Winnie's World Dog Behaviourist

27/11/2025

🚫 When I ask people what they do when their dog does something they don’t like, they’ll almost always say ‘no’ 🚫

And when I ask how often that works, the answer’s usually rarely! Why? Because ‘no’ means nothing to your dog. And neither did the words ‘sit’, ‘come’ or ‘drop’ until you taught them.

The reason dog trainers often advise you don’t say ‘no’ is because you’ll use it in lots of different situations to mean lots of different things.

So how is your dog meant to know if they’re supposed to drop, come back to you, leave something on the floor, get down...? 🤷

If you want to teach your dog that ‘no’ means something useful, use it as a cue to come back to you or to give you eye contact. Otherwise, use other cues to help them know what you’d like them to do instead.

As you can see here, Winston pays absolutely no attention to ‘no’ when he’s sniffing something gross or when he starts to speed up on the lead because a squirrel runs in front of us.

The reason he then looks at the squirrel in a driveway and carries on walking is because we’ve worked a lot on this skill. Me saying no has absolutely nothing to do with it and was probably getting on his nerves! If I carried on like that, he’d probably learn to ignore me completely 😂

23/11/2025

The most incredible experience free diving with sharks (though less diving and more trying not to drift away in the roughest waters I’ve ever been in) 🦈

And when one decides to bump you when you’re not looking and you can’t walk properly for a few days after, you realise just how powerful they are 😂

Dog content will resume shortly!

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03/11/2025

😰 Lots of dogs are feeling scared and anxious because of ongoing fireworks. But what’s the worst thing you can do if they’re feeling this way? 😰

Ignore them!

Dogs are social animals. A bit of gentle reassurance from us when they need it can really help them get through things. Just like it would help us.

This is Winston during a bad storm. He’s not a dog who seeks out cuddles or anything like that. But he came and stood right by me.

A couple of gentle strokes allowed him to feel better and he eventually settled 🧘

You can’t reinforce an emotion so you can’t reinforce fear.

The only thing you want to be aware of is that you’re not acting panicked as this can heighten a situation or being OTT with your dog when they want some space.

Calm and gentle is key. But there’s no need to ignore them.

16/10/2025

🎆 If your dog is scared of fireworks and seems unsettled for a while afterwards, speak to your vet now 🎆

There are things they can prescribe to help your dog and reduce the chance of a longer lasting issue.

I’ve worked with several dogs this year who had such a bad experience with fireworks that they refused to leave the house for a long time afterwards or became scared of other noises.

So act now and help your dog get through fireworks season better than before!

And don’t take your dog to a fireworks event, walk them when it’s dark or leave them alone when fireworks are going off. It’s just not worth the risk.

04/10/2025

If you’re in Kent and want something to do tomorrow, head over to ’s Canine Carnival. I’ll be answering all your behavioural questions at 12:15 (but be warned. There will be a lot of ‘it depends’ 😂)

And there’s some fun demos and other expert sessions to get involved in.

I won’t be bringing my dog as he’d rather stay at home. So you can absolutely attend without yours!

02/10/2025

After it was way too hot in the summer, looking forward to an autumn event this Sunday! I’ll be chatting all things dog behaviour at 12:15 if you want to come say hi 👋

Lots of other fun things to do as well with or without your dog 🐶

01/10/2025

18/09/2025

Nothing to do with dogs, but just a little palate cleanser and a reminder to enjoy yourself (whether that’s with or without your dog) ⛵️

10/09/2025

If your behaviourist isn’t working with your vet, then you should probably find a new one.

Here are just a few recent cases that have been diagnosed with medical issues after my behavioural observations and discussions with the vet. (To protect my clients’ privacy, the photos aren’t of the actual dogs I’m working with.)

Now treating these problems doesn’t mean the behaviour’s going to disappear completely, though it will almost certainly help (and can save you a lot of time and effort). But we can’t train away pain so that does need to be managed as best as possible before any behavioural plan can work.