Being Canine, Dog Behaviour and Training

Being Canine, Dog Behaviour and Training Fair, kind and dog friendly training. Qualified Canine Behaviour Consultant 121 sessions.

Additional written assessment or plan is available by request, please ask me for details of cost.

06/12/2025

Chocolate contains a substance called theobromine, which is perfectly safe for humans, but toxic for dogs, cats and rabbits.

Dog welfare is more than just a set of training approaches.The conversation needs to move on to improve the lives of dom...
04/12/2025

Dog welfare is more than just a set of training approaches.
The conversation needs to move on to improve the lives of domestic dogs, not just the very small element that is training.

There is no such thing as a perfect dog, so why do we keep trying?I view my dogs as pretty perfect as they are but of co...
03/12/2025

There is no such thing as a perfect dog, so why do we keep trying?

I view my dogs as pretty perfect as they are but of course that view is subjective. My criteria for 'perfection' is not linked to how obedient they are or how many commands that they know, instead, I see them as being an individual, with their 'flaws', likes and dislikes.
It's a view that I have always held, so much so that my business name is 'Being Canine'.

I want my dogs (and those that I work with) to live full lives, not be commanded and instructed at every point. Yes that means that when they show dog behaviour, it might not be what we want but we do have to ask is it appropriate and part of normal dog behaviour.

Over the years, training became the only thing that responsible owners were told to think about, the methods used depended on what the individual felt was necessary and of course who they chose to teach them. Sadly for dogs, this meant that obedience and suppressing natural dog behaviours became commonplace.

Of course, we can enjoy joint activities with dogs and we can support them to cope better with some of their challenges but ultimately, I wanted to live with and work with dogs, not to change them, but to have a relationship.
There is no healthy relationship that is built on total obedience.

What is your dog's 'Happiness setpoint'?In psychology, this refers to the baseline of happiness that we experience, some...
02/12/2025

What is your dog's 'Happiness setpoint'?
In psychology, this refers to the baseline of happiness that we experience, some good things happen or some negative events which cause us to adapt but once this is over or accepted, we return to the setpoint. Around 50% of the influence is said to be down to genetics in humans, with life events and our intentions making up the rest.
It's also referred to as the hedonic treadmill.
This is why when you buy a new car or move house that the initial boost doesn't last. These things become commonplace.

Of course, not everything can or should be compared to the experience of dogs but perhaps we can think about our setpoint and how we might describe this in our dogs.

There is a greater question though and that is about happiness itself. The range of emotions that dogs experience are noteworthy and of course an emotionally healthy dog can cope with life's ups and downs (we are just not inflicting the 'downs' deliberately).

What does that mean and is this the only emotional state that we should consider beneficial to dogs?

30/11/2025

Ever wondered why some people can make mistakes and it somehow makes them even more appealing and yet others can be treated badly for a similar error?

Turns out that it's the pratfall theory.

It all depends on whether you are already regarded as superior or not. Being seen as superior means that a slight error or mistake can actually make you seem more appealing, more human and yet if the person is not classed as superior, then that same mistake is viewed as a major flaw.

I'm only doing this for the dogs! and other statements.Working with dogs is amazing, but it’s also made me notice someth...
28/11/2025

I'm only doing this for the dogs! and other statements.

Working with dogs is amazing, but it’s also made me notice something unpleasant: sometimes dogs get used as shields for behaviour that wouldn’t be acceptable anywhere else. I’ve seen it in rescue, in professional spaces, and in everyday dog circles.

What concerns me is how often poor communication, nastiness or unkindness gets justified with “I’m putting the dogs first.” Caring about dogs shouldn’t mean our standards for how we treat each other drop. If anything, it should raise them.

I could write a long list of terrible behaviours that I have seen which is often excused by the 'I'm putting the dogs first' statement, so much so that it has diluted the real message of caring about welfare and wellbeing of the dogs we work with and dogs in general.

It's time for some honesty and reflection.

We often say that dogs reflect their owners, but there’s a Stoic insight here that’s important to highlight.The Stoics u...
26/11/2025

We often say that dogs reflect their owners, but there’s a Stoic insight here that’s important to highlight.

The Stoics understood that humans constantly project inner ideals and discomforts onto the world around them and nowhere is this more visible than in how we treat dogs.

I’ve seen many people interact with their dogs as if the dog were something to be sculpted into a more convenient version of itself.
Entire approaches promise that if you use the right sequence, the right timing, the right formula, you will achieve the “look” you want: Let's be clear though, every action comes from an emotional state or an unmet need. When we focus only on mechanical steps, we’re not supporting the dog; we’re just engineering a surface-level performance.

We end up managing appearances and chase the behaviour rather than understanding the individual.

Seneca wrote, “Nature does not give virtue; it is an art to become good.”

Dogs seem to express honesty naturally, one of the very virtues humans struggle to cultivate. Yet instead of learning from their nature, we often try to mould them into what we want, whether that is reasonable or not.

Maybe dogs aren’t mirrors or tools or projects to refine.
Maybe they are reminders that we can't always get what we want and we should be accepting of that. Dogs don't owe us anything, we have to earn the things that matter.

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Rowallane
Kirkoswald
KA198HX

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