Wild K9s

03/09/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗴?

We’ve somehow managed to turn enrichment into a category of stuff.

Puzzle feeders. Snuffle mats. Lick mats. Balls. Tug. Scent games. Chews. Cardboard boxes.

But putting the word enrichment in front of something doesn’t automatically make it enriching.

The point of enrichment is to improve the animal’s experience of their life. So the dog in front of you gets the deciding vote.

And “they absolutely LOVE it” isn’t enough information.

A dog might be extremely motivated to chase a ball, wrestle with another dog or attack a puzzle feeder. That tells us the activity has value to them. It doesn’t tell us everything about its effect on their welfare.

So I’d look a little wider.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲?

Can your dog approach, leave, pause, come back to it or decide they’ve had enough?

Choice and control are important parts of good welfare. I’m much more interested in a dog choosing to investigate something than being repeatedly encouraged to keep doing an activity because we’ve decided it’s “good enrichment”.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁?

There’s a difference between absorbed and frantic.

Between persistence because something is interesting and persistence because the dog is becoming increasingly frustrated.

Between energetic play with pauses, changes of pace and easy disengagement, and behaviour that becomes more repetitive, intense and difficult to interrupt.

You have to look at the whole dog rather than simply count how long they stayed engaged.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁.

This is the bit I think we often forget.

What is your dog like when the activity finishes?

Maybe they wander off, have a drink and settle down.

Maybe they seem pleasantly satisfied and get on with their day.

Or perhaps they’re now pacing, panting, barking, grabbing things, demanding another go, pestering another dog or struggling to settle.

Neither response can be interpreted in isolation, but the recovery gives you information that “he loves his ball” doesn’t.

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱?

Good enrichment isn’t really about making everything harder or keeping a dog permanently entertained.

Sometimes it’s digging. Sniffing. Exploring somewhere slowly. Shredding something. Searching for food. Playing. Chewing. Watching the world from somewhere they feel safe.

And sometimes enrichment is having the option to retreat somewhere quiet and do absolutely nothing.

More stimulation isn’t automatically better.

𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆: 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗴?

Not the breed on Instagram.

Not the dog who apparently needs 47 enrichment activities before breakfast.

Yours.

Try something. Watch them properly. Look at what happens before, during and afterwards. Adjust it if you need to.

That, really, is what enrichment should be 🥰

28/08/2026

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴? 🔎

One thing that always surprises me is how little time most of us spend actually observing our dogs.

And I mean properly observing them, rather than just looking at them and thinking we know what they’re doing.

I’ve spent decades watching animals. I studied zoology, I’ve watched animals for research, I’ve watched them in captivity and in the wild, and these days I spend an enormous amount of time watching dogs. What I do isn’t some kind of mysterious behaviourist magic. A huge amount of it is noticing things, asking questions and looking for patterns.

And the more you watch, the more you see.

The funny thing is that it’s notoriously difficult to properly observe your own animals. You live with them every day. You know them inside out. Or at least you think you do.

Your brain gets very good at filling in the gaps. You stop seeing what is actually happening and start seeing what you expect to happen. You know that she always sleeps like that, he doesn’t like having his feet touched, she’s just a bit stiff in the mornings, he loves playing with that dog.

Sometimes all of that is absolutely right. But sometimes, when you actually stop and look, there’s a lot more going on.

So you almost have to train yourself to look at your own dog as though you’ve never met them before.

Where exactly are their feet? Where is their weight? What happens when they first get up? Do they always lie on the same side? Do they change sleeping places through the night? When they groom themselves, does one bit get much more attention than everything else? When another dog approaches, what actually happens before the obvious bit?

It’s fascinating once you start doing it. I find animal behaviour completely gripping, and some of the most useful information I get about a dog comes from the seemingly boring bits when nobody is asking them to do anything at all.

The other skill is resisting the urge to immediately decide what everything means. There’s a big difference between “he’s being stubborn” and “he stopped at the doorway, shifted his weight backwards and didn’t move forwards.”

One is our story about the behaviour. The other is what actually happened.

So over the next few weeks I’m going to put together a series about how to really observe your dog — sleeping, eating, moving, grooming, playing, interacting with other dogs and people, and all the ordinary everyday stuff we tend not to pay much attention to.

Not because I want everyone scrutinising every paw twitch and deciding something Is wrong 😱.

Just because learning to really see the animal in front of you is one of the most useful things you can do.

And, frankly, it’s addictively fascinating 🤩.

26/08/2026

I keep seeing dog training adverts promising people some variation of 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗘.

