The Wag Club NL

24/07/2024

"There may be a number of reasons why dogs display behaviours that have in the past been put down to an attempt to assert dominance over other dogs and humans. Fear, pain, illness or resource guarding (often from having items taken away from them in an attempt to prove that mythical ‘alpha’ status) can result in aggressive displays. It is perhaps most often due to a misunderstanding, of not understanding the causes of canine behaviour, of not understanding canine body language, and of not understanding that our dogs really are not trying to be the bosses of us."

Read the full article here: https://www.goodguardianship.com/post/why-your-dog-is-not-trying-to-dominate-you

23/07/2024

BEAUTIFUL TYSON LOOKING FOR A LOVING HOME 🦋🙏🏻🏠

*** very important and urgent - if you know someone who is looking for a cuddly cow-bear boy, please let me know ***

Hello, my name is Tyson. I’m a super sweet good boy, I love everyone including kids, but my life hasn’t been easy lately. I find myself chained up in the same spot every day, rain or shine, with sometimes no food for days, other days kind neighbors fill my aching belly. My spirit is weary, and I long for the touch of a caring hand. If someone even speaks to me I could jump out of my fur with happiness and can't stop wagging my tail. I am very cuddly.

I remember a time when I was cuddled and played with, but since I am not a puppy anymore, the family I live with has lost interest in me. Now I spend my days and nights alone, watching the world go by from the end of my chain. They are about to move to a new house, and they said they don’t need me anymore at all. PLEASE, I don’t want to be forgotten. I have so much love to give. I dream of a home where I can curl up by my family that will love me as much as I will love them.

If you have room in your heart and home for a dog like me, please consider giving me a chance. I may be neglected now, but with your love and care, my big cuddly bear heart can heal and I could become the happy, loyal friend you’ve been looking for.

Please help me find a new beginning. I am ready to give you all the love I have.

With hope and longing, Tyson

--- Please consider adopting Tyson ❤ if you have the place for him in your heart and Home, I can answer all your questions about him. His last vet check a few months ago came out super good, nothing wrong with him except the malnourishment. He is in Hungary but I can help arrange the transport and everything else that is needed for him to start his new life.

22/07/2024

Being aware of dog body language is a necessary skill for any guardian to enable you to understand what your dog is communicating.

Over the next few weeks we shall be posting some examples of dog body language using the same colour scheme as this ladder.

21/07/2024

Feeling hot? Did you know that we sell special cooling down scarves in our webshop

Of course with our Amsterdam design. Ideal to cool your dog down on these hot days

Order now super easy in our webshop www.waggle.amsterdam

Available in sizes M and L

Feeling hot? Wist je dat wij speciale cooling down halsdoeken verkopen in onze webshop

Natuurlijk met ons Amsterdams design. Ideaal om je hond af te koelen deze warme dagen

Bestel nu super makkelijk in onze webshop www.waggle.amsterdam

Verkrijgbaar in de maten M en L

21/07/2024

👇👇

20/07/2024

☀️It's going to be really hot today.☀️ Provide extra water and shelter, energy exertion at the hottest time of the day and keep an extra eye on animals!

Do you see an animal with a heat stress pattern? Call 112!

19/07/2024

‼️If you see a dog in heat distress in a hot car in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 please call 📞 144 Meldpunt 144 or the Politie Amsterdam Emergency hotline on 122

18/07/2024

👇👇👇

Too much too soon WILL cause issues.
It is a really common occurrence with newly adopted dogs.

Congratulations on your new dog.
I know you want to take them to the beach, the pet store and your café....however can I ask for a few minutes so I can explain just what your dog has gone through.....and why you need to take the next few weeks SLOW.
Your new dog has had it's whole world turned upside down.
They don't know you.
They don't know if they can trust you.
They don't know if they are with you for an hour or forever.
They may have been in various scary places.
Other houses, rescues, the pound and likely ALL of these in the past few days or weeks.
Your dog has stress hormones surging through their brain, they are STRESSED....they need to decompress, they need STABILITY in their environment and from you.
They need time with you and their new environment.
They need to know that the tree outside may rustle against the house and that's OK.
They need to know that those normal creaky noises in your house are OK and that at 3.45 the neighbours bang their door shut.
They need to know when it rains that tapping sound is OK.
They need to know that when the door opens they won't be moved somewhere else again.
They need to trust that YOU are safe even when you have had a bad day, you will still give them food and that they can close their eyes around you.
You know what your good intentions are with your new dog, your dog however has NO idea what is happening.....only that everything has changed and it is scary.
They do NOT need other new environments yet. Take it SLOW.
Dogs that have just been adopted need TIME. There is no need to rush out the next day and take them to all the places you want to go with them.....They need the opposite.
Let them decompress, let them inspect a new area of your house or yard every day or two. Walk them up and down outside your house for a few days (and only there), let them sniff, and sniff some more. Let them p*e freely.....it may be boring for you, but not for your dog. They need to know what is happening around them and they learn that through their nose, eyes and ears.
They NEED this.
They need to learn to TRUST you.
The long walks can wait, the café will still be there in a few weeks and you can visit the pet shop alone until they are ready.
Your bond together is the MOST important thing to concentrate on right now.
You will never regret taking it slow and it can save your dog and yourself from making the very same mistakes that can lead to people rehoming in the first place.
All the very best with your new dog.

