Behaviour Tips Archives

November 14, 2025

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Fight, Flight, Freeze & Fiddle: Inside Your Dog’s Survival Brain

Animals, including our companion dogs have evolved a handful of powerful survival strategies. When faced with threat, uncertainty, or internal conflict, they often shift into a “4-F” mode: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fiddle (also known as displacement behaviour). These responses aren’t just random quirks: they are deeply rooted in neurobiology. These states are deeply rooted in evolution and governed by fast, powerful neurobiological circuits designed to keep an organism alive, not cooperative. Understanding them helps explain why a dog in distress often CANNOT think, learn, or respond rationally and why displacement behaviour is more than a cute or annoying habit. When survival circuits activate, the thinking parts of the brain are essentially sidelined.

April 11, 2025

Unleashing Natural Instincts: The Power of the Flirt Pole in Dog Training

Published by Katey Aldred

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Unleashing Natural Instincts: The Power of the Flirt Pole in Dog Training

A flirt pole is essentially a giant cat teaser toy for dogs. It’s a long pole (usually made of PVC or lightweight plastic) with a rope or cord attached to one end. At the end of that cord is a lure, typically a tug toy or strip of fabric designed to simulate prey. You swing, drag, or flick the lure across the ground in unpredictable ways while your dog chases and pounces. You can add other types of lure to stimulate your dog if you have a flirt pole with the ability to detach and change them. It’s part exercise, part training tool, and fully engaging for most dogs, especially those with a high prey drive.

January 28, 2025

the difference between reactive and aggressive

Published by Katey Aldred

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Understanding the Difference Between Reactive and Aggressive Dogs

The terms "reactive" and "aggressive" describe distinct behavioural patterns in dogs, each requiring unique management strategies. Reactive dogs display heightened emotional responses to specific stimuli, such as other dogs, people, or noises. These responses, which often include barking, lunging, or growling, are typically driven by fear, frustration, or over-arousal, rather than a direct intent to harm. In contrast, aggressive dogs exhibit behaviours intended to protect themselves or their resources, such as biting or snapping, often motivated by fear, pain, or learned responses to perceived threats (for example) (Horwitz & Mills, 2009).

November 10, 2024

Published by Katey Aldred

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Preparing Your Dog for Holiday Guests: Tips for a Calm Christmas

The holiday season is a wonderful time to gather with family and friends, but for many dogs, the influx of guests and change in routine can be overwhelming. Ensuring a calm, safe environment for your dog during the festivities not only makes for a smoother gathering but also lets everyone, furry friends included, enjoy the holiday spirit. Here are some tips to help your dog feel relaxed and at ease around holiday guests this Christmas.

April 12, 2024

Published by Katey Aldred

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The Canine Connection: How Dogs Understand Human Body Language and Emotions

Dogs have long been regarded as man's best friend, cherished for their loyalty, companionship, and uncanny ability to understand us on a level that seems almost magical. From interpreting our body language to sensing our emotions, dogs possess an extraordinary capacity to connect with humans in ways that defy explanation. Let’s delve into the fascinating world of canine cognition, exploring how dogs perceive and respond to human body language and emotions.

October 14, 2023

Published by Katey Aldred

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Navigating the Challenges of Adolescent Dogs

Adolescence is a challenging time for humans, and it's no different for dogs. If you've ever raised a puppy, you know that the early stages are filled with cute moments, cuddles, and lots of training. However, as your puppy grows, they enter their teenage years, and just like human teenagers, they start to be challenging, exhibit new behaviours, and push your patience to the limit. Adolescent dogs are more likely to end up in rescue than any other age bracket. In this blog post, we'll explore the challenges that adolescent dogs can present and provide some tips on how to deal with them.

October 7, 2023

Published by Katey Aldred

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Dogs and Separation Anxiety

Dogs are known for their loyalty, affection, and unwavering companionship. However, this loyalty can sometimes result in separation anxiety when they are left alone. Separation anxiety is a common behavioural issue in dogs, characterised by distress and destructive behaviour when they are separated from their owners. This condition not only affects the dog's well-being but can also be challenging for the pet owner. Fortunately, there are various strategies and techniques that can help alleviate separation anxiety in dogs, promoting a happier and healthier relationship between pets and their human companions.

April 15, 2023

Published by Katey Aldred

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Barking at the door

Does your dog bark at the door? This is a very common issue for many dog loving households. Barking at the door means that a dog is trying to create distance between them (or their house) and whoever it is at the door. This is their first warning that they might escalate their behaviour further if the intruder does not back off. This might be triggered when hearing a car door close, footsteps outside, seeing someone approaching through a window, on hearing the letter box, doorbell or knocking.

February 16, 2023

Published by Katey Aldred

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Increase Your Dog’s Engagement

Engagement with your dog is one of the most useful tools you need for any aspect of the dog-owner relationship. It is the base for everything that follows, bond, trust and achieving those training goals. The training goals you have will vary hugely depending on your level of requirement from pet owner to training enthusiast, working dog owner or dog professional. Everyone needs engagement to get to where they need to be.

