I personally wish that fireworks were restricted to well-publicised, licensed communal events, on one particular designated day only, not available for the general public to purchase and with private fireworks made illegal. I know I am a killjoy, but it ..read more

And some don’t. Why is that? If every time I coughed I ran to the front door. If I opened it quickly and spoke in an animated voice to whoever was there. Would my dog not react each time I ..read more

How do our dogs communicate this with us? I asked this question to members of my Facebook group and had 72 replies ..read more

My Working Cocker Spaniel, Pickle, used to be as the breed name suggests – cocky! Pickle was confident and lively. Heralded by sound A highly alert dog, he was ready to react immediately to things happening around him. He loved action of any kind. On thinking about it now, a sound of some sort would have given an early warning. Louder things like a car door slamming before someone comes to the door. Like hearing a crash before seeing an upside-down dish on the floor. Like someone walking down the stairs before entering the room. Pickle’s super-hearing for at least 12 of his 14 years also made ..read more

You may say your dog is a ‘member of the family’. But do you do with your dog what what do with your kids? When you come home, do you welcome your teenagers with ecstasy, kissing them and fussing them while they jump all over you so that the whole thing becomes almost unbearable with excitement? When you eat your meals, do you have your children jumping on you, letting them help themselves from your plate? If your kids alert you to something scary, do you tell them to shut up? Do your kids jump about and scream at you until you take them out for a walk? Do your children drag you down the road ..read more

Which should it be? Giving our dogs autonomy and choice, or leadership? Eleven years ago I started to write up some of my case stories (starting at number 815). Looking back I see little mention of the word ‘choice’. The word I used was ‘Leadership’. Going through the stories of eleven years ago, find myself cringing at some of the language I used to use. I never realised I had changed so much in my approach over these years. ‘Leadership’ In nearly every story I go on about ‘Leadership’. I believed that being a good ‘Leader’ to our dogs underpinned everything else. A Leader, by making all the ..read more

(June 2016). I’m just back from the IMDT Conference. Some food for thought indeed, particularly (for me) with regard to what dogs naturally would choose to do if no pressure. So, the Fifteen-Minute Rucksack Walk (or Backpack Walk). No, it’s not some sort of dance! Steve Mann recently went to Cuzco in Peru and observed the many dogs wandering freely round the streets. They have homes but are turned out during the day. His two observations that stick in my mind are ‘Dogs don’t run in Peru’ and that the dogs actively seek out people just to be near them. Steve gave us his Ruc ..read more

My Pickle, now 13, has gone completely deaf over the past few months. He is still very active and adventurous. For Pickle to have off-lead freedom, I need to be able to get his attention. Checking in with me regularly isn’t enough. That’s not ‘recall’. All I want him to do is look at me. I needed to get his attention remotely – to give him a little nudge. He would then respond to my visual ‘come’ signal straight away. The government is to ban electric collars in England from February of next year. At last! They have been banned in Wales since 2010. This is because they are used as a warning or ..read more

A client of mine has a dog with an undescended testicle. She has been looking into the possible association with some of Jasper’s behaviour. Interesting. What is cryptorchidism? To quote Wagwalking.com, ‘cryptorchidism is the failure of one or both testicles to drop into the scrotal sac in male dogs. The testicle can be retained in the abdomen or anywhere along the path to the scrotum pouch’.  It’s hereditary and most common in pure-bred dogs. Research suggests dogs with cryptorchidism may have other congenital problems as well. If the ‘lost ball’ isn’t found and removed, torsion can deve ..read more

Does your dog’s barking drive you mad? Barking is one of the most annoying things our dog does, isn’t it. It can be so hard to stop. And this is the point. When our dog barks we try to stop the barking rather than change the cause of it. There is a huge market in devices to stop barking by making it uncomfortable for the dog. This by either an electric shock or an uncomfortable sound, vibration or smell. In America and maybe other countries, horrendous surgical de-barking is still legal. Like when a baby cries, barking has an urgency about it. Barking annoys the neighbours. Most dogs will alar ..read more