16/07/2024

15/07/2024

Making a dog face their fears won’t make things less scary 👇👇

"He needs to get over it!"

"Leave her, she'll get used to it."

We so often hear these words used when talking about dogs who are scared of something. That it's just something they have to get used to and, if we make them stay close to it for long enough, that they will realise there is no danger and learn to accept it.

There is a logic there - after all, this is how immersion therapy for phobias works with people. In a controlled setting the person is exposed to the source of their fear while the therapist helps them to remain as calm and grounded as possible. And so, with exposure, they come to be less terrified, less likely to have that immediate instinctive reaction that screams at them 'Danger, RUN!'

Here's the thing - that doesn't work with dogs. They will not just get over it, or suddenly realise that they are safe. Rather than helping, forcing a dog to stay in proximity of something that scares them can make things a whole lot worse.

This technique of making the dog stay close to the source of their fear is called flooding. And yes, it can work well with people in certain cases and used carefully. So why not with dogs?

Humans have a much more developed pre-frontal cortex in the brain than dogs, and this is where reasoning takes place. Dogs simply are not equipped to carry out the same level of reasoning as humans. Much more of their brain proportionally is involved in processing instinctive responses including fear responses when they feel they are in danger.

This means they are not capable of the thought processes that exposure therapy relies on because they cannot reason that they are in a controlled environment and nothing bad is going to happen to them.

What flooding is far more likely to do in dogs is lead to them shutting down. They can’t escape from the thing that is causing their fear and, especially when they have tried to get away in the past but have been prevented, they give up and just wait for it to be over.

This is truly an awful situation to contemplate, a dog who feels all they can do is shut down and wait for the trigger of their terror to go away. Even worse, this can be mistaken for calm and good behaviour by people who are unaware of what flooding does.

A lot of what I do involves ‘reactive’ dogs who are reacting to something in their environment due to fear or anxiety. Some trainers, who either don’t know better or do not care about the emotional state of the dog, may put aversive equipment on the dog such as prong or shock collars. The dog learns that, if they react, it hurts and so they stop reacting.

This leads the ignorant or unscrupulous trainer to claim the dog is ‘fixed’ when in fact the dog knows they cannot escape and, if they try, it will hurt, and so they shut down and wait. It’s heartbreaking when you realise what is actually going on in these situations. There is also the massive damage that is done to the bond and trust between the dog and their people.

When a dog is scared of something they need distance from that thing and, if it’s something that we need them to be more comfortable with, a careful programme of helping them to feel better about that thing.

And, if your dog is scared, it’s absolutely fine to comfort them – you will not make their fear worse. What you will do is reinforce to your dog that, if they are scared and they come to you they will get comfort and help to feel safer in that moment.

How could that ever be a bad thing?

(Don't forget that we now have a subscriber hub where you can see exclusive content and get access to huge discounts on programmes from the GG website! Just hit the subscribe button at the top of the page and you can set up your subscription from there. 😊)

14/07/2024

Holiday time!

Is the holiday season also a party for your animal?

Is it going on a trip with you or is your animal staying at home?
In all cases, make sure you arrange everything in time!

🔎 Make sure your animal is chipped and properly registered
💉🛂 Does your animal have the necessary vaccinations and a correct passport?

❣️Arrange a reliable caregiver in time
🎓Give clear instructions
🍴Provide sufficient food etc.

❌ Dumping or abandoning an animal is punishable. Are you at your wits' end and do you know no other solution? ASK FOR HELP!

Do you want to report animal abuse or neglect? Then call 144 or check www.politie.nl/144

12/07/2024

❗️A reminder for everyone with a chipped animal: is your animal also (correctly) registered? With a correct registration Dierenambulance Amsterdam
can call the owner directly. This saves the owner & pet a lot of stress.

