Being Canine, Dog Behaviour and Training

01/04/2025

Remember that my free webinar on the topic of The Dog's needs is on Wednesday, 2nd April at 7pm (UK).

You will need the zoom link to join, so message me and I can send that out to you.
Photo: One of my dogs usually makes an appearance, but you never know!

29/03/2025

27/03/2025

Not long now until our Engage the Senses sessions start.
We are working really hard to ensure that the area is the best that it can be and provide all those lovely dogs with a sensory experience like no other.
The sessions are for your dog only, so no need to worry about mixing with other dogs. April is fully booked and May is getting that way too, so get in touch asap.
The sessions will run from April through to September.

The first area is what we like to call the Hobbit garden, where dogs love to spend time following scents and exploring. More about the second, larger area in due course :)

Photo: Part of the Hobbit garden.

25/03/2025

It may be hard to believe that dogs are still used in lab research. On the one hand, we recognise their exceptional abilities and spend thousands of pounds on toys, food, and other luxuries for our pets. On the other hand, dogs, just like the one in your living room, are subjected to painful and often unnecessary experiments.

This article by Marc Bekoff and Jane Goodall is a difficult read but one that I will leave you to decide whether to open or not.

Dogs have been bred for centuries to be our companions. We should not use them for painful experiments.

23/03/2025

Dogs' whiskers, or vibrissae are highly sensitive touch receptors that play an important role in their ability to navigate and understand their surroundings.

Interestingly, their whiskers are also used in communication and can reflect their emotional state. Forward facing whiskers can indicate curiosity or alertness while whiskers pulled back could signal that a dog is unsure or fearful.

The length, thickness and sensitivity of the whiskers can differ depending on breed.

Whiskers are more sensitive than regular hairs because the follicles from which they originate are packed with blood vessels and nerves. Learn more at VCA.

22/03/2025

What are the needs of a dog?
If I ask people this question, they usually answer by saying food, water, a clean bed or a nice home and exercise.
The problem with this is degrees and personal opinion.
Is it just enough food to sustain life? Is it a rich and varied diet? Is it spending a fortune on the 'best' food on the market?
How about exercise? Is that a walk around the block in the morning and at night? Is it off lead play? Is it chasing after a ball?
The problem is that the basic needs of a dog are essential for sustaining life and ensuring the dog's comfort. But each dog is different.

What about Social and emotional needs?
These are just as important to an animal, they can have their basic physical needs met but still struggle if their emotional needs are neglected.

What about species-specific needs?
These are needs that come with the territory of being a dog and stem from their evolutionary history, domestication and individual characteristics.

So the next time that you consider whether your dog has unmet needs try to think a little wider than diet, health and exercise and consider their behavioural and mental needs, too.

Photo: A healthy, happy dog is what we should all be aiming for, but let's all try a little harder to provide opportunities for our dogs to not only sustain life but thrive.

20/03/2025

When you appreciate just how much dogs gain from engaging with their environment, you become less impressed with dogs being walked to heel on a tight lead. That's more about control than connection.
These dogs miss out on so much.
A walk should be enriching, not just a physical exercise.
Of course, safety is essential, especially in busy areas, but there is a balance. It's not always possible for dogs to be off lead and roaming, but simple things like having a loose lead and letting them stop and sniff and explore can make a huge difference in their well-being.
It doesn't have to be one-sided, we can both enjoy our walks together.

18/03/2025

Why we need Engage the Senses sessions.
We focus today on the sense of balance, touch and feeling.
When people think about senses it's easy to concentrate of sight, touch and smell but there is much more to how an individual perceives the world.

The sense of balance is an important factor. It helps maintain posture, stability, and coordination, working closely with sight and muscles to keep us upright and oriented in space.
The receptors in the skin detect pressure and temperature (and pain), and these messages are then processed by the brain.
It's not just the physical act of feeling pressure or touch that is useful, but the ability to have body awareness. This proprioception allows us to sense the position and movement of our body parts without looking or paying much attention.

We can also consider the emotional feelings triggered by touch, the response to slow, gentle touch, which is closely connected to processing in the limbic system of the brain.
The sense of balance, sense of touch and sense of feeling Proprioception and emotion) all play a crucial role in how we (and animals) perceive and respond to the world.
Slowing things down and taking the time to explore ensures that the entire system achieves maximum benefit for the individual and enhances nervous system function.

Photo: Many dogs benefit from slow movement without a specific goal in mind. Just being rather than achieving.

18/03/2025

Understanding dog behaviour is so much more than simply applying training techniques.

Sadly, many people feel that if their dog is 'trained', all of these worrying behaviours will miraculously disappear.

That's not how it works.

Determining why dogs behave as they do is only part of the puzzle. What matters is how we approach the next steps.
All too often, people dive into 'solutions' by implementing really complex schedules and actions, all of which are supposed to change the dog's responses.

It's much simpler than that. Dogs behave in the way that they do for good reason; we may not understand it or see it clearly, but without providing the dog with what they need, any plan will likely fail.

It's not training that your dog is looking for, it's about meeting their needs.

Photo: A dog sitting on command is simply sitting. It doesn't demonstrate a change for the dog or that they are 'obedient.'

