Spicy Dogs

20/08/2025

Have you ever felt guilty for doing what feels natural with your dog? (or following someone's advice and using a training method that seemed too harsh?)
Letting them on the couch, sharing food at the table, greeting guests with excitement, reassuring a scared dog or just following your intuition, only to hear “that’s wrong” from the training world?

This is the pet industry’s hidden weapon: shame.
It tells you your dog is “bad,” or that you’re “weak,” when in reality… you’re just connecting in the most natural way!

The truth?
1 Dogs are social beings.
2 Love, trust, and shared experiences are not “bad habits”, they’re the foundation of your bond and the relationship you should create with your dog.

When guardians hide their instincts out of guilt, both dogs and people lose.
If it feels natural and right for you and your dog, maybe it’s not a problem at all, maybe it’s exactly what your relationship needs!

✨ It’s time we stop letting shame dictate how we love our dogs.

Tell me: what “rule” have you happily broken that brought you closer to your dog?

17/08/2025

Interesting reading

The charity calls for all dog rescue organisations to be licensed amid concerns over imported pets.

16/08/2025

Delhi’s Supreme Court has just ruled to remove street dogs from the cities and place them in shelters. History repeats itself, and we have seen similar scenarios in Turkey, Morocco and here in Sri Lanka recently as well.

At first glance, it might sound like “rescue”, or "order" and "management", but history, science, and global experience tell us this approach fails both dogs and people.

This is the model many Western countries adopted decades ago: removing all free-living dogs from the streets. The result? We created a system where dogs only exist as pets.. their freedoms are gone, their roles in the ecosystem erased, and far too many are left languishing in overcrowded shelters if not euthanised because there aren't enough homes available.

In countries where removal is the norm, shelters are overwhelmed, adoption rates can’t keep up, and many dogs spend years - or their entire lives - behind bars.

Removal has also been shown to be detrimental in rabies control. Why? Because removing vaccinated street dogs breaks their territorial protection, allowing unvaccinated dogs to move in, spreading the virus further.

The most effective, humane, and sustainable path, proven in multiple countries, is coexistence:

✔ TNR (trap–neuter–return)
✔ On-the-spot vet care
✔ Rabies vaccination
✔ Public education

Street dogs are not “a problem to remove”, they belong and they are part of the community. Our job should be to make that coexistence safe and harmonious for everyone, taking into consideration their needs and not only ours.

What do you think? Does removing street dogs solve the issue, or does it simply move it somewhere else?

13/08/2025

We’ve been told for so long that “begging” is bad. But for dogs, sitting near you while you eat, watching, smelling, and even sharing small bites is a natural social behaviour.

In the wild, dogs often eat together. It’s a time of safety, cooperation, and social bonding. When we teach our pet dogs to stay away, ignore us, or go lie down in another room, we shut down an important way they can connect with us.

📚 Research in canine behaviour and social ecology shows that food sharing and co-feeding are important for maintaining social bonds and reducing conflict within groups (Marshall-Pescini et al., 2017; Range et al., 2015). Free-living and village dogs often rest, travel, and eat together, not just for survival, but to reinforce trust and cooperation.

When done in a safe, respectful way, sharing space around food can be grounding and trust-building. It’s not “spoiling” them! it’s meeting a social need.

💬 Does your dog join you at mealtimes? How do you feel about it?

09/08/2025

Sometimes, the best way to know if a dog is truly thriving is to stop looking at their individual behaviours…and start looking at the variety in what they do.

Research (Miller et al., 2020) suggests that behavioural diversity (the range of different behaviours an animal displays) can be a key indicator of positive welfare.

Because a wide behavioural repertoire means they have the freedom, opportunity, and confidence to express natural instincts: from exploring and sniffing, to resting in the sun, to playing with friends.

When dogs live in environments that limit these behaviours, whether it’s constant confinement, over-structured training, or a lack of choice, their welfare suffers.

For free-living dogs, this diversity is a given. For pet dogs, it’s something we need to protect and nurture!!

Sniffing in the grass or digging your garden
Napping in the sun or on comfy furniture pieces
Chasing a friend or an enemy
Foraging for treats in leaves. or destroying objects
Drinking from a puddle, or rolling in one
Rolling in the sand, or in stincky stuff

When dogs feel safe, have agency, and can meet their needs in different ways, their natural repertoire of behaviours starts to shine. The opposite? When fear, stress, or restriction limits their options, we see far less variety.

