Ep 32: The future of dog ownership Part 1: Dog Walks with David Bavin

Walking your dog is one of life's most beautiful and simple pleasures and there’s nothing quite like the frustration of being faced with a luscious swathe of land you’ve taken the time to travel to, beset with a big sign that says ‘No Dogs’. Some will turn and find another place to walk and others might take a quick look to check for witnesses and wander on anyway ready to claim stupidity if challenged.

In this episode we meet David Bavin, a researcher from Exeter University and the National Trust that has conducted some fascinating research about how we all use Englands green and pleasant lands, the effect of dogs on the natural habitat and most importantly the best strategies land managers can use to help dogs and wildlife coexist so that everyone has a fair share of our beautiful natural world.

We talk about:

• The difficulty dog owners have in meeting their natural behavioural needs while also respecting protected spaces for other species
• How ecologists study different species and measure the weight of evidence on each side to work out the impact dogs really have on nature
• Things dog owners can do to make sure we’re walking our dogs responsibly and sustainably and things we can do that could encourage land owners to have a zero tolerance policy on dogs if we’re not careful!
• The design of a national dog walking highway code that could simplify land access for everyone
  

To learn more about ‘Paws For Thought’ and the work of David and the EXCases team, check out their interactive land use maps and infographics head over to:

https://renewbiodiversity.org.uk/paws-for-thought-excases-mission/

And check out the National Trust’s Open Data portal to see the research displayed in delicious detail:

https://open-data-national-trust.hub.arcgis.com/apps/National-Trust::paws-for-thought/explore

More about your host:

Hannah is a qualified dog behaviour specialist in the UK with a degree in Animal Behaviour and a specialism in dog body language and pet dog behaviour. She's trained over 10,000 pet dogs in the last 10 years and written an illustrated guide to dog behaviour called ‘Whats my dog thinking: Understand your dog to give them a happy life’. She featured as one of 3 experts on the prime time Channel 4 television series 'Puppy School' and currently teaches body language and handling courses to vets, groomers and pet shops to reduce bite incidents and increase the handling and observation skills of these awesome, but often overlooked, fields of pet care. She currently works as a behavioural expert for Agria Pet Insurance and leads the campaign for responsible dog ownership with the All Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group in Westminster.

Big thanks to our season 2 sponsor Amplified Behaviour

www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

And you can train along with Hannah as a pet owner or a pet professional at www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

@amplifiedbehaviour @thehannahmolloy

Ep 31: The Future of Dog Education Part 2 - Total Welfare Justine Schuurmans & Kim Brophey

If Part 1 asked how we understand dogs better, Part 2 asks the far more uncomfortable question: what are we actually responsible for once we do?

“Responsible dog ownership” is a phrase we hear constantly, in legislation, in media soundbites, in professional spaces.. and yet it remains strangely undefined. We are quick to blame, slow to educate, and often operating from inherited assumptions rather than evidence-based frameworks. As our understanding of canine behaviour, welfare, and emotional lives grows, the gap between what dogs need and what we expect of them is becoming harder to ignore.

In this episode, we continue our conversation with two world-renowned educators of dog owners and pet professionals, Justine Schuurmans and Kim Brophey, to explore what a modern, measurable, and ethical definition of dog welfare could, and should, look like. Moving beyond training techniques and behaviour modification alone, we widen the lens to consider the whole dog: their choices, their agency, their behavioural diversity, and the systems we build around them.

We talk about;

- How bonkers it is that ‘Responsible Dog Ownership’ has never been clearly defined

- The work that is being done to design the foundations of a national responsible dog ownership course

- The 5 welfare freedoms of all captive animals and how we can meet those needs those for our dogs at home

- How the new Total Welfare App coming soon for dog professionals and the public can be used to measure behavioural diversity for each dog we work with

To learn more about the Dial Method and Justine’s work check out:

For pet owners: https://www.thefamilydog.com/Blue-dial

And pet professionals: https://www.thefamilydog.com/become-a-dial-guide

@justineanddogs

To keep up to date with the development of the Total Welfare App and Kims rebound LEGS applied ethology course go to:

https://www.familydogmediation.com/

https://www.totalwelfareapp.com/

@familydogmediation

More about your host:

Hannah is a qualified dog behaviour specialist in the UK with a degree in Animal Behaviour and a specialism in dog body language and pet dog behaviour. She's trained over 10,000 pet dogs in the last 10 years and written an illustrated guide to dog behaviour called ‘Whats my dog thinking: Understand your dog to give them a happy life’. She featured as one of 3 experts on the prime time Channel 4 television series 'Puppy School' and currently teaches body language and handling courses to vets, groomers and pet shops to reduce bite incidents and increase the handling and observation skills of these awesome, but often overlooked, fields of pet care. She currently works as a behavioural expert for Agria Pet Insurance and leads the campaign for responsible dog ownership with the All Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group in Westminster.

Big thanks to our season 2 sponsor Amplified Behaviour

www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

And you can train along with Hannah as a pet owner or a pet professional at www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

@amplifiedbehaviour @thehannahmolloy

Ep 30: The Future of Dog Education Part 1 - The Dial Method with Justine Schuurmans & Kim Brophey

They say “it’s not the dog that has the problem, it’s the owner.”
One of those familiar tag-line phrases that sounds wise on the surface, but actually flattens what is, in reality, a deeply complex, individual relationship between a person and their dog.

Yes, some of the biggest lightbulb moments in working with dogs come when we realise just how much power we have to influence outcomes — for our dogs and ourselves. But sometimes… it really is the dog. Their biology, their history, their needs, their thresholds. And pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.

In this episode, we chow down on the chunky topic of the future of dog education with two world-renowned educators of dog owners and pet professionals, Justine Schuurmans and Kim Brophey. Both are working hard to move dog education away from blame and binaries, and towards accessible, digestible, evidence-based frameworks that help us genuinely understand dogs, not just control them.

We talk about;

• ‘The easy life’ vs ‘the good life’ for dogs and weather we should let dogs keep some of their filthier habits (!)
• ‘Applied Ethology’ and the 5 welfare freedoms we need to help to provide for all captive animals
• How to build a trusting relationship with your dog rather than a transactional one based on reward and punishment
• The differences between UK and USA when it comes to dog freedoms
• How The Dial Method is a missing education piece all dog owners need before they start training

To learn more about the Dial Method and Justine’s work check out:

For pet owners: https://www.thefamilydog.com/Blue-dial

And pet professionals: https://www.thefamilydog.com/become-a-dial-guide

@justineanddogs

To keep up to date with the development of the Total Welfare App and Kims rebound LEGS applied ethology course go to:

https://www.familydogmediation.com/

https://www.totalwelfareapp.com/

@familydogmediation

More about your host:

Hannah is a qualified dog behaviour specialist in the UK with a degree in Animal Behaviour and a specialism in dog body language and pet dog behaviour. She's trained over 10,000 pet dogs in the last 10 years and written an illustrated guide to dog behaviour called ‘Whats my dog thinking: Understand your dog to give them a happy life’. She featured as one of 3 experts on the prime time Channel 4 television series 'Puppy School' and currently teaches body language and handling courses to vets, groomers and pet shops to reduce bite incidents and increase the handling and observation skills of these awesome, but often overlooked, fields of pet care. She currently works as a behavioural expert for Agria Pet Insurance and leads the campaign for responsible dog ownership with the All Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group in Westminster.

Big thanks to our season 2 sponsor Amplified Behaviour

https://www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

And you can train along with Hannah as a pet owner or a pet professional at www.amplifiedbehaviour.com

@amplifiedbehaviour @thehannahmolloy