A dog was brought in that was walking near the A9.

We checked the chip, but she was not registered, so we took her in the ambulance.

It turned out to be Flapoor from owner Kluijver who had run away in panic after an accident with an electric wire from a meadow.

Tip for everyone with a chipped animal: is your animal also (correctly) registered? With a correct registration we can call the owner directly. Saves a lot of stress.

Great that owner and dog are together again!
____________________________________________________________
24/7 available for animals in (medical) need: 020-6262121. Help us help animals. Donate or become a volunteer: www.dierenambulance-amsterdam.nl

Er werd een hond binnengebracht die bij de A9 liep.

Wij controleerden de chip, maar ze was niet geregistreerd, dus mee op de ambulance.

Het bleek uiteindelijk Flapoor van baasje Kluijver te zijn die na een ongelukje met een stroomdraad van een weiland in paniek was weggelopen.

Tip voor iedereen met een gechipt dier: is jouw dier ook (juist) geregistreerd? Met een juiste registratie kunnen wij direct de baas bellen. Scheelt heel wat stress.

Fijn dat baas en hond weer samen zijn!
____________________________________________________________
24/7 bereikbaar voor dieren in (medische) nood: 020-6262121. Help ons dieren helpen. Doneer of word vrijwilliger: www.dierenambulance-amsterdam.nl

10/07/2024

Hondenbescherming are working hard to be able to do as much as possible for dogs in the Netherlands. Name recognition is very important in this. Although we have been around for 112 years, we notice that many people do not know us. Or they think we are part of the Animal Protection.

To reach a larger audience and find new donors, our new spot will be on TV in August. We are incredibly grateful that our ambassador Arthur Japin, together with his beloved dog Basso, wanted to work on it for free 🙏🧡

Become a donor at www.hondenbescherming.nl

08/07/2024

Beautiful Ally looking for a loving home 🐶🏠☀️

Ally.
Still no request for her, even though she is so, so lovely. She comes from garbage (literally), but she acts like a queen. Her posture, her way of interacting with us and with other animals is just royal.
She is 10 months old, around 15 kilos, loves humans, gets along fine with every animal she meets.
If you feel like fostering or adopting Ally, let us know. She is dewormed, vaccinated, healthy, ready to go home.

05/07/2024

1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣% this ⬇️

Connection is absolutely central to being the best people for our dogs we can be. Understanding and empathy help us to see what they need and how we can meet those needs in any situation, and when we have both of those things between us, we have connection.

That connection can make training so much easier. Because we understand each other much better and are truly listening to each other, we can move in harmony as we go through the world.

In potentially scary or tricky situations, having a strong connection means that our dogs will trust us to help them and keep them safe. They will feel more able to listen to us and do what we ask of them to navigate the sitaution with a minimum of stress and difficulty.

How then do we go about making that connection?

We respect their choices as much as possible (in a dangerous situation we may have to manage their choices more for safety, but should try to make sure choices are respected outside of these situations).

We make sure their needs are met.

We help them to feel safe and secure.

Most important of all, we listen to them.

The importance of learning about canine communication and body language is often mentioned, and with very good reason. It is the central pillar of understanding our dogs, and so forging that connection.

Make the central focus of life with our dogs about connection, honouring them as the individuals they are and ensuring we give them agency and choice. While we need to be able to have our dogs under control when in public places, this is very different to controlling their lives. We have control over so much of their lives in this very human world, and so it is important to give them control of their own lives as much as possible.

Connection, not control.

03/07/2024

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

THE GOOD / THE BAD AND WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

This hard to pronounce and complicated sounding word – (anth-ro-po-morph-ism), means assigning human qualities, characteristics, emotions, feelings or motivations to our dogs (a non-human entity).

Advancements in canine neuroscience have revealed remarkable similarities between human and canine brain function, particularly in areas related to emotional processing.
This has given us far more understanding of canine cognition and emotion.

Although this is a great thing, it’s so important not to take anthropomorphism too far by assuming that our dogs experience emotions in exactly the same way that we do.

Dogs experience a similar range of emotions that would be seen in a 2 to 2 ½ year old child but are currently not thought to feel more complex emotions like guilt, shame, remorse, spite, pride or contempt.

