"In space no one can hear you scream."

Behaviours, like sound waves, do not occur in a vacuum.

There are a number of opinions that I see frequently being expressed on various sites that tie in to the above. There is a particular saying about opinions and the fact that everyone has them which I always try to remember when reading opinions that I do not agree with. There are a couple that are frequently seen when it comes to the subject of canine behaviour.

Behaviours are never the fault of the dog. This I agree with whole heartedly.

Dogs' behaviours are always the fault of the human.  This, not so much. In many, even most, cases it is perfectly correct, but apportioning blame for some behaviours is neither accurate nor fair. As is well known by anyone who has visited my work in the past, dogs exhibiting reactive behaviours is my area of interest. In this area certainly, apportioning blame is rarely helpful and can be rather the opposite.

Don't get me wrong - a lot of behaviour 'problems' in dogs are indeed due to (or at least started by) some kind of misunderstanding or error in judgement when it comes to certain situations. It can also be true of the start of reactive behaviours in dogs. I will hold my hands up and say that Finn's reactive behaviours might have been lessened much earlier on if I had known about the subject and brought him through the tricky times more carefully and with greater awareness. At that point though, I had not encountered this particular kind of thing with any of my previous dogs. I didn't do anything 'wrong' but there are things I didn't handle as well as he needed me to. That doesn't make his reactive behaviours my fault any more than they are his fault. With a combination of a genetic tendency to nervousness, a high energy breed with a very quick brain, some unfortunate health issues leading to missed socialisation and some very unfortunate encounters with other dogs, all in together with a human that had less understanding of how the canine brain works than she has now, Finn's reactive tendencies are something that have happened to us both.

I spend a chunk of my time talking to and supporting the people that share their lives with these dogs. It is incredibly rewarding for me to be able to do so, but it can be incredibly draining. So often these poor people have been told that their dog's behaviour is their fault, that they must be bad owners and don't deserve to have dogs. While I am glad I have an avenue through which I can tell these people that it's not true, and try to guide them towards help, it makes me so angry that people carelessly throw out these comments that cause such distress, to the human and, potentially to the dogs!

A lot of the people that I talk to feel at the end of their tethers by the time they find me, that they can't cope and that they should never have another dog. With guidance, advice from the right people, and the right support, many go on to work on improving their dogs' resilience and ability to cope with the world and so the dog does not end up being re-homed (or worse, as can happen when people really cannot see a way forward because they are told they've ruined the dog and made them aggressive).

I used to talk a lot about 'reactivity' but have switched terminology a little recently to 'reactive behaviours' instead. This follows seeing a picture that Claire Staines of Lothlorien Dog Services put up, explaining the fact that dogs are not 'reactive' but that something in the environment is making them react. That really struck a chord with me, particularly looking back on my own journey with my dog, and thinking about how my observational skills have developed so far as I've become used to constantly scanning the environment and planning how to deal with what I can see. Behaviour does not happen in a vacuum.

New Minion tradition - blue merle with a newly published book! 😁

In more lighthearted news, Conversations with Collies has now been on sale for a couple of weeks. I cannot emphasise enough just how much I love the cover artwork, and how the character of each dog in the book comes through. The Kindle version is regularly bobbing around in the top 10 best sellers among dog books in the UK, but the paperback is absolutely beautiful. The gift giving time of year approaches (I'm not going to say the word!) and it would make a lovely stocking filler for collie lovers, or indeed anyone that likes dogs and having them around! The links here go to the UK store, but to buy in other countries, go to your relevant Amazon store and search for the title or author name 😃