Planet Dog Training & Behaviour

Planet Dog Training & Behaviour Based in Brighton, Planet Dog provides positive, reward-based training and behavioural consultations for dogs and the humans who love them.

What if rather than beginning with the question ‘How do I stop my dog from doing X?’,/‘How can I make my dog do X?’ peop...
17/08/2025

What if rather than beginning with the question ‘How do I stop my dog from doing X?’,/‘How can I make my dog do X?’ people started with the question ‘I wonder why my dog is doing/won’t do X?’

All behaviour happens for a reason and being curious about the function of our dogs’ behaviour is the best way that we can begin to support them when they need it most.

Consider a dog who refuses to get in the car, for example. Rather than seeing that dog as 'stubborn', we ought to consider that they might get travel sick. Or that it could be uncomfortable for them to jump up into the car. Or that perhaps they had a negative experience last time they travelled in the car.

Consider a dog who destroys things in the home. Rather than seeing that dog as 'naughty', we ought to consider that they might be bored. Or that they might be experiencing discomfort and are looking for ways to soothe themselves (by chewing things up, for example). Or that behaviours like these are the only way that they can get your attention.

There are a huge number of possibilities for any one behaviour, and leaving ourselves open to the response, by asking the question 'Why?', is likely to lead to much more successful outcomes for both you and your dog rather than simply trying to stop or induce a behaviour without considering why it may or may not be occurring in the first place.

Dogs are doing their very best, every day, with the information available to them at any given time in our human-centric world. If we want their behaviour to change in some way then we need to consider what we can do to ensure that our dogs are able to succeed.

If you need help with any aspect of your dog’s behaviour, then get in touch with Planet Dog today.

Did you know that slippery floors (laminate, wood, lino, and tiles, for example) pose a threat to your dog’s joints? Not...
09/07/2025

Did you know that slippery floors (laminate, wood, lino, and tiles, for example) pose a threat to your dog’s joints? Not just the floors themselves but also rugs that shift and slide about on top of those floors. Such surfaces can be very difficult for dogs already suffering from musculoskeletal issues to negotiate, but even in dogs without such issues, a constant lack of stability in the home can create small microtraumas, the cumulative effects of which can create joint problems for them which might easily have been prevented.

So what can you do?

Firstly, help your dogs to achieve greater stability around your home by providing non-slip surfaces for them to move about on. Whilst you might not be able to lay entirely non-slip flooring throughout your home (although if you did want to do this, then companies like Floors For Paws specialise in flooring that is designed to be both hard-wearing as well as anti-slip), you can ensure that there are some carpeted areas in your home, or that you provide non-slip rugs or yoga mats for your dogs to move about on, or that you put anti-slip tape on otherwise slippery surfaces that allow your dogs to move about more comfortably from room to room.

Secondly, you should ensure that you are not playing games in the home that encourage your dogs to run across unstable surfaces.

Helping our dogs to live a life as free from pain as possible is just one of the many ways in which we can fulfil our duty of care to them. It is also the case that there is a well-established relationship between pain and behaviour, so anything that you can do to minimise the former in your dog will ultimately have a positive effect on the latter.

So let’s get a grip and help our dogs to live the comfortable lives that they deserve.

Small goals, repeated daily, make a big difference. Something to bear in mind when we’re training our dogs. ...
08/07/2025

Small goals, repeated daily, make a big difference. Something to bear in mind when we’re training our dogs.

Is your dog exhibiting any behaviours that concern you? Do they seem to be slower on walks or more reluctant to do thing...
05/07/2025

Is your dog exhibiting any behaviours that concern you? Do they seem to be slower on walks or more reluctant to do things that they used to be able to do with ease? Perhaps they no longer get on and off the furniture or in and out of the car as easily as they used to do. Perhaps they are more worried by noises or seem more generally anxious as of late. Perhaps they are exhibiting separation issues or resource guarding behaviour. Or perhaps you’ve noticed them moving in ways that concern you. Perhaps there is no one, specific thing but you just sense that something might be bothering your four-legged friend.

If you are worried by your dog’s behaviour or are concerned that they may be experiencing physical discomfort of some kind, then Planet Dog can help.

