The Driven Dog

14/12/2025

Meet Rupert, this guy's deserves his own post.

Current board + train.

Hes certainly not for the faint hearted.

These kind of dogs are often miss diagnosed.

High intensity doesn’t always mean dysregulation. Sometimes it means the dog is exactly where it wants to be.

This Fox Terrier isn’t stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed. He’s doing what feels good, makes sense, and aligns perfectly with his genetics. He doesn’t show classic recovery signals because his job was never designed to include hesitation or negotiation.

Terriers were bred to commit, persist, and repeat. That’s not emotional fragility or poor regulation. That’s genetic clarity.

When we mislabel reinforced behaviour as stress, we apply the wrong solutions and miss the opportunity to communicate clearly. Not every dog needs calming. Some need precision, purpose, and criteria that actually mean something to them.

Behaviour doesn’t change through guesswork.
It changes through understanding.

13/12/2025

Raising two puppies from the same litter is one of those topics that carries a lot of noise online. You’ll hear the warnings about “sibling syndrome,” and yes, those issues can be very real-conflict, possession over resources, dogs becoming overly dependent on each other, and struggling to cope in the world without their littermate beside them. But what often gets missed in these conversations is the nuance. Many people bring home two puppies with the best intentions in the world. They want companionship for the dogs, they want them to grow up together, and sometimes they’re simply not advised properly by a breeder donwdone enough research about what raising littermates actually involves. None of that comes from a place of negligence. It comes from best intentions, more often than not.

And here’s the part that goes against the typical narrative, many sibling pairs do run absolutely fine together. In fact, a lot of the modern case studies and behavioural data show that the majority of sibling homes don’t develop the catastrophic issues we so often hear about. The difference tends to sit in the structure, clarity, and human involvement that happens from day one, not in the fact that the puppies were born on the same day.

I’m living this right now. I’ve just brought home my new puppy, 'Voss' and her sister is staying with us temporarily until my friend takes her after Christmas. Two high-drive working-line pups in the same home is something you’d expect to create chaos, but the process has been surprisingly smooth, simply because the foundation is intentional. I don’t micromanage every second of their interactions, they’re allowed to communicate, to negotiate space, to practise their social repertoire in a natural way. But at the same time, I make sure they don’t spend their whole world orbiting each other. They spend individual time with me, they train separately, they have separate experiences, and they build their own confidence without relying on their sibling to do all the emotional heavy lifting.

That balance, allowing communication while still creating independent relationships with the humans in the home is often what gets missed when people talk about

04/12/2025

Ever find yourself thinking why your dog consistently repeats certain behaviours?

Maybe it looks like excitement, maybe it has become a habit or maybe it feels a bit stubborn at times. But a huge part of why this happens comes down to what is going on inside their body. Their biology is constantly shaping how they respond, what they find rewarding and what they automatically repeat.

Dogs repeat behaviours because their biology is telling them to.
And there are three key systems that sit at the centre of this:

Dopamine which creates anticipation and motivation
Cortisol which drives stress responses and survival instincts
Prediction error which builds patterns and habits based on what “works” for the dog

When these systems are understood, your dog’s behaviour becomes clearer, more predictable and much easier to influence. Behaviour doesn’t change by chance.

It changes when the brain begins to process information differently, form new associations and create new pathways that support the behaviour you are teaching.

02/12/2025

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗴

If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know this change has been a long time coming and it reflects not just my business, but who I am as a trainer today.

When I first started out, nearly a decade ago. I genuinely thought I’d be a purely reward-based trainer. That was the lens I viewed dog training through at the time. It made sense to me then, and it was all I really knew. But as I grew, worked with more dogs, learned from different mentors, and stepped deeper into the complex behaviour, working-line breeds, drive work, and dog sport, everything began to shift. I realised there was more to behaviour, more to communication, and more to fulfilment than simply ignoring the “bad,” reinforcing the “good,” and managing everything tightly.

And the moment I started questioning things asking how to get a dog from A to B, how to create genuine clarity, how to support genetics instead of fighting them, that’s when the pushback hit. Not in the beginning, but later on, when I became curious and open to learning beyond one ideology.

Being in that vulnerable stage of learning and then targeted by the very people promoting “positivity” was an eye-opener. It cemented something for me: I wasn’t going to change my name to appease anyone. I kept Positive Paws deliberately, not to claim “purely positive” methods, but because I genuinely believe positivity has its place in all good training. A positive outlook, a positive relationship, positive experiences… those things matter alongside structure, consequences, drive fulfilment, and everything else.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗴 is simply where I am now. It feels aligned with my craft, my values, and the dogs and owners I’m passionate about working with. It represents my evolution, not away from positivity, but into a more complete, grounded, balanced understanding of what dogs actually need.

Thank you to everyone who’s been part of this journey with me, trusted me, grown with me, and challenged me. I’m excited for this next chapter, and everything that comes with it.

For those concerned, everything, including the logo will stays the same, just the name change.

28/11/2025

STATE SHAPING vs SKILL TEACHING

There’s a layer in dog training most people skip, not intentionally, but because they’ve never been taught it.

Everyone looks at the skill.

Heel. Sit. Recall. Stay.

