Canine NeuroPark TM

29/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

"A predicting nervous system is not a modern idea!"

🧠🐕 Preparatory & Consummatory Behaviour

In 1906, Sir Charles Sherrington showed that behaviour is more than a simple, linear stimulus → response. The nervous system prepares the body for what it expects next while it integrates information.

We can think of behaviour as a continuous cycle (O):

🧠Expect/Prepare O→ 👀Orient O→ 🔎 Explore O→ 🐕 🎯 Act O→ ✅ Outcome (Consummation)O→

The preparatory phase includes looking, scanning, sniffing, approaching, searching, attending and getting the body ready for action.
The consummatory phase is the action that achieves the biological outcome — eating, resting, sleeping, escaping, catching, remove waste, grooming, connecting or completing a goal.

This matters when we work with dogs. What we see as “mis-behaviour” in an instant may well actually be preparation for an expected outcome.
At Canine Neuropark, we aim to work with this cycle — helping dogs explore safely, build positive expectations, support allostatic regulation and discover successful outcomes.

Move • Adapt • Thrive 🐾

Sherrington, C. S. (1906). The Integrative Action of the Nervous System.

25/08/2026

23/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

Evolved dogs.....

The Coppinger’s argued domesticated dogs were not simply “wolves that humans domesticated.” Instead, early dogs likely emerged through self-domestication: some wolves began exploiting human camps and settlements because respirces like food scarps left by humans were available.
Over generations, the "wolves" that were less prompted to threat and better able to live alongside humans gained an advantage. Wolves may also have mated with other canids in their niche who shared chromosomes & natural selection gradually shaped a new canid—one adapted to the human environment.
From this perspective, the dog’s evolution was driven not just by later human selection, but by a new ecological niche created by humans, these animals could take advantage of in form of resource gain.

On understanding behaviour, this insight is important to come to terms with, to grasp how interactions, including selected breeding, influence not just conformation of a breed, but behaviour in profound ways.

And here comes the confrontational bit of this post!
When we cull a breed, or limit the females or/and males within a breed of dog that is breed from, the interactions during the dam's pregnancy, take puppies too early from the mum and the litter, pretend to be able to change "preparedness" therafter, etc we create a lot of instances where we force changes. Those changes can become maladaptive.
When we claim to safe an animal, then cull most of them, we are not saving anything. We are changing the breed and most likely not to the better of that breed.
The greyhound is the latest victim of such a process. And there is really nothing to be proud of in this current process.
Pic- most probably my last 3 greyhounds.

18/08/2026

For the greyhound owners
"The Hounds Pyjamas" is back!
Greyt page to order your dogs coat from in very original "tweeds"😉
Below is Nairobi rocking her very own "Lego Tweed"

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FjSeq5Ndx/

17/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

Experiencial Blindness & Resolving Uncertainty

This is one of many great videos of how a dog can resolve uncertainty- experiential blindness- through action.
To understand a dog we have to understand how behaviour shapes, not why it shapes or what the dog experiences. Both the "why" or "what" questions we can only infer on, as we have no direct access to the inner states of an animal - human or non-human!

Yes, I could condition a sound to which the dogs would re-orient at me & "reinforce" the less aroused behaviour, or stuff his face with yummy treats while he is looking at the bush.
Both are problematic because!!....
The problem is, it wont resolve the uncertainty of the experiential blindness the dog is experiencing.

He would just re-orient his attention for a short while until we carry on moving.
I could move in a different direction or......just let him resolve his uncertain state through letting him have agency and interact in this non-threatening instance, so the dogs brain can build and reshape the past with this new interactive experience.

An even bigger problem is the fact that in any conditioning protocols we do not actually have direct access to the processes of adaptation. That of the brain "tagging" what is important to remember and what should be forgotten, and the actual reinforcing processes between synapses.

For animal training, it remains a powerful reminder: if a training plan fights the dog’s biology, the dogs "preparedness", his biology, often wins over time, not a trained, reinforced behaviour.

The most famous paper explaining this "instinctive drift", was written by Skinners students Keller & Marian Breland who trained thousands of animals: "Misbehavior of Organisms".[1]

▶️This doesn't mean we shouldn't train animals- it means be humble and know the limits of it!!◀️

(The problem of the word "instinct" is for another post to be disected)

[1] freely available⬇️ https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Breland/misbehavior.htm

12/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

Classical Conditioning "reconstructed"...

Why I don't often use the typical technical terms used in animal / Behavioural training...

