Despite how important we know sleep is, we still don’t know very much about it in dogs. One of the reasons for this is that sleep can be very hard and expensive to study properly. If only it was as simple watching your dog chasing rabbits in their sleep! There are many challenges of studying…
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There are many foundational pillars that contribute to behaviour. Diet is one factor that many of us have picked up on. These days, we are much more conscious about what we feed our dogs (and ourselves). We are very conscious of the fact that what our dogs eat affects their health and their behaviour. In…
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The risks of sensitisation are important ones to consider with our dogs. Although sensitisation is a temporary process, it can create a cascade that follows. When we think of sensitisation, it’s often easier to think of its opposite process: habituation. Habituation simply means getting used to things in the world that were previously noteworthy. For…
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In the last ten years, it’s become more important to view anxiety and fear as different phenomena. In the past, they were seen as ‘shades’ of each other. They meant almost the same thing. In fact, we could think of them as synonyms for each other. Anxiety might have simply been a less dramatic version…
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Sensitisation can be a risk for many dogs. This is particularly true when our dogs are aroused or when they are in heightened states of emotion. It is also more likely when triggers are particularly intense. It’s also true when the triggers are of significance to the dog. It’s much easier for our dogs to…
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This week, I had three conversations with people whose dogs are sensitive towards flying insects. This is not so unexpected, even though it is rare. My dog Lidy is sensitive to wasps, having been stung by a wasp some years ago. Unlike wasps, flies don’t do much harm if you eat them. It’s only the…
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Life would be a whole lot easier for our sensitive and responsive dogs if they could just get used to the world around them. If they could pay less mind to the other dogs in the world… Or if they could simply adjust to the people they see on walks… If the tiniest little noise…
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There are many things that contribute to why our dogs may struggle on walks. If you’ve ever noticed that some days are harder than others, it’s likely your dog has sensitised to the world. Thankfully, sensitisation is a temporary process. Unfortunately, once we sensitise to one trigger, it makes all the more easy for us…
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Many of us know that we do not want our dogs to get more sensitive to the things in life. It doesn’t matter if those are things that that excite them or scare them. We don’t want them to become more sensitive to things they can chase for example. None of us wants to try…
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One of the our main aims for dogs who struggle in life is to help them get used to things. It doesn’t matter if they’re fizzy and frantic every time they see a duck or they’re anxious every time they see another dog. Getting used to things works. Few of us ask why our dogs…
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