Your ideal dog. Your perfect dog. The dog you’ve always wanted.

And every time I see it, I think… what a strange way to talk about another living animal! 🙄

Because I don’t really want to help you create your perfect dog.

𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨’𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬 𝗚𝗢𝗧.

Dogs aren’t blank slates waiting to be moulded into whatever version fits our lives best. They come with genetics, early experiences, health, preferences, fears, things they love and things they’d really rather not do.

Sometimes that means the dog we have isn’t quite the dog we imagined.

You wanted a pub dog. Your dog hates pubs.

You pictured lovely off-lead walks with friends. Your dog finds other dogs difficult.

You wanted a dog who adored everyone. Yours would really rather people kept their distance.

That doesn’t automatically mean the dog needs fixing.

Of course behaviour can change. We can help dogs feel safer, treat pain, change environments, build confidence and skills and make life considerably easier for everyone.

But I find myself asking more and more:

𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦?

And, just as importantly:

𝗗𝗢 𝗪𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗧𝗢?

Who needs the change? What will it give the dog? What might it cost them? Could we make life work differently instead?

Sometimes something absolutely does need to change because the current situation isn’t safe or sustainable. Human welfare matters too.

But that’s very different from starting with an imaginary finished product called 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗗𝗢𝗚 and trying to make the animal in front of us fit it.

Dogs aren’t here to entertain us. They don’t owe us affection, sociability, lovely walks, trips to the pub or the lifestyle we’d pictured when we brought them home.

They’re individuals, having their own experience of the life we’re asking them to share with us.

So no, I can’t promise you your perfect dog.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗜 𝗖𝗔𝗡 𝗗𝗢 𝗜𝗦 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗚𝗘𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦.

And quite often, when we stop concentrating so hard on who we wanted them to be, we discover just how interesting the dog in front of us actually is ❤️

21/08/2026

𝗔 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗗𝗼𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱

Like many dog professionals and guardians, I’ve recommended All About Dog Food (AADF) for several years. It presented itself as an independent, unbiased resource in an industry that is incredibly difficult to navigate, and I found it useful.

So I’m deeply disappointed to learn that Darren Beale, co-founder of Years, was an investor and board member of AADF from January 2023 to May 2025 — a relationship that wasn’t made clear to those of us using the site.

AADF says he had no involvement in its nutritional content, reviews or scoring algorithm, and I’ve seen nothing to suggest its scores were manipulated.

For me, the issue is much simpler: independence relies on transparency.

I use resources like AADF both professionally and personally. I’ve recommended it to clients, and I’ve used it when making decisions about food for my own dogs. If there’s a commercial relationship that could reasonably affect how I perceive a source’s independence, I expect to know about it.

This doesn’t mean I’m throwing everything AADF has ever published in the bin. But it does mean I’ll be giving its scores less weight and looking more broadly at the manufacturer, formulation, nutritional expertise, quality assurance and transparency behind a food.

I’m a dog guardian too, trying to make good decisions for the dogs I love.

Choosing a decent dog food really shouldn’t be this bloody hard 😢

19/08/2026

Please please keep sharing 🙏 we need to find the right home for her - she’s such a lovely girl and been through enough already 😢

18/08/2026

Whilst idly doomscrolling through social media this morning (a very unhealthy morning habit, I may add) I saw an advert for Moflin at Harrods - an AI-powered “emotional companion” designed to behave rather like a small pet.

And I genuinely can’t decide whether this could be really good for animal welfare… or potentially really damaging to the way we understand animals.

On one hand, I can see a positive.

For someone who wants companionship but, for whatever reason, can’t realistically meet the needs of a living animal, something like this could provide comfort and connection without a sentient animal having to compromise its welfare.

That could prevent some very unsuitable pet ownership (hell, I’ve met a few people where this would be my preferred option for them 🙄)!

But the other side bothers me.

Moflin is designed to simulate emotions and attachment. It responds to touch and voice, develops different behavioural patterns, and appears happy, anxious, relaxed, lonely or grumpy depending on how you interact with it.

But those emotions aren’t real. And, crucially, they’ve been designed around the human. Real animals aren’t like that.

They have their own motivations, preferences, boundaries, fears, frustrations and needs. Sometimes good welfare means accepting that what they need isn’t what we want.

So what happens if we become increasingly accustomed to animal-like companions whose apparent emotional lives are essentially programmed to fit around ours?

Does that make us more aware of animal emotions because we learn to notice and respond to subtle behaviour?

