I am prompted to talk, a little, about how we deal with dogs who have experienced some traumatic event. There is an increasing trend to ‘help’ dogs who are maybe fearful or ‘reactive’ (a much-overused term in my opinion) to keep them away from situations that cause them problems. There are many people that only exercise their dogs in private fields, away from other dogs.

My dogs’ reactive – it’s a thing… I have touched on ‘reactive dogs in the past. I am prompted to touch on the subject again. Increasingly, people are asking on social media for places were they can exercise their dogs away from other dogs. The reason usually given is that […]

Tell tail signs… This is a subject that I have touched upon before. It is, however, worth looking at again. I witnessed a situation, today, escalate rapidly into a multi-dog melee. I stopped to chat with a lady with her two dogs. We saw another couple approaching with their young […]

A quiet approach… My better half Sue, First in the Q, works with highly stressed people. We often discuss elements of our work. There are, often, striking similarities in how we approach humans and dogs, in my case. Sue holds an MSc in Mindfulness and is always seeking to develop […]

ANYONE can call themselves a canine behaviourist. This seems to be a growing trend with dog trainers (a different discipline) to also promote themselves as a canine behaviourist.  To clarify, I am educated in canine behaviour to level 5 – a 2-year course of study resulting in a fully qualified canine behaviourist. A level 3, for example, studies some aspects of canine behaviour for, usually, around 6 months – this DOES NOT qualify them as a canine behaviourist.