14/07/2025
Some dogs stay with us long after they’re gone. Here’s our beautiful Coccinella ‘Nella’ to us, a fantastic dog.
It’s been just over two years since she passed away from lymphoma, and there isn’t a day I don’t think about her. But after a weekend full of learning and diving into neurobiology, genetics, early development and behaviour she’s been especially present in my thoughts.
She wasn’t the dog that started my journey, but like so many before her, she was an incredible teacher. She helped me see things differently. Helped me question more. And she left a lasting mark on how I work with dogs today.
She was a singleton pup born without littermates which we knew would provide her with more challenges. This can shape behaviour in such profound ways. Without siblings to push, pull, and play with, singleton puppies often miss out on early lessons in frustration tolerance, bite inhibition and social boundaries. It’s not something we used to talk about much, but we should.
She also carried a genetic load that wasn’t easy suffering from ill health from the first weeks of being home with severe allergies. But what this weekend reminded me is that it’s never just about genes. It’s about how those genes interact with experience. That’s where epigenetics comes in.
Things like early stress, maternal care, environment, and even the way we raise and train dogs, all of it influences how genes are expressed. Not by changing the DNA itself, but by turning certain parts on or off. It’s a dynamic conversation between nature and nurture.
As Suzanne Clothier rightly said during her talk neonate puppies are not blank slates they are born with lots of messages on their slates.
So while I couldn’t change what she came into the world with, I like to believe the love and life we shared helped shape how it unfolded. Hopefully we have her the best of everything she could experience to make the best of our shared lives.
She wasn’t the first. She won’t be the last. But she taught me something unique, something only she could.
Forever grateful for the lessons not just from her but from every dog that is a presence in my life. Those that live with me and those that I get to work with.
