17/09/2025
Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service UK Thank You
𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘𝗧𝗬
I know I write about this ad nauseum but it matters.
Safety is the most important feature of any relationship and meeting the needs of human and animal clients cannot take place without it.
An animals ability to feel safe is influenced both by their early experiences as early life stress is hugely influential but also by their current physical and social environment. For animals these are just a few important factors and this by no means is an exhaustive list.
🐴🐶 Focus on watching how the horse or dog reduces their own tension and stress in order to feel safe.
🐴🐶 Pay attention to the horse or dogs needs and not the behaviour or outcome you want to see. This includes their basic species specific needs as well as individual preferences.
🐴🐶 Learn to read body language well.
🐴🐶 Recognise that needs change depending on the situation and what is helpful in one situation or moment may not be in the next.
🐴🐶 Safety is relative and not static illness, tiredness, sudden change to their physical or social environment and other factors can all decrease an individuals sense of safety.
🐴🐶 TAKE YOUR TIME AND OBSERVE
🐴🐶 SLOW DOWN!! Rushing not only increases the stress and arousal level of the animal but of ourselves as well. If we rush we can make mistakes and miss indicators of stress.
Safety for everyone animal or human is a huge passion of mine as a person who has spent and sometimes still spends a significant amount of time feeling unsafe. Let's make helping animals and each other feel safe a priority.
References
Adams, M. (2018). Towards a critical psychology of human–animal relations. Social and personality psychology compass, 12(4), e12375.
Burattini, B., Fenner, K., Anzulewicz, A., Romness, N., McKenzie, J., Wilson, B., & McGreevy, P. (2020). Age-related changes in the behaviour of domestic horses as reported by owners. Animals, 10(12), 2321.
Corridan, C. L., Dawson, S. E., & Mullan, S. (2024). Potential Benefits of a ‘Trauma-Informed Care’Approach to Improve the Assessment and Management of Dogs Presented with Anxiety Disorders. Animals, 14(3), 459.
Bradshaw, G. A., & Schore, A. N. (2007). How elephants are opening doors: developmental neuroethology, attachment and social context. Ethology, 113(5), 426-436.
Hall, C., Randle, H., Pearson, G., Preshaw, L., & Waran, N. (2018). Assessing equine emotional state. Applied animal behaviour science, 205, 183-1
Luke, K. L., McAdie, T., Smith, B. P., & Warren-Smith, A. K. (2022). New insights into ridden horse behaviour, horse welfare and horse-related safety. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 246, 105539.
Lundberg, P., Hartmann, E., & Roth, L. S. (2020). Does training style affect the human-horse relationship? Asking the horse in a separation–reunion experiment with the owner and a stranger. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 233, 105144.
McMillan, F. D. (2017). Behavioral and psychological outcomes for dogs sold as puppies through pet stores and/or born in commercial breeding establishments: Current knowledge and putative causes. Journal of veterinary behavior, 19, 14-26.
Tucci, J., & Mitchell, J. (2019). Therapeutic services for traumatised children and young people–healing in the everyday experience of relationships. In Humanising Mental Health Care in Australia (pp. 319-330). Routledge.
🐴🐶Supporting horses and dogs who are fearful, overwhelmed, traumatised or who struggle to cope in the human world. Helping you to help them. Full APBC member & ABTC registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist 📍South East WhatsApp 07763317464
©️Jessie Sams Animal Behaviour and Trauma Recovery Service