Here is a link to a graphic that shows where a dog’s emotions are thought to stop in relation to the age of a child - bit.ly/canineemotions

Here are some examples of taking anthropomorphism too far:

“My dog knows exactly what he’s done – look how guilty he looks! No, your dog is reacting to your body language, tone of voice or remembers your previous reaction – this is fear, he is trying to appease you, calm you down, diffuse the situation.

“My dog chewed the couch just to get back at me for not taking him for a walk “ - No, your dog was probably bored, frustrated, lonely, had separation distress and was looking for a way to self-sooth or entertain himself.

“My dog p*es inside just to spite me” – No, there could be a host of reasons, but spite is not one of them.

“My dog is just so stubborn” – No, find what is motivating, rewarding for your dog, are there too many distractions?

“Look at how proud my dog looks for winning the competition, graduating from a class, after being groomed etc” - No, your dog is reacting to your emotional state.

Instead of assuming that your dog is feeling “adult human emotions”, learn about body language and notice the context of the behaviour. This will provide a far more accurate idea of how dogs are really feeling.

Anthropomorphism is an essential tool in recognising a dog’s emotional state and allows us to have compassion, empathy, understanding and connection, but taking it too far is detrimental and undermines relationship.

02/07/2024

Loving is also letting go…

We have advised this hundreds of times on the phone. Loving and caring for your pet is also letting go in time. This advice came awfully close last week and two of us had to put our own pets to sleep. The sadness also comes with the realization that this choice is really very difficult. All the more reason to pay attention to it in this way and perhaps prevent suffering in other animals!

It is not always possible to say goodbye to your animal. Some animals die a natural death or are involved in an accident. In other cases, as an owner (or staff) you will sooner or later be faced with one of the most difficult decisions: Putting your beloved (pet) animal to sleep.

Another word for putting to sleep is euthanasia. Euthanasia is the promotion of a gentle and painless death of an animal by means of an injection. In this way, the animal is spared further suffering. Your veterinarian will guide your animal through this.

Euthanasia is often chosen when an animal can no longer lead a ‘dignified existence’. For example:
o Your animal no longer moves for water, food or social contact.
o He/she shows abnormal behavior.
o The animal has severe and long-term pain that cannot be adequately treated.

Keep in mind that it takes a long time before your animal shows these kinds of signals! In nature, the weaker animals are the first to be rejected or fall prey to a predator.

There is a fine line between old age ailments and neglect. It is a criminal offense to withhold medical care from your animal. So always contact your vet to assess whether medication or treatment is necessary.

Do you notice that someone is withholding medical care from their animal, or that an animal is suffering unnecessarily? Talk to the owner. Does this not yield any results? Then contact 144 to report it.

Houden van is ook loslaten…

We hebben het al honderden keren aan de telefoon geadviseerd. Houden van en zorgen voor je huisdier is ook op tijd loslaten. De afgelopen week kwam dit advies akelig dichtbij en moesten twee van ons het eigen huisdier in laten slapen. Het verdriet komt ook samen met het besef dat deze keuze echt heel zwaar valt. Reden te meer om er via deze weg aandacht aan te schenken en wellicht leed bij andere dieren te voorkomen!

Het is niet altijd mogelijk om afscheid van je dier te nemen. Sommige dieren sterven een natuurlijke dood of raken betrokken bij een ongeval. In andere gevallen kom je als eigenaar (of personeel) vroeg of laat voor een van de moeilijkste beslissingen te staan: Het inslapen van je geliefde (huis)dier.

Een ander woord voor inslapen is euthanasie. Euthanasie is het bevorderen van een zachte en pijnloze dood van een dier door middel van een injectie. Zo blijft het dier verder lijden bespaard. Je dierenarts begeleidt je dier hierbij.

Er wordt vaak gekozen voor euthanasie als een dier geen ‘dierwaardig bestaan’ meer kan leiden.
Bijvoorbeeld:
o Je dier komt niet meer in beweging voor water, eten of sociaal contact.
o Hij/zij toont afwijkend gedrag.
o Het dier heeft ernstige en langdurige pijn wat onvoldoende bestreden kan worden.

Houd er rekening mee dat er een lange tijd aan vooraf gaat voordat je dier dit soort signalen laat zien! In de natuur worden de zwakkere dieren het eerst verstoten of vallen ten prooi aan een roofdier.

Er ligt een dunne scheidslijn tussen ouderdomskwalen en verwaarlozing. Het is strafbaar om je dier medische zorg te onthouden. Neem dus altijd contact op met je dierenarts om te laten beoordelen of er medicatie of behandeling nodig is.

