Rachel Forday - Dog At Heart (2025)

22/04/2025

We can care about more than one thing at once AND also realise they’re connected.

Because we are all interconnected. Us and nature and all the beings around us.

Colonialism, fascism, capitalism, and oppressive systems impact how we care for animals and how we view them.

From colonial forces like law enforcement to abusive training methods and the weaponisation of dogs against marginalised people.

From rising fascism to harmful hierarchical “alpha/pack leader” mindset about dogs.

From medical gaslighting to the neglect of pain in dogs.

It is all connected. Decolonisation and abolishing oppressive systems are not separate from animal wellbeing and care.

Fight fascism and advocate for force-free training and handling of dogs.

Speak up against genocide and raise awareness about pain in dogs.

Interrogate capitalistic ideals and stop imposing capitalistic values on dogs like Nothing In Life Is Free or claiming they need to have a “work ethic”.

Decolonise and interrogate punishment culture in everything in the world around us.

Care about multiple things at once and start recognising the intersectionality of it all.

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18/04/2025

I’ve been wanting to make this post for years but have found it difficult to because of how vague the terms involving the word “drive” are in the dog training world.

I found it interesting how some of the comments in my last post were talking about their “high drive” dog and how they displayed behaviours of frustration similar or different to my so-called “low drive” dog.

This really showed me how these “drive” labels are vague and don’t really tell us much about an individual dog’s behaviour because every dog is an individual and won’t fit neatly in these boxes.

The tl;dr of it all with this post is that the way we use typically the term “drive” in dog training is inconsistent in what it means when people use it and is at the end of the day, just a construct that can be harmful as it can result in the use of aversive tools and methods on a dog.

Personally, I refrain from using these terms and if I do use them, they are in quote marks or I am using them privately with a peer who is on the same page as me.

Understanding the function of our dog’s behaviour and using language that is much clearer with regards to what we mean makes us more effective in understanding our dogs and working with them.

15/04/2025

In the past, we have posted about the IOF dog attacks on Dawlat Abdullah Al Tanani and Muhammed Bhar, as well as the IOF dog attacks on people in Kamal Adwan Hospital, and more.

This has not stopped. In Nablus, occupied West Bank, a Palestinian mother with a 3-year-old son were attacked by a large dog when Isr*eli soldiers forced their way into her home, resulting in the child needing 42 internal and external stitches and hospitalisation for 8 days.

A 77-year-old detainee from Gaza experienced 4 nights in detention where Isr*eli soldiers ordered him and other detainees to “lie face down on the ground and spread (their) legs” and commanded dogs to attack them. A dog also dragged him out of the room to a place where soldiers then assaulted him.

There are unfortunately countless accounts like this and we must not look away. Protection dog companies in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, are complicit as they send dogs to Isr*el for their eventual brutal weaponisation against Palestinians.

While we love our dogs, it should be unsurprising when dogs are feared by some communities when dogs are used as a tool of colonial violence against people of these communities.

What’s wild is that these colonisers will then act like they’re morally superior because they “love” dogs, when they are the ones who made people fear dogs through their weaponisation of dogs.

Ultimately, the weaponisation of dogs in this manner damages our relationship with dogs and all of nature, and is in itself inherently abusive towards dogs.

This should concern all of us in the animal care community. This should make us continue to interrogate the glorification of the weaponisation of dogs, not just by the IOF, but also by cops and military around the world.

Please keep speaking up about Palestine, keep speaking up about the harmful weaponisation of dogs. Do what you can and more for a free Palestine.

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21/03/2025

A rose by any other name… still has thorns.

It doesn’t matter if you’re using a cheap or branded shock/e-collar, if your prong collar sits higher on the neck or lower, or if you’re jerking on the leash with a choke chain or sliplead… these methods all function by causing pain and discomfort to a dog.

With the prong collar and sliplead example, we often see people claim that it should sit high up on the neck to be the “right position”. But that’s only because it causes more pain to a dog with less force applied.

