"Other Nations"

Walking towards your dog, taking a curved route rather than a straight approach, is a nice thing you can do for him or her in your everyday life together.  Why would we do that? Dogs have a preference for non-direct approaches. Going straight up to another dog (i.e. direct route, body orientated straight-on, face to face) is generally not the way dogs go about things. Dogs who possess competent canine social skills, when going about their business, will communicate lack of intent towards those around them through the use of the direction they walk, the way they orientate their bodies relative to others, lack of direct eye contact etc. In addition, should socially competent dogs want to engage in a greeting, it will be a reciprocal arrangement involving curved/indirect approaches. If a dog is being aggressive or a dog wants to intimidate another dog that's when they are likely to use a direct approach. Alternatively, a dog may be over-excited and not have the social skills to put c...

 Dogs growl as a means of communication and it is important to realise that this can mean many things. It may mean another dog, or a person, is behaving in a way that it causing them stress or annoyance. Although they can’t speak the way we do, they have their own vocal language to communicate. One specific use of growling  This blog is going to look at just one specific use of growling - a dog growling when people they aren’t familiar with (or maybe people they aren’t particularly close to) move about the room, stand in a doorway, stand in the room talking etc. All of these scenarios could also happen outside in the garden, or anywhere really. The dog is showing their anxiety  Ok, so you’re sitting with your dog in the company of people the dog isn’t really used to. Someone gets up and starts to move about to do something. Not something to do with the dog, just some business of the person’s own.  Some nervous dogs can really struggle with this. A nervous do...

In the previous blog we looked at the pressure dogs can feel from the ways we show them affection. What we view as us showing our love for them can be downright unpleasant for dogs. Please check out the previous blog here: PettingDogs This time we are going to take this further and look at how we can check with our dogs if they want affection from us at any given time. This is known as 'consent testing' . “ Hold on, we have to get our dog's consent to pet them?!” Well, yes, if you want your dog to enjoy the petting it has to be when they feel like it. First of all, here are just some examples of when they may NOT feel like it: If your dog is engaging in some interesting activity of their own – sniffing about, watching someone through the window, playing with a toy, eating their food, etc. – Forget it! They won't want you petting them. If a dog is resting or sleeping– Leave them be. A word on the word 'Petting' When we are using the word 'petting...