Or does it do the opposite … creating an increasingly human-centred idea of what an animal relationship should look like?

The wording in the advert particularly caught my attention:

“Unwavering comfort and emotional support.”

Perhaps that’s exactly what an artificial companion can provide.

But living animals can’t - and shouldn’t be expected to.

I honestly don’t know where I land on this yet. As technology, I find it fascinating. From an animal welfare and behaviour perspective, I find some of the implications slightly terrifying.

So I’m genuinely curious:

Could AI companions ultimately improve animal welfare by reducing unsuitable pet ownership - or could they gradually change our expectations of real animals for the worse?

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts 🤖

14/08/2026

𝗜 𝗞𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗜’𝗠 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗬 𝗝𝗢𝗕. 𝗜 𝗗𝗢𝗡’𝗧 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗗𝗢𝗚’𝗦 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗦𝗧 𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗜𝗧.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, because there’s a particular type of dog training content that makes me increasingly uncomfortable.

You know the stuff.

The bragging about the number of dogs they’ve transformed. The dramatic before and after. The dog that apparently ‘nobody else’ could handle. The barking, lunging, snarling dog at the beginning, followed by the same dog walking beautifully beside the trainer at the end.

“Look what I achieved in one session!”

And quite often, just to add a bit more weight to it, we’ll hear how many people the dog has bitten, how many trainers they’ve already seen, how impossible everyone thought they were…

Basically, 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗱𝗼 🙄

And I do understand why people make this stuff. We’re running businesses. I have to market myself too (although I find it hard), and people need some way of deciding whether I know what I’m talking about before they hand over their money and trust me with their dog.

I share my work. I share dogs. I celebrate progress. Of course I do.

But I think there’s a point where showing what you do tips over into making yourself the hero of somebody else’s story, and I really don’t want to do that.

Maybe it’s something that has come with being more secure in what I do, but the longer I’ve been doing this job, the less interested I’ve become in looking impressive while I’m doing it.

Because, frankly, a lot of really good behaviour work would make absolutely terrible social media 🥱.

I might spend ages just watching a dog move around their home. We might change where their bed is, rearrange furniture, shorten their walks or decide that actually, the thing their guardian desperately wants to train doesn’t need training at all right now.

I might notice something odd about the way a dog is moving and suggest we go back to the vet. We might decide that managing something is kinder than trying to change it. Or I might spend part of a session sitting on the floor drinking tea while the dog goes to sleep.

And yes, recently I got ridiculously excited because one of the amazing dogs I work with did a poo in the garden 😂.

To anyone else, not exactly riveting stuff.

But if you understand what’s been happening for that particular dog, a poo can be amazing progress!

That’s the thing. Behaviour work isn’t supposed to be a performance.

And when things do change, I don’t particularly want to take ownership of that either.

I’m not living with these dogs.

Their guardians are the ones doing the other however-many-hours-there-are-in-a-week. They’re changing routines, getting up early, managing environments, learning to spot things they’d never noticed before, going back to the vet, practising, messing things up occasionally, trying again and slowly getting to know the dog in front of them rather than the dog they thought they had.

And the dog is doing a fair bit of work too.

They might be learning that somebody will actually listen when they say they’re uncomfortable. That they’re allowed to walk away. That the world has become a little more predictable. That they don’t necessarily have to shout quite so loudly because the quieter stuff is finally working.

I’m part of that process. Sometimes quite an important part.

But it isn’t 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

And I really don’t want somebody else’s most difficult or vulnerable moments to become currency for proving how good I am at my job.

If I already know a dog is terrified of something, I don’t need footage of them falling apart to prove that they’re terrified.

If a dog has bitten somebody, I don’t need to tell the internet all the grisly details to make myself sound more impressive for working with them.

And I certainly don’t want to put a dog into a situation I could have avoided just because the resulting before-and-after would make a cracking reel.

I’d much rather show you the quieter stuff.

The dog who walks away when previously they couldn’t.

The person who spots that tiny change in body language and says, “Actually, I think he’s had enough.”

The walk we decide not to do.

The vet appointment that completely changes how we understand the behaviour.

The dog who finally manages to sleep properly.

And, apparently, the occasional celebratory poo 💩 🙌 .

None of those things screams 𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗭𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗢𝗚 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗦𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡!!!

But sometimes they’re the things I’m most excited about.

I don’t want to be the hero in my clients’ stories. I want to give people the knowledge and skills to understand their own dogs so well that, eventually, they barely need me.

And if six months later they’re quietly getting on with their lives together and I’m nowhere to be seen?

