Spicy Dogs

29/08/2025

When Dogs Choose Their Own Homes ..

In my six years in Sri Lanka, I’ve witnessed something remarkable: dogs who, when given the freedom and opportunity, decide for themselves where to live and move out.

A few cases I could personally witness:

- Kalu, the fisherman’s dog, chose the beach and became the leader of a pack instead of staying a pet. His owner went to pick him up several times and brought him home, but he would just take himself back to the beach.

- Podi Kalu, my neighbour's dog, who moved into my home after being bullied by the rest of the other dogs living with her.

- Teddy, who also escaped his home and found peace by settling into a new neighbourhood (mine). When we found out he had a guardian, we called him and he came to pick Teddy up. But he also kept returning.

- My own dogs (!) when I brought 2 puppies home and they left our home and moved to the neighbours because they weren’t happy.

But there are several others, which I often hear from friends, of dogs that adopt themselves but actually have a guaridans. So move in completely, others only joins at night or for meals, or sometimes just for walks!

These stories remind me something it's hard to witness in other contexts: dogs have agency, preferences, and the ability to choose what feels safe and right.

For those of us who adopt free-living dogs, it’s a gentle but important question:. If your dog had a choice, a real choice, would they stay with you?

If the answer feels uncertain, that’s not a failure. It’s simply an invitation to keep shaping an environment where they feel safe, understood, and truly at ease.

Because the greatest gift we can give our dogs is not ownership, but a home they would choose over and over again!

💬 What do you think your dog would choose if they had the total freedom to walk out and have an option?

27/08/2025

26/08/2025

“Were they better off on the street?” 💭

If you’ve ever adopted a free-living dog, you probably know this guilt.
The look in their eyes when they struggle indoors, especially alone. The leash that feels like a cage. The restrictions of our human world.

I was stuck in this loop of thoughts for a long time. Always wondering if I had taken something away from them.

- With Bambi, I tried and failed to offer freedom; she didn’t know how to handle it.
- With PP, I saw that even when given the choice, he orbited around me.

And slowly I learned: some dogs crave independence, others are content with closeness. What matters is not whether their life now is “free,” but whether it feels safe, meaningful, and full of choices.

Guilt doesn’t serve them (or us). Presence, joy, and adaptability do.

I’ve raised two very not-independent dogs. I’ve built my life around giving them a hybrid kind of freedom: a free-pet life. And that’s what works for us.

Today, I’ve (mostly) let the guilt go. What remains is gratitude for the privilege of sharing life with them.

Have you carried this guilt too?
My comments are a shame-free space if you’d like to share.

22/08/2025

We call it “teaching manners.” But too often, it’s really teaching dogs that their voices don’t matter..

When we label their needs as “bad habits,” we silence their ways of communicating.
When we force them to fit rules that were never designed with their well-being in mind, we risk breaking trust instead of building it.

The truth?
Your dog already knows how to be a dog.
What they need is to be heard, understood, and supported, not shamed into silence.

So I’ll ask you:
Whose needs are really being met in the name of “manners”?
Yours? The industry’s rules?
Or your dog’s?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

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..