💬 What behaviours does your dog love to do that make you feel they’re truly thriving? or have you noticed new behaviours from your dog as they’ve settled in with you? Share one below 👇

For me, it’s watching them dig with total focus, then burst into post-dig zoomies, you can almost see the endorphins rushing through their bodies! 🤩

06/08/2025

I often talk about how challenging is to be Bambi's human. She loves me hard, makes me feel special and so privileged but all this love and trust come with an enormous amount of responsibility and it's a big weight.
She depends on me. She is hyperattached to me.

I love her to bits, she is the cutest thing ever when she allows you in. She is sweet, cuddly, fun and loving. I just wish she would always be like this and with a lot more people. She is smart, resilient and adaptive so I know she will be ok but I still spend my every days worrying about her and her wellbeing. And when I leave her, i try not to think about it but my worst nightmare is that something happens to her and no one can help her..

I have a super difficult confession to make.
When I lost her, million thoughts were running through my head - thinking how scared she must have been, feeling guilty for not protecting her, thinking the worst and fearing to have lost her forever and while letting that thought in to help me prepare for the worst outcome, another uncomfortable intrusive thought emerged..
"at least now you won't have to worry about her anymore!" that's right. I felt so awful and ashamed and horrible for being so selfish and thinking of that.

This thought has followed me for all these months and I only now I have had the time to fully process it. Because loving Bambi is fu***ng complicated sometimes and despite the fact that I love her immensely but, nonetheless, it's hard.

And I know for a fact that I am not the only one out there having these feelings and I also know for a fact that putting it out here can help!

I see you, I feel you. And it's ok! 🤍🫰

31/07/2025

Let’s talk about a dog-to-dog greeting that started with tension but ended politely, a great example of how dogs communicate, test boundaries, and repair awkward beginnings when we give them space and support.

Here’s what happened 👇

🧩 The scene
My dog met a new dog who was a bit too "in your face", approaching too directly and intensely for my dog’s liking.

⚡ Step 1: Air snap + retreat
My dog air-snapped toward the other dog’s face, a clear “back off”, then retreated back to me.
Not aggression, just a healthy way of asking for space.

🧍‍♀️🐕 Step 2: Support & co-regulation
As he returned to me, I calmly stepped forward to show support.
That small gesture mattered. He stepped forward with me, growled softly, and the other dog moved away to mark, a subtle reset.

💦 Step 3: The other dog marks
This could mean,
“Let’s start over,”
“I’m here, but not challenging you,”
A scent-based way to soften the energy.

👃 Step 4: My dog tries to sniff, but gets blocked
He moved to sniff (a peaceful way to reconnect), but the other dog blocked access by standing over the mark.
Maybe a control move, a confidence test, or just poor timing, but still, no tension.

🤸 Step 5: Play bows + engagement
Both dogs began offering play bows, asking for distance while showing interest. The tension passed, and they explored connection on new terms.

👇 What they showed us:

My dog:
-Communicated clearly,
-Used support to self-regulate,
-Was flexible and re-engaged calmly

The other dog:
-Was impulsive or confident,
-Responded with scent signals,
-Was open to repairing through play

Dog greetings aren’t always smooth, but if we give space, read the moment, and support calmly, dogs will often find their way.

16/07/2025

When I say adoption isn’t always the right option for free-living dogs, I mean it.

And I say it from experience, not theory.
Especially here, locally, where I’ve lived and worked for years, I’ve seen what happens when puppies are adopted out to families who aren’t ready.

People here often lack the knowledge, empathy, or support to raise dogs compassionately. Especially if these dogs are not even meant to be pets. I find that too many still value material things more than life itself. They believe in punishment, see dogs as property, and don’t have secure boundaries, so conflicts with neighbours are inevitable.

And still, I’ve done it!! I’ve let my emotions take over and thought, “Maybe this time it will be different.” I’ve given puppies to families, hoping for the best.

And I’ve watched those puppies get dumped, chained, caged, or turned into reactive strays, if they’re lucky enough to survive at all.

We think we’re helping. But what we’re really doing is stripping those puppies of the only chance they had to learn how to survive as village dogs. We rob them of their instincts, their skills, their freedom, because our feelings get in the way of their nature.