And there is NO “right way” to hurt a dog even if they seem like slightly varying degrees of aversiveness. It is not somehow “more ethical” to use one or the other as these methods and tools are all unethical and harmful.

Not to mention how unethical it is to utilise aversive methods, causing pain and discomfort, on dogs who may potentially already have undiagnosed and untreated pain.

Causing a dog pain, discomfort, and stress in the name of training is still hurting them no matter how we dress it up, no matter what use euphemisms are used to disguise how aversive they are, or no matter whether slightly different aversive tools are used in slightly different aversive ways.

Dogs deserve better and deserve to be treated like sentient beings. They deserve to be understood and heard rather than be controlled and suppressed through aversive tools and methods.

Never desensitise yourself to the ways dogs are hurt in the name of training.

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03/03/2025

Going live on Instagram next week with ENCAN Entendimiento Canino! 🙌

03/03/2025

Breed bans and Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) are rooted in classism and racism and always impact marginalised people and their dogs the most.

BSL and policing are never enforced the same across different communities and they are often another excuse for cops to profile people and cause more harm to marginalised people and their dogs.

At the same time, they also do not reduce dog bite incidents.

With the XL Bully ban in place since last year in Feb 2024, we can see how it has resulted in more harm, heartbreak, and pain. It doesn’t address the root of the issues around dog bite incidents, because its goal was not about care for humans or animals at all.

The safety of dogs and people comes from accessible education and resources to support responsible dog care, and that should be what is invested in, instead of investing in the seizing of dogs that look a certain way, specialist equipment to seize these dogs, kennelling these dogs, euthanising these dogs, and paying cops overtime for BSL related cases.

I urge folks to refrain from spreading harmful rhetoric about breeds who are under BSL or at risk of BSL. Breed generalisations come with many pitfalls, including harm towards dogs who have certain appearances (because appearances do not necessarily always determine breed), as well as important issues like a dog’s pain, fear, and stress being overlooked.

Please also do not forget about how classism and racism plays a part in this whenever you’re discussing the topic of breed bans and BSL.

And while I have focused on the breed bans/BSL in the UK here, this applies to anywhere in the world with breed bans/BSL.

To see more about this topic, please see our “Breed Bans/BSL” IG highlights.

19/02/2025

Of course, in the moment of a dog bite we do what we have to do to manage the situation for safety, and the immediate moment after a dog bite can result in us us feeling stunned, shocked, and in need of some space to process.

Heavy emotions like anger, guilt, shame, frustration, and sadness are absolutely valid too.

As we start to process things after being bitten, I hope we continue to have compassion for both the dog who has bitten as well as ourselves, and consider that the bite is information too.

Doing so, as opposed to labelling the dog something negative like an “asshole” or blaming the dog’s breed or size for what has happened, can help us prevent future bites and also help our dogs out, especially when it’s likely that a dog bite has happened because of pain, fear, and/or stress.

Dogs who have bitten also absolutely do not deserve aversive treatment and punishment-based training.

Aversive control and punishment will only make things worse, as is well-documented, increasing aggressive behaviours and increasing the possibility of dogs going straight into a bite much more quickly without warning, especially if their lower level pain and stress signals are punished. Such methods would also only increase pain and stress on a dog who is likely experiencing pain and stress already.

I experienced my first bite recently. In all my years around dogs who display reactive behaviours and resource guarding behaviours, it was the first time a dog had bitten me. My first emotions were spiralling wondering if I had done anything to cause the bite and wondering what I had missed, as I always do my best to be careful and mindful of body language. But as I got to process things, I was thinking more about the dog and potential pain they might be in and I hope that my bite incident at least results in the dog getting help for the pain they may likely be in soon.

Bite incidents are a difficult and often traumatic thing, and this is absolutely not about downplaying it. I simply hope that we continue to be gentle and soft to ourselves and our dogs through it.