January 17, 2023

Published by Katey Aldred

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Dog Bites

We’ve all heard the news, right? 😬 Dog attacks and fatalities seem to be on the rise. Medical data looking at human mortality rates between 2001 - 2021 averaged a death rate of 3.3 dog-related deaths per year, which meant less than 0.6 deaths per 10 million population. Unfortunately, there have been no 'official stats' announced for the year 2022 but the media have reported 9 fatalities (this doesn't include non-fatal dog bites). This indicates that dog attacks rose significantly last year. Breaking news this week is that a dog walker has been mauled by the dogs that were being walked. Though we don't know all the details so we can't speculate, the outcome never less is devastating.

November 8, 2022

Published by Katey Aldred

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Allergies in Cats & Dogs

New pet owners must understand that caring for a pet comes with challenges. Sometimes your pet may become sick or ill; unlike humans, they cannot tell us what is wrong. Pets also sometimes suffer from allergies, which can stem from multiple sources. An allergy occurs when there is exposure to a foreign substance. A few different types of allergies can occur in cats and dogs. Some questions you might ask yourself if you’re concerned about allergies may be: What types of allergies do cats and dogs suffer from? Why do some pets have allergies while others don’t? How do I treat my dog or cat suffering from allergies? Here are the answers to some of those questions. It will help you be more equipped and understand what to expect and how to help combat allergies in your pet.

September 30, 2022

Published by Katey Aldred

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PICA in Dogs: How to identify and treat it

What Is PICA? PICA refers to when an animal starts consuming non-edible foods that bring no nutritional substance to them. This can be on a very large scale, from harmful consumption to less dangerous consumption. PICA has many forms, and one of the most common in dogs is called Coprophagy. This is when dogs engage in eating feces.

May 11, 2022

Published by Katey Aldred

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Adders & Dogs

DOGS MOST AT RISK Any curious dog but puppies or young dogs may be more at risk. Dogs with a strong hunting/scenting instinct and ability as they tend to be in the undergrowth more. At certain times of day Adders might be basking in the sun, for example, on a cool morning they may be out in the sun to warm up. Risk of a bite is also increased when Adders are first coming out of hibernation.

March 10, 2021

Published by Katey Aldred

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Prevent Separation Issues in Dogs

Your dog is probably relishing the extra time with you at the moment now you are at home, it probably goes both ways, I know my dogs are providing me with some sanity right now. However, looking into the future, when lock down is over our dogs are likely to suffer. You see, the more time you spend with your dog the stronger the bond becomes which is generally great! This closeness can be an issue for a dog once the owner needs to go out.

February 11, 2021

Published by Katey Aldred

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Dogs & Grass Seeds

Grass seeds or grass darts can find their way into your pet's coat, particularly the paws or ears, and get stuck! Often meaning a trip to the Vets! What does this have to do with handling? Well, the more used to being handled your puppy or dog is, the more likely you are to be able to avoid a painful experience with the grass seed!

January 30, 2021

Published by Katey Aldred

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Puppy Development

Many owners are under the belief that socialisation simply means exposing their new puppies to other puppies and dogs. This is an over simplification of a complex process which can lead to issues with temperament as an adult dog. There are many developmental phases for a puppy which start before they are even born. Every experience they encounter will shape the dog they turn into. Some behaviour issues are even influenced by the approach of the breeder.

August 10, 2020

Published by Katey Aldred

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Animal Intelligence

All species display intelligence, but humans tend to place themselves as superior over other species. One of the reasons for this is the way intelligence is tested and a lack of agreement between professionals as to what intelligence is. It is topic that has interested researchers for many, many years. Though there is a lack of agreement on the topic there are some common themes including; types, how many types there are, what they mean, how it is represented in the brain and the role of nature versus nurture.

August 7, 2020

Published by Katey Aldred

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Female Dogs First Season

Want to know more about your female dogs first season? The first season most commonly occurs between 6 – 23 months of age with most dogs having their first season by the age of 14-months. The time frame can vary between dog breeds with smaller breeds sometimes occurring at a younger age whilst large breeds occurring at a later age. How long does it last for and why do they act differently? Seasons last for approximately 3-weeks but can be shorter or up to 4-weeks. There are approximately 4-phases to a season with the first phase being the absence of the season or any hormones associated with it. However, towards the end of the first phase the body will begin to prepare itself for the season cycle.

June 25, 2020

Published by Katey Aldred

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Rescue Dog: Decompression

Bringing home a rescue dog means some decompression time, you can follow the 3-3-3 rule as a rough guide on how long this might take. This stands for 3-days, 3-weeks, 3-months, it might take 3-months (or longer) for your rescue to settle into their new environment and for you to fully understand their personality, issues and quirks. Enabling decompression will help the transition for your dog into the new environment. Click to read more.

June 25, 2020

Published by Katey Aldred

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Rescue Dogs: My Story

In 2005 I was asked to take on a 6-month Italian Spinone puppy. She had been rescued by some clients along with her mother into a home with 2-other dogs. The previous owner had no time for them, he had rescued the mother, had a litter from her, sold the rest of the litter but kept one. The litter were born and raised outside in the garden. The new owners realised there were issues as soon as they entered the house and couldn't bare to leave the puppy behind, they thought, they could deal with taking on 2-rescues at the same time.