Don’t wait for your dog to go lame, before you consider they might be in pain. Instead, book a Dynamic Dog Assessment in order to get a clearer picture of what might actually be going on for your dog.

If you are interested in learning more about what a Dynamic Dog assessment entails, then please head over to our website to learn more.

The first 5 Dynamic Dog assessments booked this month will receive a 25% discount.


This is just a shout out to all the guardians of sensitive dogs who are turning up and working so hard, every day, to he...
02/07/2025

This is just a shout out to all the guardians of sensitive dogs who are turning up and working so hard, every day, to help their dogs to feel safe and loved in a world that can often seem overwhelming to them.

Until you have lived with a sensitive dog, it is hard to imagine how difficult life can be for them. And for their guardians.

Sensitive dogs can find routine things challenging and other people’s lack of empathy and understanding can make things infinitely harder, both for them and for their guardians.

Not all dogs can be bulletproof to everything that life throws at them. And, as Patricia McConnell, Ph.D. says in her wonderful book “For the Love of a Dog”, giving such dogs “a kind, loving home and helping [them] to relax enough to nap in your lap are achievements in their own right”.

So to all the guardians of those dogs who are more sensitive or challenging or troubled, all of those dogs who need more support than training alone can provide, you are absolute champions and your dogs are so lucky to have you.


There are a number of behaviours that a dog experiencing fear might display including panting, a lowered posture, showin...
30/06/2025

There are a number of behaviours that a dog experiencing fear might display including panting, a lowered posture, showing the whites of their eyes, licking their lips, yawning, moving in slow motion, being hypervigilant (looking around in all directions), and pacing, to name but a few.

In addition to these signs there are also four active ways in which a dog might respond to fear, and these are known as the Four Fs:

Fight - the dog may exhibit aggressive behaviour as a way of removing the perceived threat.

Flight - the dog may try to escape from the threatening situation.

Freeze - the dog may stay entirely motionless, hoping that the threat will just go away.

Fidget - the dog may be unsure of how to react to their fear and so engage in displacement behaviours such as grooming, sniffing the ground, or intense play behaviours such as jumping, barking, pawing and zoomies (which is why this F is also sometimes described as ‘fooling around’).

It is always important to assess behaviour in context (sometimes grooming might just be grooming!), but it is vital that we are aware of what a fear response may look like so that we are able to help and support our dogs to feel safer in their worlds.

If you need help with learning how to read your dog’s communication and/or in supporting them to overcome their fears, then Planet Dog can help. If you would like to know more, then please get in touch today.


There are many different factors that can influence behaviour and pain is definitely one of those factors. Scroll throug...
27/06/2025

There are many different factors that can influence behaviour and pain is definitely one of those factors.

Scroll through to learn more about this relationship.

And if you are concerned that your dog might be in discomfort then Planet Dog can help. Get in touch to learn more about how a Dynamic Dog Assessment can help you to ascertain your own dog’s comfort levels.



We ask so much of our dogs but do we fully consider what they might be asking of us?The starting point in our relationsh...
26/06/2025

We ask so much of our dogs but do we fully consider what they might be asking of us?

The starting point in our relationship with our dogs should not be ‘How can I train my dog?’ but, rather, ‘What does my dog need in order to be able to live their best life?’

Training obviously has an important part to play in our relationship with our dogs, hopefully helping them to navigate their place in a human-centric world with greater comfort and ease. But it is only one of many things that we should consider when we make the choice to bring a dog into our lives.

Our dogs’ safety, well-being and happiness should be at the forefront of everything that we do with them. We should take time to really know and understand their individual preferences - for mental stimulation, physical exertion, social interaction, emotional fulfilment, playing, sleeping, and eating, to name but a few. We should know what their breed tendencies and predispositions might be. And we should be sure that we are providing choices for them in order to honour all of these things.

It is a huge responsibility and an immense privilege to be able to share our lives with dogs: we owe it to them to ensure that we are always training ourselves in how best to meet their needs.

So I’ve been pretty quiet on here lately. That is because I have been working very hard in order to get certified as a D...
24/06/2025

So I’ve been pretty quiet on here lately. That is because I have been working very hard in order to get certified as a Dynamic Dog Practitioner which, I am delighted to say, I have finally achieved!

