Anxiety
Separation Anxiety: A Six-Week Desensitisation Plan
Separation-related distress affects an estimated one in five dogs and is driven by a genuine panic response, not spite or poor manners.
By Dr Mariana Oliveira, DVM, DACVN · 4 min read
Section
Behaviour
Training and welfare, grounded in learning science.
20 articles
Aggression
Resource Guarding: Trade, Don't Take
By Dr Callum Wright, BVSc, MANZCVS · 4 min read
Anxiety
Noise Phobia and Storm Anxiety
By Dr Priya Raghunathan, BVMS · 4 min read
Aggression
Reactive Dogs on Lead: Distance Is Medicine
By Dr Mariana Oliveira, DVM, DACVN · 4 min read
Cognition
Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome: Canine Dementia
By Dr Mariana Oliveira, DVM, DACVN · 4 min read
Training
Crate Training Without Distress
A crate can function as a genuine safe haven or as a source of chronic distress, and the difference lies entirely in how gradually it is introduced.
By Dr Samuel Adeyemi, DVM, DACVIM · 4 min read
Training
Puppy Biting: Bite Inhibition Done Properly
Puppy mouthing is a normal exploratory and social behaviour, not a sign of aggression, and the developmental window before roughly eighteen weeks of age is the single best opportunity to teach a soft mouth that will matter for the rest of the dog's life.
By Dr Mariana Oliveira, DVM, DACVN · 4 min read
Aggression
Inter-Cat Aggression in Multi-Cat Households
Cats are not obligately social animals, and aggression between cats sharing a home is frequently rooted in resource competition, redirected arousal or simple incompatibility rather than dominance.
By Dr Aisha Bello, BVetMed · 4 min read
Compulsion
Compulsive Behaviours: Tail Chasing and Flank Sucking
Compulsive behaviours such as tail chasing, flank sucking and shadow chasing sit on a spectrum from normal breed-typical behaviour to a genuine obsessive-compulsive disorder that interferes with daily functioning.
By Dr Thomas Nakamura, DVM · 4 min read
Training
The Science of Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement training is grounded in operant conditioning principles first described by B.F.
By Dr Thomas Nakamura, DVM · 4 min read
Training
Fear-Free Vet Visits: Cooperative Care Training
Fear at the veterinary clinic is common enough that studies estimate a large majority of dogs and the great majority of cats show measurable stress signs during a routine visit, and this chronic stress can complicate physical examination, delay diagnosis and even alter bloodwork results.
By Dr Ingrid Sorensen, BVSc, DipACVB · 4 min read
Communication
Reading Canine Body Language Accurately
Most dog bites to familiar people are preceded by minutes of subtle warning signals that are simply missed, because popular assumptions, such as a wagging tail always meaning friendliness, are frequently wrong.
By Dr Thomas Nakamura, DVM · 4 min read
Communication
Cat Communication: Slow Blinks, Tail Talk and Chirps
Cats communicate through a rich combination of vocalisation, tail posture, ear position and facial signals that many owners underread compared with dog body language, partly because feline signals are often subtler and partly because cats evolved primarily for solitary rather than highly social communication.
By Dr Callum Wright, BVSc, MANZCVS · 4 min read
Anxiety
Behaviour Medication: When Drugs Are the Kind Choice
Behaviour medication is frequently withheld out of a mistaken belief that it masks problems rather than solving them, yet for many dogs and cats with clinical anxiety, medication is what makes learning possible at all by lowering baseline arousal below the threshold at which training can succeed.
By Dr Aisha Bello, BVetMed · 4 min read
Enrichment
Enrichment: Building a Nose-Work Routine
Scent work taps into a sensory system dogs rely on far more than humans typically appreciate, with an olfactory bulb proportionally many times larger than ours, and structured nose work sessions provide mental fatigue that often settles a restless or anxious dog more effectively than additional physical exercise alone.
By Dr Priya Raghunathan, BVMS · 4 min read
Household
Introducing a Second Pet Without Warfare
Introducing a new pet is one of the highest-risk periods for lasting conflict in a household, and rushing the process to satisfy human impatience is the single most common cause of long-term feuds between resident and incoming animals.
By Dr Samuel Adeyemi, DVM, DACVIM · 4 min read
Household
Dogs and Babies: A Twelve-Week Preparation Plan
A new baby changes a household's sounds, smells, schedule and the amount of attention available to a resident dog almost overnight, and most bite incidents involving infants occur not from aggression out of nowhere but from a dog whose warning signals around the baby were consistently missed.
By Dr Samuel Adeyemi, DVM, DACVIM · 4 min read
Training
Leash Pulling: Mechanics Over Force
Leash pulling is fundamentally a mechanical and reinforcement problem, not a dominance issue: a dog pulls because pulling has historically been rewarded by forward movement, and equipment choices interact directly with a dog's physiology, particularly the risk of tracheal and thyroid injury from collar pressure on a persistently pulling dog.
By Dr Callum Wright, BVSc, MANZCVS · 4 min read
Household
Night Waking in Cats and What It Signals
Cats are naturally crepuscular, most active at dawn and dusk, so some nocturnal activity is normal, but new or escalating night waking, particularly vocalising, pacing or waking owners deliberately, is frequently a signal of an underlying medical issue rather than simple attention-seeking or boredom.
By Dr Callum Wright, BVSc, MANZCVS · 4 min read
Adoption
Rehoming Grief and the Adjustment Period
A newly rehomed dog or cat is adjusting simultaneously to unfamiliar smells, sounds, routines and people while frequently carrying an unknown history of loss, and behaviourists commonly describe the first weeks using the three-three-three guideline: roughly three days to decompress, three weeks to learn routine, and three months to feel truly settled.
By Dr Thomas Nakamura, DVM · 4 min read