I reckon I’ve done my job 💕

12/08/2026

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗲𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.

But they might notice that something about the world feels a bit weird.

I remember the big eclipse in 1999 really clearly, and one of the things I remember is how oddly our animals behaved. We had cats and a dog at the time and they definitely seemed to know that something wasn't quite right. Obviously they had no idea that the Moon was passing between us and the Sun, but something in their environment had changed and they noticed it.

Then in 2005 I was lucky enough to experience another eclipse while I was in Kenya, and I remember that one vividly.

It was weird.

As the light changed, everything seemed to go quiet. The birds stopped calling and the monkeys started behaving differently. There was just this really peculiar change in the atmosphere around us. I was surrounded by animals at the time, so perhaps I was particularly tuned into it, but I remember being fascinated by how much seemed to change in such a short space of time.

And, as it happens, there's some rather cool science behind what I saw.

Researchers studying the 2017 total solar eclipse in the US watched 17 different groups of zoo animals. Around 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 in some way.

A lot of them simply started doing things they'd normally do in the evening or at night. Others did things the researchers hadn't seen them do before, and there were behaviours in several species that were considered consistent with anxiety.

Then we had the 2024 North American eclipse, which gave researchers a brilliant opportunity to look at birds on a much bigger scale. They combined more than 10,000 observations with almost 100,000 recordings of bird vocalisations.

One of the findings I particularly love is what happened when the light came back.

Around half of the species studied started singing what was basically a 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗮𝘄𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘂𝘀.

Their unexpected "night" had only lasted a few minutes, but apparently that was enough.

And I think that's the interesting bit when we think about our dogs.

They don't need to understand what an eclipse is. They're just experiencing all the things around them suddenly being slightly different.

The light changes quite quickly. Shadows and contrast change. The temperature can drop. Birds and insects may start behaving differently. Other animals might change what they're doing.

And then there's us.

People are outside when they might not normally be, staring at the sky, talking about it, getting excited and generally paying a frankly ridiculous amount of attention to the Sun.

Our dogs are taking all of that in too.

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝘀?

Mostly, probably nothing!

I really don't want to turn tonight into another thing that dog guardians need to worry about. We don't have good evidence that pet dogs routinely become frightened or distressed during eclipses and I'd imagine plenty will snooze through the entire thing without giving it a second thought.

But some dogs are incredibly tuned into changes in their environment, and those dogs might notice that things aren't quite as they normally are.

Perhaps they're a little more watchful. Maybe they keep looking outside, become restless or want to stay closer to you. They might bark at something you can't identify or decide they'd much rather be indoors.

Or they may conclude that somebody has unexpectedly switched evening on early and suddenly disappear off to bed.

𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴.

If they want to come inside, let them. Make sure their usual resting places are available and don't feel that they need to come outside and "experience" the eclipse with you. If they'd rather sleep through this particular astronomical event, that's absolutely fine.

I'd keep things pretty normal and let them make their own choices.

And actually, if you get the chance, watch the other animals too. I certainly will 😊

I'm really interested to see what the birds around here do, particularly after the rather extraordinary few days we've already had in the New Forest.

We've had the fire, smoke, emergency vehicles, road closures and lots of disruption. I don't want to make assumptions about what individual animals have found stressful, but the environment certainly hasn't been particularly normal. For some of our more sensitive dogs, tonight may simply be one more unusual thing to process.

So I'm not suggesting we need to prepare our dogs for the Great Eclipse of Doom.

Quite the opposite.

I'm going to watch it, watch the wildlife and probably spend an unreasonable amount of time watching my own dogs to see whether they give a toss.

And if they don't? That's interesting too.

Because our dogs don't need to understand 𝘄𝗵𝘆 the world suddenly feels different. We can simply give them the choice to respond to it in whatever way works for them.

Words are mine. Photo by Mark Tegethoff via Unsplash

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 / 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Hartstone-Rose A, Dickinson E, Paciulli LM et al. (2020). Total Eclipse of the Zoo: Animal Behavior during a Total Solar Eclipse. Animals, 10(4), 587.

Aguilar LA, Miller-Crews I, Dobris JM et al. (2025). Total solar eclipse triggers dawn behavior in birds: Insights from acoustic recordings and community science. Science, 390, 152–155.

11/08/2026

𝗜𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲?

You’re probably not imagining it.

The fire has been frightening for a lot of us, and our animals are living through it too.

