I don't know who needs to hear this, but... You are probably not tiring your dog out. You are building an athlete. And then wondering why your dog seems to need more and more exercise every week. It is one of the most common mistakes I see owners make. · Their dog is energetic. · The dog gets zoomies. · The dog struggles to settle. · The dog is constantly looking for something to do. So the owner does what seems logical. · They walk them mor

When the Panorama episode on veterinary costs aired, I watched it with a familiar knot in my stomach. Not because it shocked me. But because it finally put words to something many owners, including myself, have been feeling for years and struggling to explain.

There, I said it. But just hear me out... Most people seem to think all the answers to their dog needs is more exercise. · Longer walks · More running · More ball throwing But here’s the truth… Much of the most “well exercised” dogs I see are still anxious, reactive, and completely overwhelmed by the world around them. · They’ve done the miles. · They’ve burnt the energy. · They come home exhausted. And then they get fitter, so with t

Polyphasic sleep, crepuscular rhythms, and why uninterrupted rest matters Dogs don’t sleep like we do. And once you understand how they sleep, a lot of behaviour suddenly makes sense. Many of the issues owners struggle with, evening zoomies, poor settling, irritability, reactivity, even “out of the blue” snapping, can be linked back to sleep that isn’t as restorative as it looks. Let’s break it down gently. Dogs are polyphasic sleepers Dogs are polyphasic sleepers, which mea

Socialisation is not what you were told it was When I got my first ever dog as an adult, I was 18 years old. One of the biggest lies I was taught early on was that socialisation meant exposure and access to everyone and everything. I was told my dog was not happy. I was told this because from the moment I brought my puppy home, he only wanted to be with me. In any space we entered, he only wanted to be by my side. When we went out with friends who had dogs, my dog wanted to b