Merk je dat iemand zijn dier medische zorg onthoudt, of dat een dier onnodig aan het lijden is? Ga het gesprek eens aan met de eigenaar. Levert dit niets op? Neem dan contact op met 144 om een melding te maken.

01/07/2024

New pet and hobby animal list!

As of today, you may only keep mammals that are on the pet and hobby animal list. If you have a mammal that is not on the list after today (July 1, 2024), you must be able to prove that you already had the animal before that time. You can do this, for example, with a proof of purchase, animal passport or invoice from the vet. It must be clear that it is your animal.

The animal may then stay with you until it dies. You may of course not dump the animal in nature and as of today you may no longer breed with it.

Do you want to know which animals are on the list or do you want more information? Then look at the RVO website

Are you concerned about the welfare of an animal? Do not hesitate and contact us. Consultation is always allowed!
📞 #144 or 💻 www.politie.nl/144

Nieuwe huis- en hobbydierenlijst!

Vanaf vandaag mag je alleen zoogdieren houden die op de huis- en hobbydierenlijst staan. Heb je na vandaag (1 juli 2024) een zoogdier dat niet op de lijst staat dan moet je kunnen bewijzen dat je het dier voor die tijd al had. Dit kan je bijvoorbeeld doen met een aankoopbewijs, dierenpaspoort of rekening van de dierenarts. Het moet duidelijk zijn dat het om jouw dier gaat.
Het dier mag dan bij je blijven tot het dood gaat. Het dier mag je uiteraard niet dumpen in de natuur en vanaf vandaag mag je er ook niet meer mee fokken.

Wil je weten welke dieren er op de lijst staan of wil je meer informatie? Kijk dan op de website van de RVO

Maak jij je zorgen om het welzijn van een dier? Twijfel niet en neem contact met ons op. Overleggen mag ook altijd!
📞 #144 of 💻 www.politie.nl/144

28/06/2024

Good news in the fight against fraudulent practices and puppy farming! 😃 The Member States of the European Union have reached a provisional agreement on minimum standards for the breeding and trade of dogs and cats 🐕🐈

𝗗𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗽 𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗷𝘁𝗷𝗲:
🔸 Sufficient clean and fresh water
🔸 Sufficient food
🔸 Sufficient animal caretakers available
🔸 Suitable housing conditions
🔸 From 12 weeks: daily walks or daily access to an outdoor area
🔸 Limit on the number of litters per mother animal
🔸 Minimum and maximum age for the mother animal
🔸 Female dogs and female cats may no longer be used for breeding after 2 caesarean sections.
🔸 From 5 breeding female dogs/cats or 5 litters per year, you must have official recognition.
🔸 Certain breeding practices (such as inbreeding and crossing with a wild species) are prohibited.
🔸 Dogs and cats with extreme characteristics must be excluded from breeding.
🔸 Dogs and cats with mutilations, for example, may not participate in competitions or shows.
🔸 Painful mutilations (such as ear clipping, tail docking or declawing) are prohibited, unless for veterinary reasons.
🔸 Anyone who wants to bring a dog or cat onto the European market must ensure that the animal is chipped and therefore traceable, and registered in a national database.
🔸 All databases must be accessible online and share information with each other. 🔸 Animal sellers must make buyers aware of what ownership entails.
🔸 Any import from outside the EU is subject to the same or equivalent standards.

Please note: these are minimum standards. Member States may always maintain or introduce stricter rules on top of these new European standards.

Now that the provisional agreement has been concluded, the package can go to the European Parliament.

We are of course very happy with it, but we do wonder how everything will be monitored.

Goed nieuws in de strijd tegen malafide praktijken en broodfok! 😃 De lidstaten van de Europese Unie hebben een voorlopig akkoord gesloten over minimumnormen voor het fokken en verhandelen van honden en katten 🐕🐈