Even if they’ve never been anywhere near the flames, their environment has changed enormously. Smoke and ash in the air. Strong, unfamiliar smells. Roads closed. More emergency vehicles. Different traffic patterns. Helicopters. Fire trucks. People coming and going at unusual times. Walks changing. Windows being shut. Guardians being tense, watchful and worried.

And animals notice far more of that than we sometimes give them credit for.

Some will take it completely in their stride. Others may become clingier, restless, vocal, unsettled at night, reluctant to go outside, more reactive, more easily startled, unusually quiet, off their food, following you everywhere, hiding, struggling to settle or suddenly showing behaviours you thought had disappeared months ago.

That doesn’t necessarily mean their previous progress has vanished.

Sometimes it simply means their stress system is overloaded.

One of my clients contacted me today because his dog, who had been doing brilliantly, has suddenly started intensely following one member of the family, licking, hu***ng and becoming extremely distressed when everyone goes to bed.

I wouldn’t look at that right now and think, “we need to fix the behaviour”.

I’d think, 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲.

And that changes what we do.

For the next few days, if your animal is struggling:

• 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴. Familiar routines, familiar places and as little unnecessary excitement as possible.

• 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲. If your dog suddenly wants to sleep near you or your cat is following you from room to room, this probably isn’t the week to insist on independence.

• 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺. Fear is an emotional response. You are not going to teach an animal to be frightened by helping them feel safe.

• 𝗟𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. This probably isn’t the moment to work on difficult training, dog greetings, busy walks or anything else that requires a lot of emotional bandwidth.

• 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀. Familiar routes, plenty of sniffing, lots of space and the option to turn around and go home.

• 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁. A familiar bed, den, quiet room or hiding place — and leave them alone if that is what they choose.

• 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲. Scatter feeding, sniffing, licking, chewing or quiet foraging if they enjoy it. We’re looking for decompression, not more adrenaline.

• 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘁. Barking, pacing, hu***ng, clinginess, hiding or irritability can all increase when an animal is struggling. Management and support are far more useful than correction.

• 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽. Stress and poor sleep are a rotten combination. If temporarily changing the sleeping arrangements helps everybody actually rest, I’d do that.

And remember that the effects of something frightening don’t necessarily disappear the moment the flames are out.

Stress can linger.

The smell of smoke may remain. The roads may still be unusual. People may still be on edge. Their normal routine may not yet be normal at all.

So if your animal seems a bit “off” this week, give them some grace.

𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿, 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗿, 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲.

And if the change is severe, they stop eating or drinking, seem physically unwell, are struggling to breathe, cannot settle at all, or their behaviour continues to deteriorate once things around us have returned to normal, speak to your vet.

This has been scary.

They don’t need to understand what a wildfire is to know that something in their world isn’t right.

There are more than 120 firefighters on the scene battling the heat and arduous terrain, in order to prevent further fire spread.

Currently, we have 10 fire engines and 13 off-road vehicles in attendance, and we plan to maintain this number of vehicles until at least midnight, although it is likely to be required for longer.

We are grateful for the support from our neighbouring fire services, as well as others from across the country who are working alongside our firefighters with specialist vehicles and equipment, to resolve this incident.

We know that the A31 is a crucial part of our road network, and in these summer months, many of you will want to go out to enjoy the New Forest, but we ask that you continue to avoid this area, with road closures still in place, whilst our teams work to save this part of our beautiful countryside.

Read more - https://bit.ly/4wP3mZZ

19/07/2026

If you’re planning to travel with your pets this year, my friend Evelyn can help take some of the stress out of getting everything organised! 🐾✈️🌍

Evelyn is an Official Veterinarian (OV) and can help with Animal Health Certificates and international pet travel paperwork, making sure everything is in place for your trip.

She’s based around Bournemouth and Dorset — and I can personally vouch for her being a thoroughly lovely human too! ❤️

Official Veterinarian revalidation: done! 🎓✈️

Anyone who has looked into taking their pet abroad recently knows that post-Brexit travel paperwork can feel like a mountain of stress. One tiny mistake on a form, and your holiday plans can completely stall at the border.

That is exactly why I keep my OV status fully sharpened. For pet owners and holidaymakers around Bournemouth and Dorset, it means I can officially take care of your Animal Health Certificates and complex international paperwork with absolute precision.

My goal is to completely absorb that pre-trip paperwork panic for you, so your companions can transition seamlessly across borders with zero stress.

If you are planning a summer getaway or future travel with your furry co-pilots, the paperwork is officially ready to go. Let's get those certificates sorted! 🌍🐾