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07/02/2025

People often tell me how cool Dave is and how fit he is for his age.

The great thing is that Dave was a shelter dog, and you can find dogs who are cool and fit like Dave in a shelter too. There are many even more sociable than him too (but I love my independent little man just as he is).

Most dogs in shelters are there due to poverty and the violence of capitalism, not because of behavioural issues. Their current circumstance does not equate to them being “genetic messes”.

Some shelter dogs, like Dave, are also former free living dogs, not selectively bred by people and are genetically diverse. Some free living dogs are incredibly social, and some may not be, just like all individuals.

While some shelter dogs may display challenging behaviours, ANY dog can too, and the inherently stressful shelter environment they are in often plays a part in this.

Having struggles and displaying behaviours people might label as fearful or reactive in certain situations is not unique to shelter dogs. Any dog, including ones from established breeders, can experience this.

Any dog, shelter dogs and dogs from breeders alike, can also experience pain which can result in displays of concerning behaviours.

There are simply no guarantees when it comes to a living sentient being’s behaviour.

This claim that shelter dogs are “genetic messes” is also harmful to dogs from breeders and guardians who obtained their dog from a breeder, as the stigmatisation of shelter dogs means people have their expectations of dogs from established breeders to be “perfect” and they feel shame or disappointment when their dog develops any behaviour challenges.

At the same time, there are also purebred dogs from established breeders who, due to the standards of the breed, may have more health and pain conditions.

There is a real issue in the way many dog training and behaviour professionals, including in the R+ and force-free side of things, talk about and treat shelter dogs and how often the people who speak negatively about shelter dogs are platformed. It’s incredibly harmful to already disadvantaged dogs.

And honestly, it is sounding eugenics-adjacent at this point. Shelter dogs deserve better.

ID: The text on top says “When people claim ‘All shelter dogs are genetic messes!’” and the text under this in black says “Me:” referring to the image below. The image is a screenshot of the Nickleback “Photograph” music video where the singer holds up a photoframe but this time it’s Dave, a brown Singapore Special dog with pointy ears standing on a stacking board, in that photoframe.

01/02/2025

In the days ahead, we will probably either see animal training and behaviour organisations reiterate their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) statements or quietly stop doing anything to do with DEI, if they haven’t already stopped ages ago.

This is a reminder that DEI is only the basic, bare minimum starting point, and that not one organisation in our field has even successfully implemented this.

The lack of accessibility, lack of mask-wearing at in-person events, platforming only the same BIPGM professionals who will coddle whiteness, prioritising protecting “industry leaders” and famous people no matter the harm they cause to dogs and people… the list goes on.

Pay attention to “industry leaders” who are making statements now about being a “safe space” but who have never said a word about Palestine, Sudan, Congo, or Tigray.

Many of us have moved beyond DEI and we have been working towards decolonisation and collective liberation, which is urgently needed right now.

These organisations do not move us forward. They keep us stuck in mediocrity, and that is both when it comes to anti-oppression AND animal behaviour considering the lack of pain awareness with any of these organisations and institutions.

I am grateful to always be learning from my peers in this industry who care about collective liberation and the whole wellbeing of dogs. I love that we can keep improving and changing what we do when we learn to do better.

If you’re starting out as a dog trainer or are thinking about starting out, I can no longer in good conscience recommend any large, well-known institutions and organisations to go to. But there are still lots of great, accessible resources as well as many amazing professionals out there to learn from and I’ll regularly share them to my IG stories.

A future that is force-free requires us to interrogate all of punishment culture. Learning about and working towards decolonisation, collective liberation, and restorative justice will get us there and guide us to provide better care for animals and people.

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Rachel Forday - Dog At Heart

22/04/2025

18/04/2025

15/04/2025

21/03/2025

03/03/2025

03/03/2025

19/02/2025

07/02/2025

01/02/2025

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