you have because you have done something wrong or think that you may have done something wrong. It’s a feeling of shame, regret or remorse. The feeling of guilt requires an understanding of cause and effect and is relative to time.

Do dogs spend the day feeling guilty, waiting for us to come home to find a mess or a chewed-up couch or shoe, or are they waiting excitedly for us to come home because they really missed us and are looking forward to some attention?

For the emotional wellbeing of our dogs, let’s seek to understand them more and focus less on how we believe they should feel just because it makes us feel better.

31/12/2023

Current view 🥰

02/11/2023

Give them time and let them choose what they can do. 🥰

AGE ISN’T JUST A NUMBER
Aging in dogs is really not that different to the way that we age, but the sad reality is that when our dogs age, it all seems to happen so fast.

Considering their life span, we really have so little time with them.

It’s important to be aware of the changes that come with aging and do what we can to make this time of their lives as comfortable as possible.

Senior dogs often have a more difficult time coping with things that didn’t seem to bother them before.

Many behaviour changes in this life stage are due to an underlying age-related condition that is causing pain or from a decline in hearing, sight or perception.

Unexpected touch, movement or noise may cause already sore or stiff areas to jerk or tense up in response. That touch, movement or noise is often associated with more pain, creating a new negative reaction.

Managing any medical conditions through regular vet checks, feeding a balanced, age-appropriate diet, increasing mental stimulation to slow down cognitive decline, shorter, slower walks, allowing lots of time to sniff, keeping predictable routines and supervising children or other animals so they don’t bother our senior dog are just some of the things we can do to help our dogs navigate this stage in their life.

Much like how we should be patient and understanding and adjust the environment to accommodate the changing needs of our human seniors, we should be doing the same for our senior dogs.

“Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” - Agnes Sligh Turnbull

01/11/2023

Please respect everyone’s space when out walking your dog. Not all dogs are happy to greet other dogs. Please ask first. 🥰🥰🥰

28/10/2023

This is everything. Please learn your dog’s language and respect their need for personal space. Teach your kids too. 🥰

POOCHES DON’T LIKE SMOOCHES!

Should we be hugging and kissing our dogs because it shows our dogs just how much we love them?

After all it’s how we as people show our love, affection and provide comfort to one another.

But dogs are not people and we can’t just assume that they enjoy this or understand what we are trying to communicate.

But my dog enjoys being hugged and kissed! Yes, there may be some dogs that do, or some dogs that have learnt over time to tolerate this invasion of their personal space because they have learnt there is no escape. They are trapped, confined, immobilised and helpless.

The majority of pictures of people hugging or kissing dogs clearly show many signs of stressed body language.

It’s so important to be aware of how our dogs are feeling by learning basic body language. It’s the way our dogs communicate and we owe it to them to understand their language.

Respect a dog’s personal space. Provide a choice. Seek consent. This is what builds relationship and trust.

Save your smooches for the people in your life that enjoy them!

28/10/2023

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.