16/03/2025

I met the lovely Biscuit when I was last down doing some sessions at Dumfries and Galloway rescue.
She is a lovely soul and seemed really keen to learn.

Who Doesn't love a Biscuit ?!

16/03/2025

Why do we need Engage the Senses sessions?
In this post we focus on Touch.
Often when we think about touch with regard to dogs, we tend to focus on us touching them. Some dogs find touch by humans stimulating, relaxing or even worrying.
How often do we think about the information that dogs receive through their skin, pads on their paws and when they sniff at an object and their whiskers brush against something?
Engaging a dog's sense of touch through different surfaces can be enriching, build confidence and support sensory development.
We can use a variety of surfaces for dogs to explore.
Dogs often walk on pavements, tarmac or grass, but with a bit of imagination and planning, we can offer alternatives.
Dog paws are highly sensitive due to the abundance of nerve endings and specialised receptors in the pads. While the thick, rough texture of the pads provides protection, they can still detect changes in temperature, texture, and pressure.
Photo: When choosing surfaces, we must be aware that hot surfaces, sharp objects and rough terrain can cause discomfort or injury.

15/03/2025

Why we need Engage the Senses sessions.
This post will focus on sight.
Dogs see the world differently from humans. Remember years ago people firmly believed that dogs saw everything in black and white? Of course that isn't true but they do see fewer colours than humans.
They can see blues and yellows well, whereas reds and greens are likely to be shades of grey or brown.
Dogs are , of course, firmly in the motion detection camp, emphasising movement and night vision rather than sharp colour perception.
Most dogs have a wider field of vision due to the placement of their eyes, but their depth perception is weaker because their eyes are more to the sides of their heads. Of course, we have bred some dogs to have more forward-facing eye placement, too.
In general, dogs rely more on movement, night vision, and a broad field of view than on sharp detail or rich colours.
We can't take all of these senses individually, as the combination of them all makes dogs perfectly designed and highly effective at what they do.
Photo: Dogs will primarily pay attention to movement or environmental changes. Beautifully demonstrated here by Gaia.

15/03/2025

A dog that barks constantly is not happy.
While some dogs are more vocal than others, if the barking is constant or very intense, then quite simply, their needs are not being met.

One of my dogs has a high-pitched bark when she is overexcited, but as soon as things calm down, she stops. This is different from a dog that is vocalising at being left alone or locked outside.

Most barking is triggered by something, such as boredom, stress at being left alone or restricted, wanting something, being scared or worried about something or dogs on high alert.

Although barking and other vocalisations are normal for our domestic dogs, it's the degree that we should be paying attention to.

New data shows that noise complaints about barking dogs in the UK have shot up by almost half over the past three years. The COVID-19 pandemic led to a huge spike in the number of domestic pets, with 4.7 million UK households welcoming in new creature companions during lockdown. According to a survey carried out by webuyanyhome.com

14/03/2025

We are ready to take bookings for April. If you have already been in touch, I will be contacting you to arrange dates and times

14/03/2025

Why we need Engage the senses sessions.
This post is all about hearing.
Dogs have an incredibly advanced sense of hearing, which is, in many ways, superior to humans. Sensory experiences should also include sound elements.
Dogs can hear a range of sounds, especially higher-pitched frequencies that are outside the normal range of most humans. This is only one aspect.
Dogs can move their ears independently, adjusting their position to precisely locate where a sound is coming from. Their ear muscles help them funnel sound waves efficiently.
In setting up a sensory experience, we want to include subtle noises without causing fear or anxiety. We must be mindful that some dogs are sound-sensitive and already have many noises in the environment. We certainly don't want sensory overload.
Just as in humans, I am sure that some noises can be uncomfortable for dogs, and we must assess and design the environment to best support the individual dog.
Photo: Dog ear shapes can vary widely.

11/03/2025

Why are the Engage the Senses sessions needed?
Many people have the idea that scattering food around for dogs to find is a great sensory experience but it's not as simple as that.

Dogs experience taste differently to humans due to differences in their taste buds and sensory preferences.
Texture matters too.

Even more importantly is the understanding that taste sensory experiences isn't about the volume of food, it's not a free for all buffet!

We consider the individual dog and their preferences, such as whether they become excited and speed up or take time to lick and savour. How they eat is also worth observing.

Photo: It's more than just having a snuffle or likimat, in fact, for some dogs, these can cause frustration. For others, they are useful and should be included.

10/03/2025

Why are the 'Engage the senses' sessions needed?
First of all, let's consider the dog's nose.
We know that dogs have an amazing sense of smell and that humans can harness this sense for activities like scent detection, finding lost humans, and services such as working with Police to trace illegal substances. BUT without our input, your dog detects and processes information about the many scents around them.

Just because we can't detect these scents doesn't mean that your dog isn't being bombarded with valuable information.

Your dog gathers information via their sense of smell every day. It is a way of communicating, mentally stimulating, stress relieving, and, most importantly, a completely natural activity that isn't guided by humans.

They don't need us to train them or to reward the behaviour; they do it because it is a huge component of who a dog is.

What is our role?

To provide opportunities, and it's as simple as that.

Photo: Many years ago, I had to research and write an assignment on the dog's nose, and my Theo willingly let me take a close-up of his impressive snout.