01/12/2026
Behavioral Diversity Does Not Appear Out of Thin Air
Behavioral diversity is not something dogs inherently “have” or “lack.”
It emerges as dogs develop when they have access to the conditions that promote the expression of natural behavior.
In animal welfare science, these conditions are often described as affordances. An affordance is a feature of an environment, social context, or situation that allows a specific behavior to occur.
If a dog never sniffs, it may not be because they do not want to.
If a dog never wrestles, it may not be because they are not social.
If a dog never explores, it may not be because they are uninterested in doing so.
It may be because the world around them does not afford those behaviors.
This is why observing a dog’s range of natural behavior is only the first step. The next step is asking what might be enabling or limiting those behaviors across their learning history, environment, genetics, and internal state.
Behavioral diversity gives us insight into welfare.
The provisions and affordances we create across the Five Domains show us how to make a dog’s best welfare possible.
In the next posts, we will explore how small, thoughtful shifts in conditions can create space for more of the behaviors dogs are already motivated to express, and need to experience for good welfare.
Flip the script with Total Welfare - It’s about changing the environment, not the dog.