But the real story is the state the dog is in.

A dog can absolutely “know” something, yet be unable to access it when their nervous system is sitting in the wrong place.

Over-aroused, stressed, flat, frantic, conflicted… those states shut down clarity.

When we shape state, we teach the dog how to:

• regulate themselves

• stabilise before acting

• transition cleanly through arousal

• find neutral again

• work with the right intensity

• respond under pressure

Once the state is right, the behaviour becomes clean, consistent, and fair.

This is the part owners rarely get shown.

And it’s the part that changes everything.

24/11/2025

❤️❤️❤️

Davina at Positive Paws:- this lady is absolutely amazing — a true dog whisperer, animal psychology and even more so, a human trainer! I quickly learned that when the human is trained… oh my Lordy, the results speak for themselves. With the right tools and guidance, the pup isn’t hard to train at all.
Positive Paws gave our family the confidence, clarity, and a whole new understanding of our pup. The transformation has been incredible. Highly recommend if you have a pup or older dog how a few sessions with Davina can speed up and change behaviours. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

21/11/2025

Stardards we must raise!

Every industry has its quirks, but when it comes to dogs and owners, those “quirks” can have real consequences. These are things I see far too often and they genuinely impact fairness, progress, and results.

We owe our clients honesty.
We owe the dogs clarity.
And we owe the industry integrity.

18/11/2025

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲.

This interaction is not balanced social play, it’s a polite but tense negotiation between an older dog (Albie) and an entire male who is trying to test social boundaries (Max).

Albie repeatedly communicates “I’m not fully comfortable, give me space,” and Max repeatedly tests those limits, attempts to come over the top, and escalation into mounting.

Left to their own devices, this could have tipped into Albie correcting Max with intensity.

Albie (Red Boxer) Stiffening & Stillness

Every time Max approaches too directly, Albie stiffens, freezes for a moment, or holds himself tall. This is not play, it’s a warning signal.

•Head turns / looking away

•He attempts conflict-avoidant signals to de-escalate, small head turns, glancing away, or stepping out of the pressure.

• Weight shifts backwards rather than forwards

• He’s not actually engaging; he is bracing and tolerating, not inviting.

•Muzzle tension

•His mouth becomes tighter the closer Max gets. A closed, tight mouth = discomfort.

•Albie displays those little “don’t” behaviours, small posture changes, slight lifts of lip, quick stillness, signalling Max to back off. These are warnings, not invitations.

What It Means -Albie is saying

“I’m coping, but I don’t trust this energy. Keep your distance.”
He’s older, more experienced.
He is not comfortable with Max’s frontal pressure or attempts to take control.

Max (Brindle, Entire Male)

•Posturing / Upright frame
Max moves with vertical pressure and confidence, typical of adolescent or entire males testing hierarchy.

•Neck-over-back behaviour
Placing his head or neck across Albie’s shoulders is a control behaviour. This is often a precursor to either mounting or a challenge.

•Moving directly into Albie without curve
Instead of polite, curved approaches, Max advances in straight lines, signalling more “social testing” than play.

•Attempts to mount / come over the top
Mounting isn’t sexual here, it is:“I want control, and I’m testing whether you’ll allow it.”

Pushed arousal
His energy tries to climb past where Albie is comfortable, meaning he’s not reading Albie’s cut-off signals well.

What It Means

Max is saying:

“I want to see where the line is. Are you going to let me be over the top of you?”

And he’s missing (or ignoring) Albie’s early warnings.

Interaction Breakdown

•Albie shows early distancing signals

• He tries subtle avoidance first (head turns, stepping away), but Max continues pushing forward.

• Max escalates into neck-draping and attempts to mount

• This is the exact moment where both dogs stiffened a major red-flag behaviour unless both are socially fluent.

• Albie stiffens sharply

• When Max’s neck comes over his shoulders, Albie’s entire body tightens.

This is “I do NOT consent to this.”

With a different dog in Albie’s age or threshold, this could have triggered a over-the-top correction.

Louise and I interrupt both dogs.

Because left unchecked:

Albie would likely have escalated into a higher-level correction

Max would likely have kept pushing, due to being entire and immature in his social reading

Why This Isn’t Play

Signs it’s not play

Stiffness> softness

Approaches in straight lines

Neck draping

Mount attempts

Lack of mutual role reversal

One dog tolerating, not engaging

Discomfort signals from Albie going unacknowledged

13/11/2025

When dogs react quickly or “without thinking,” it’s not a behavioural choice, it’s an instinctual survival response. In moments of stress, pressure, or uncertainty, the thinking brain switches off and the instinctive brain steps forward. This happens automatically, long before conscious thought kicks in.

Dogs move through three instinctual responses, freeze, flight, and fight. These aren’t learned behaviours; they’re hardwired into the nervous system. Over time, if a dog rehearses them repeatedly, they can become patterned or reinforced, making the reactions feel even more automatic.

So if your dog is dropping into these behaviours really quickly, we need to understand why their system is flipping into instinct so fast. And on the other side of the coin, we want to make sure they’re not practising that state over and over again, because the more they tip over, the easier it becomes.

The goal is gaining clarity around the “why” from then you can map out how to move forward.