I’m guilty of this. And honestly? It’s fu**ed up.
I lie awake some nights, wondering:
How do we fix this? How do we do better?

It starts with telling and recognising the truth.Even when it hurts. Even when it’s unpopular 😔

What are your thoughts and experiences? I would love for someone to prove me wrong..
Let’s talk about this;
Have you ever adopted out a dog and regretted it later?
Have you seen well-meant adoptions go wrong?
Or struggled with the same guilt and conflict I describe?

Drop your thoughts in the comments.
Let’s open this conversation: no judgment, just truth. Because we can’t do better until we get honest..

04/07/2025

Adoption isn’t the solution!
We won’t rescue our way out of this crisis.
We need to stop chasing broken pieces and start changing the system.

🐾 That means TNR.
🧠 That means education.
🤝 That means collaboration.

I often feel like I’m shouting into the void of the internet…
But I don’t want to just raise awareness—I want to build something.
Something that actually changes the future for these dogs.
Not just today’s crisis, but the whole damn system.

If you’re a rescue org that knows adoption alone isn’t enough—
and you’re ready to co-create educational projects that go deeper—
I want to hear from you.

Let’s go beyond the rescue narrative.
Let’s build something that truly changes things.

30/06/2025

Some days I look around and just cry. Not because I’m weak. But because I’m awake to all of it.

The injured dog limping past traffic.
The puppies dumped at the temple.
The mother, bones showing, trying to nurse her litter in the rain. The people who look away.
The people who just don’t know.

I live in a country where street dogs are everywhere. And so is their suffering. And yes, I used to rescue. I used to try to “save” one dog at a time. And sometimes I still do.

But let me say something that may sound harsh:
Rescue is not the solution. It’s a reaction.
A response to a problem that’s already out of control!

Because the truth is: there are too many dogs.
And too many people who don’t know better.

If we want to stop the suffering, we need to stop the cycle. And that means spay and neuter.
That means education. That means changing the culture.

TNR without education is a bandaid.
Education without TNR is a dream.
But together? That’s the real way forward!

Because coexistence isn’t about loving dogs.
It’s about understanding them. It’s about changing the systems that keep them suffering.
It’s about reaching the people who don’t know,
and yes, the ones who don’t care.

I know we can’t rescue them all.
But I will keep speaking, keep educating,
keep pushing for a world where they don’t need to be rescued at all 💫
✨

23/06/2025

“Your dog’s reactive? Oh… I’m so sorry”, "Sorry about my dog, she is reactive" ..
Why? I’m not. 🖕

I don’t carry shame. I don’t carry guilt.
I don’t need to apologise for the fact that my dog has boundaries—and the confidence to express them.

He growls at people?
Cool. He’s telling them to back off. I wish more humans were that clear.

Living in a place where dogs are expected to be reactive, where barking, growling, and lunging are normal expressions, has completely rewritten my relationship with reactivity.

I don’t manage it. I respect it!
I don’t train it out. I listen to it!

And yes, when I bluntly tell tourists to stay away from my dog, or when he tells them himself, I sometimes giggle. Because he’s advocating for himself, and that’s not something I want or need to change. That’s something to honour.

Let your dogs be pi**ed off. Let them say no. Let them growl, bark, and hold their ground. You do it, right? Why can’t they?

If you feel shame about your dog’s reactivity, ask yourself:
Are you trying to protect your dog from the world? Or are you trying to protect yourself from the judgment of others?

I know which one I choose. And it isn’t about being polite 😉

20/06/2025

We often say our dogs have “the best lives.”

They live long, have clean beds, kibble twice a day, toys, and yearly vet checks.
But what if that’s only part of the story?

Mayers et al (2022) paper compared modern companion dogs to village dogs
and the findings? A bit uncomfortable.

Yes, pet dogs live longer. Yes, they’re protected.
But they also suffer. From isolation, anxiety, boredom, and chronic frustration.
From living lives they weren’t designed for.

Meanwhile, village dogs, though exposed to risks, experience a different kind of welfare:
- freedom to choose
- real social bonds
- no pressure to “perform”
- emotionally appropriate lifestyles
- natural communication, not correction

This isn’t about glorifying struggle. It’s about questioning the cost of control.
Are we giving dogs the lives they need…or the lives that make us feel better?

Village dogs challenge the entire pet industry narrative. And maybe that’s exactly what we need right now!