𝗗𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗽 𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗷𝘁𝗷𝗲:
🔸 Voldoende schoon en vers water
🔸 Voldoende voedsel
🔸 Voldoende dierenverzorgers ter beschikking
🔸 Geschikte huisvestingsomstandigheden
🔸 Vanaf 12 weken: dagelijks uitlaten of dagelijks toegang tot een buitenruimte
🔸 Limiet op het aantal nestjes per moederdier
🔸 Minimum- en maximumleeftijd voor het moederdier
🔸 Teefjes en poezen mogen na 2 keizersneden niet meer ingezet worden voor de fok.
🔸 Vanaf 5 fokteven/-poezen of 5 nestjes per jaar moet je een officiële erkenning hebben.
🔸 Bepaalde fokpraktijken (zoals inteelt en het kruisen met een wilde soort) zijn verboden.
🔸 Honden en katten met extreme eigenschappen moeten uitgesloten worden van de fok.
🔸 Honden en katten met bv. verminkingen mogen niet meedoen aan wedstrijden of shows.
🔸 Pijnlijke verminkingen (zoals het knippen van oren, het couperen van staarten of het verwijderen van klauwen) zijn verboden, tenzij uit diergeneeskundige noodzaak.
🔸 Iedereen die een hond of kat op de Europese markt wil brengen, moet ervoor zorgen dat het dier gechipt en dus traceerbaar is, en geregistreerd in een nationale database.
🔸 Alle databases moeten online toegankelijk zijn en onderling informatie delen.
🔸 Verkopers van dieren moeten de kopers bewust maken over wat eigenaarschap inhoudt.
🔸 Elke import van buiten de EU is onderworpen aan dezelfde of gelijkwaardige normen.

Let wel: het gaat hierbij om minimumnormen. Lidstaten mogen altijd strengere regels handhaven of invoeren boven op deze nieuwe Europese standaarden.

Nu het voorlopig akkoord gesloten is, kan het pakket naar het Europ*es parlement.

Wij zijn er natuurlijk heel blij mee, maar vragen ons wel af hoe alles gecontroleerd zal worden.

28/06/2024

I often find it interesting to listen to people with their dogs and the cues that they use to ask their dogs to do something and what I will often hear is that they have several different ways of saying the same thing.

“Come!”
“Come here.”
“Here!”
“Rex, come.”
“Here, Rex!”
“Come here, Rex!”
“Get back here!”

This list comes from listening to one person with their dog (not actually named Rex!) trying to recall their dog in a field. There were more and slightly more colourful ones as the situation progressed, and Rex was loping around the field happily. I did actually after helping them to corral their dog (I had no dog with me at the time) ask the why they used so many different terms to recall their dog.

“It’s all the same thing,” they replied.

To our human brains, maybe, but not to dogs. To think that all of these words and word combinations are the same requires understanding the words themselves to extrapolate the meaning. To us they all mean the same thing, but it does not work in the same way for dogs.

Dogs learn cues by making associations. They associate a sound with a result or an action. Say you’ve trained your dog to recall using food rewards. They understand that the cue word you have chosen means they come to you, and they then get something nice. Do they actually understand the word? No, but they know if they do this thing they get good stuff.

Does this mean they can’t learn the other words mentioned above? Well, no… but it confuses the issue, especially as we may not put in as much practice with the other words than we did with the initial cue.

Dogs don’t speak English/French/Spanish/Portuguese or any other human language. We are communicating with them in a language that they don’t understand. One of the best ways we can help to make life simple for them is to be as consistent as possible in the language we use with them, especially when it comes to the important stuff like recall.

Consistent results come from clear consistent cues.

(It is also important to make sure we are not always recalling dogs away from interesting things - there's nothing more likely to ruin a recall than it always coming when they have found an interesting sniff or something similar! If it's safe for them to explore and not causing issues for any others there, let them take some time to just do dog things. 🐶)

26/06/2024

🙌🐶⬇️

There seems to be a kind of societal expectation around dogs that they are available for humans to interact with and make a fuss of. Often this sees people making a beeline for dogs, hands stretched out and looking directly at them. This is at least a little understandable – we all love dogs, after all, and just want to say ‘Hi!’

We’ll sometimes see warnings that the humans with the dog should be asked if it’s ok to say hello, and to respect the answer given (if a dog is wearing a coat or harness showing that they are an assistance dog then we shouldn’t even be asking as they need to be allowed to focus on their job as they are working).

The truth is that we also need to ask someone else if it’s ok to say hi and interact – the dogs themselves.

Think of it this way: we don’t want to interact with every person we see all the time.

We might be shy of people we don’t know.

We might just want to carry on with what we’re doing.

We might be a bit too warm for comfort (as is the case in several places right now).

We might be nervous.

We might be not feeling quite right and just want to be left alone.

Every single one of those things can be true for dogs as well. And, while there are lots of dogs that welcome fuss and attention when out and about, there are also those who just want to be able to do their own thing without interruption.

And, perhaps the most important thing to remember, is that our dogs are sentient creatures with thoughts, feelings, and preferences. We have an ethical duty to make sure that we and others around us respect those things and, even if the human end of the lead says it’s fine to say hi, respect what the dog shows us they would prefer.