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I think one of the most underutilised tools in changing an unwanted behaviour is play! So often the focus is only on improving an owner’s control over their dog and developing consistency. However what mustn’t be lost is the fun and quality of the pet-owner relationship, after all, that is why most of us choose to have a pet in the first place!

Dogs are one of the few species who will continue to play into adulthood, and it can be an invaluable bonding opportunity for dog and owner. Play engenders trust and positive emotions within the relationship, and this then has positive knock-on effects on training. If a dog trusts and enjoys spending time with its owner then they will be far more likely to want to follow direction from them.

So what game to play?! Above all be guided by your dog. Different dogs enjoy different games; some love chasing toys, retrieving toys, tug games, sniffing games or problem solving games. Variety is the spice of life so don’t play the same game every day, and keep animated. With tug games, contrary to popular belief, you as the owner don’t always have to “win” – let your dog have the toy sometimes and other times you get it (that said, seek professional advice before playing tug games with dogs that can appear possessive over items). Play is usually punctuated with pauses, and eye contact between dog and owner, and when playing it is the game that is important to the dog, rather than “ownership” of the toy.

When it comes to dogs playing with other dogs, again not all of them play in the same way. Some are more physical players with shoulder barging and tumbling eg Labradors, others like chasing and darting in and out with very little physical contact eg Collies, other go for full body contact play with pinning and mouthing eg great danes & staffies, you get the pure chasers eg lurchers, and the more cautious players who are often smaller breeds eg shih tzus.

If your dog has had some bad experiences playing with other dogs, try to rebuild their confidence by initially only letting them off lead to play with dogs with a similar style. A cautious player or a chaser may find playing with a physical Labrador for example very difficult and overwhelming. As an owner you need to be prepared to act as referee during games and if you think that one party is no longer enjoying the game, both dogs ought to be called back to their owners for a treat before letting them go and play again.

So go and have fun with your dog! Build play into your routine in the same way as you do their walk. You don’t need to devote a lot of time to it, just 5 minutes here and there could make the world of difference to your relationship!

An emotion that most owners would be fairly certain that their dog feels is guilt. Just look at that face! It would be easy to assume that a) she knows that she has done something wrong, and b) that she’s very sorry!

As a matter of fact the photo is staged and she hadn’t done anything wrong (although destruction was her forte for the first six months of her life……).

According the Collins English Dictionary “Guilt” is defined as

 “remorse or self-reproach caused by feeling that one is responsible for a wrong or offence”

It is, of course, impossible to know precisely what thought processes go on in a dog’s head, but it is all too easy to assume that dogs are capable of very complex human emotions.

Can a dog truly feel remorse? I think that it is unlikely that a dog can remember an action that it performed an hour ago and wish they hadn’t done it. Alexandra Horowitz in 2009 performed an experiment where dogs were left alone in a room with a treat and either allowed to eat it or not, but in both cases the owner was told the dog had eaten the treat. It was found that the majority of owners would think that their dogs looked “guilty” whether or not they’d really eaten it – what the dog was reacting to was the owner’s response and body language, not to a feeling of remorse.

What we often interpret as “looking guilty” (ears back, averted gaze, low posture, tail tucked under) is actually appeasement behaviour. Dogs are very good at reading human body language and if we are looking tense or cross then they show these signs to try to diffuse the situation. They will even do this if they don’t know what they’re supposed to have done – which is the case with Nutmeg in my photo!

They can’t learn any lessons at that stage as they won’t associate any punishment given with the misdemeanour, unless they are discovered in the process of the deed. Then even if they are, punishment doesn’t address what is driving the behaviour. This may be anxiety, boredom, fear or any number of emotions, all of which can often be exacerbated by, what seems to the dog, to be random punishment.

In the case of separation problems where a dog may be destructive, if they are told off when the crime scene is discovered, then next time they are left not only will they be worried about being alone, they will also be worried about their owners response when they return – the dog wants their owner to come back but is worried they may be cross like last time! These conflicting emotions may in themselves cause the dog to feel anxious, and to chew to make themselves feel better, and so the cycle continues…..