The Dynamic Dog Practitioner Programme teaches trainers & behaviourists how to spot potential discomfort in dogs by analysing their gait, posture, and the way that they perform the various activities of daily living; it also teaches them how to put all of those observations into a report to send to a vet in order to assist that vet with their investigations.

Pain in dogs can be extremely subtle and may not always manifest in the ways that we might expect, but just as it may do in humans, pain can absolutely affect behaviour in dogs. A study published in 2020* found that up to 80% of dogs presenting with behavioural issues had some form of undiagnosed pain that was either a direct cause of or a contributory factor towards “problem behaviours”.

Dynamic Dog Practitioners have the requisite skills to assess dogs in order to spot potential signs of discomfort and I am excited to be able to add Dynamic Dog Assessments to the list of services that I will now be able to offer: helping dogs and their guardians to receive the support that they need has long been my priority and I am delighted that Dynamic Dog can now be such a central part of that.

*Mills, D.S. et al. (2020) Pain and Problem Behaviour in Cats and Dogs.

In the phrase ‘dog training’, the dog is typically understood to be the one being trained. But what if we adjust our ear...
03/04/2025

In the phrase ‘dog training’, the dog is typically understood to be the one being trained. But what if we adjust our ears, and our understanding, to allow that phrase to also encompass the possibility that it is also the dog doing the training?

Why on earth would we do this? Because it opens us up to the understanding that training is a partnership, that it is not only the dog who needs to learn something when we engage in dog training but that we, too, have a great deal to learn ourselves.

We need to learn how to communicate clearly with our dogs, not just verbally but also physically: to learn how movements of our own faces and bodies and hands might be conveying information to them that we don’t intend (or how to move our own faces and bodies and hands in ways that can communicate what we do wish to say). We need to learn how to listen to our dogs: how to read canine body language so that we know what our dogs are communicating to us, to learn what they need to feel happy and safe and content in their lives.

Training should be a partnership, a way to develop our relationship with our dogs in ways that improve life for us both. It should be a way to increase our bond, to learn more about one another, and to enhance both species’ feelings of trust. If you would like to learn more about how to build that all-important bond with your dog, then get in touch with Planet Dog today.

Take time to stop on your walks sometimes, let your dog spend time just taking in their environment, sniffing the air an...
07/02/2025

Take time to stop on your walks sometimes, let your dog spend time just taking in their environment, sniffing the air and watching the world go by: this can be a very valuable part of meeting their needs.

Whilst running and chasing and playing are important aspects of our dogs' lives, these are all things which increase adrenaline levels. If this is all that your dog is doing whilst out on a walk, then it is no surprise that they might then find it difficult to settle once they are home again.

A study on street dogs in India found that they did not choose to engage in fast-paced, high intensity activities like chasing: they spent far more time just mooching about, hanging out with other humans and/or dogs, and slowly exploring their world. This is a lesson we would do well to learn with our own dogs.

Whilst physical exercise is obviously important for our dogs, so too is giving them time to engage meaningfully with their environment when they are out and about in the world.

Dogs need to be given time to slow down. They need to be given time to sniff. To absorb their environment. A walk should stimulate your dog’s mind as well as their body.

In the right place and at the right time, taking some time to stop and take the world in can give a nervous dog the time they need to feel comfortable in that world (and if your dog needs support in this area, then Planet Dog can help!). But all dogs can benefit from having things slowed down for them when they’re out on their walk sometimes.

So why not give it a try? You may even find that it is something that could benefit you, too.

There are lots of different ways that you can help your dog to live a happy life. Today’s focus is going to be on walks....
22/01/2025

There are lots of different ways that you can help your dog to live a happy life. Today’s focus is going to be on walks. Scroll through to read about all the different things that you can do to ensure that your dog enjoys their walks and gets the most out of them.

Remember: our dogs’ walks should, wherever possible, be for them. They spend so much time fitting in with our lives, but they deserve to have their needs met: ensuring that their walks are enjoyable for them is just one way of doing this. Linked to that, and to the issue of choice, it’s also ok if your dog doesn’t fancy a walk at any point for any reason. There are plenty of things that you can do at home to entertain them instead. If you need help with this then Planet Dog can help!

Learn to understand and to listen to your dog - these are small things that will have big consequences for you both.

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