So next time you see that guilty look, remember that your dog is only trying to stop you being cross, and probably can’t even remember why they misbehaved in the first place!

Dogs are social creatures and although they don’t have a spoken language, they have a wealth of subtle cues that they use to communicate with.

As humans most people are aware of the extremes; ears forward and wagging tail = happy, teeth showing and growling = angry, but are blissfully unaware of the points in between! This is nobodies fault, but if you start looking out for the more subtle signs then you’ll be amazed at what you pick up on.

In this picture of me and my dog Nutmeg, you can see that her ears are back and she is trying to lick my face. She is showing signs of being mildly anxious and confused as to what I want from her – having our photos taken is not part of our normal daily routine! Licking faces is a form of appeasement, you often see it in puppies licking older dogs’ faces. In this situation we had been outside trying to get some reasonable photographs and she didn’t know what I wanted her to do! She was starting to feel stressed and it was time to stop taking photos.

There has been a useful schematic put together to illustrate what is called “The ladder of aggression”. It shows the different behaviours that a dog will show when they are stressed, starting from behaviours that are intended to diffuse a situation where they only feel mildly anxious, up to overtly aggressive behaviours such as biting.

The behaviours higher up the ladder (biting, snapping and growling) are obvious enough for us to pick up on, but what we want to do is to realise how stressed a dog is feeling before they have to resort to these. A dog showing these behaviours is the equivalent of us yelling “PLEASE MAKE THIS SITUATION STOP!!”, and often before they reach that point they will have been exhibiting the signs lower down, but they just haven’t been “heard”.

Starting at the bottom of the ladder, a sign such as yawning (when you wouldn’t expect them to be particularly tired) is very easy to miss, as is frequent blinking. Turning their head away is another subtle sign, but one often seen when dogs are having an over-enthusiastic hug from a child for example.

Getting up into the red zone, one of the last signals that a dog will show before resorting to obvious aggression is to stiffen up, or freeze. This is again easy to miss because it appears so passive, but if you notice it in a dog, often coupled with staring eyes (often the whites of their eyes will be visible around the edges) then this is a signal that the dog is extremely stressed and that something needs to change to prevent an escalation.

In some  situations, such as between aggressive dogs for example, they will go through these stages in only seconds. Other dogs may stop showing the subtle signs of stress at all, if they have found over time that it is never noticed, and jump straight up the ladder.

In most cases though, by just being more aware of what to look out for, you can pick up on when your dog is feeling a bit uncomfortable in a situation and so do something about it.

This is especially important when dogs are around children, whether you feel your dog is used to them or not. Some dogs are stressed even though they will tolerate a lot, and it is through their self control that any escalation is prevented.

Nutmeg is probably not super-model material, but she is a good communicator!

You do behaviour? I thought you were a vet?!

It used to be that animal behaviour was not the preserve of veterinary surgeons – vets dealt with the body and it was up to others to deal with the mind.

However in reality there is no clear distinction between mind and body, they are inextricably linked. How do you know that your animal is in pain? They can’t speak, you can tell by watching their behaviour. They become withdrawn, they stay in bed, they may be reluctant to be touched and you recognise that change in behaviour as being due to pain. In reality vets have always been reliant on interpreting behaviour to reach diagnoses. Thankfully now the importance of behaviour, as a reflection of mental state, is being appreciated, and increasingly vets are taking a role in this critical part of an animal’s welfare.

The privilege of having veterinary training as well as a behavioural qualification is that it enables you to look at the whole picture. Life isn’t simple and often an unwanted behaviour isn’t due to only one factor. There may be multiple elements to consider – changes in household, underlying temperament, past experience, as well as concurrent medical conditions such as osteoarthritis or diabetes. Addressing any one factor in isolation may not be enough to help with the problem, but consider the whole picture and you are in with a chance.

So yes, I am a vet and a behaviourist. Unwanted behaviours can have a real impact on the quality of life of a pet and their owner. Sadly many pets are rehomed, or even euthanised, due to behavioural problems, and so if this can be prevented it is a role I am proud to have.