I learnt early on in my studies with the BCCS, while having to do research to reason hypothesis on techniques, that training methods are complicated to most dog owners.
Protocols in methods may be interesting for professional to discuss and work with, but dog owners just want easy steps to help themselves and their dogs.

But a major influence to me is the works of scientists from the 60-80's who researched orient reflexes and Autoshaping [ps- turns out they are the same things to a brain!].

First, evidence exists since the early 80's that a Conditioned Stimulus (CS/i.e:Sound) is NOT a Stimulus Substitute for the Unconditioned Stimulus (US/i.e:food); but that the CS becomes an important signal(s) to shift attention to, through actions.
That difference might be subtle to people, however is has an important impact on how behaviour adapts through associative learning (prediction errors resolving unpredicted stimuli), and how we observe & meaning make from observation all together.

And second- the brain runs on approx. 20Watts.
It doesn't have the energy supply to run many different learning modes and store learned things like files.
The brain has the ability to add (learn) and "delete" (forget) through its internal dynamics, by using sensory input to constrain or update its predictions - action patterns.

It is neural rhytms (oscillations such as hippocampal theta ○ sharp wave ripples slow wave cycles) that structure the timing of events that allow the brain to map the predictive relationship in an environment to tag what is important to its system to "learn".

Metaphorically:
Just like a certain amount of letters in an alphabet, provide the building blocks to create words and sentences constrained by pauses of specific time frames, that afford these certain amount of letters to be used to explain / write about anything and everything. [Subquoting Buszaki]

So. I rather point out to the actions to take, rather than all the names for the protocols invented by humans- that have a timeframe over when they will work, and a timeframe from when they wont work anymore, as prepared action patterns take hold again.

That is why we founded Neuropark. It creates that environment for natural adaptation.
It may sound difficult by the words used, but by the actions taken it is simple output-input- update adaptation (learning) cycles.
No thrills ...

Picture above by chatgtp

Pic Explanation:
Classical conditioning is mostly explained as the CS becoming a representation of the US. Thus, in Pavlovs dogs example, the dogs started drooling to the sound of a metronome.
What that storyline suggests is that dogs are so stupid that they "think" the sound coming from the metronome is food.
Of course that is not so- the dog orients towards the sound, drooling, because the sound predicts the needs of the body before the needs arise (so prepares digestive processes to activate-> one part we observe as drooling).
That allostatic process happens before an Unconditioned Stimulus (US). Pavlov captured those patterns, and to gather more saliva, as his research was on digestion, he introduced a sound from a metronome to illicit the drooling, which captured saliva by little cups next to the dogs mouth.
The dogs were tied up in harnesses so could not move much.

That's the joke in that picture- the greyhound seems to droole over the metronome making sound, but its brain is really preparing for the expected digestion of the steak cooking on the stove in the background!!

07/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

Group structures are not Social structures to run into at speed...

Im amazed by how many dog owners have little idea about canine group structures, and think its ok for their dog to run at a group of dogs.

That's the most dangerous thing to let happen.

No matter how social dogs are, once they form a group, things moving at speed at that group can be categorized by any of the dogs in that group as threat, because brains are wired defensively.
And what follows are often behaviours of a group not just behaviour of one dog.

So no, it is not that the dogs in a group are unsociable towards your dog.
Your dog running at another group of dogs is simply dangerous to them and they will defend. If they are on a lead and cannot get to defend against the dog running at them, they may go at eachother.

It is a dog owners responsibility to scan the area your walking with your dog and anticipate the earliest point necessary to call your dog back.
That is ... before he speeds at a group of dogs, especially if that group of dogs is walked on leads in an area dogs are supposed to be on lead!!

Dogs, any animal for that matter, are not biological machines that are taught like computer programs.
They are dynamic living structures, regulating efficiently and protecting their bodies from harm to survive, mate and bring up offspring. That's the underlying nature of the variety of behaviour we observe.

04/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

It ain't Rocket Science, but it may sound it is....

It is really amazing how much most in the animal training industry cling to behaviorism and a stimuli response paradigm.
It is a daily occurance that I get lovely dog owners being referred to Neuropark and contacting me if it's ok to use Neuropark as a training field or / and enrichment area.

To understand behaviour and how adaptation occurs, we do have to learn the basic functions and mechanics of what science has evidence for today. And it deffinately ain't stimuli response models!!

Using Neuropark isn't Rocket Science.
Yes, reading the mechanics and functions might be, because IT IS NEW to the reader.

Behaviour rests on actions that occure due to the interactions between a soup full of chemicals and cells. (Chemical - chemical and chemical - electrical interactions).
These actions form the opportunities to support brain dynamics, immune & metabollic functions, concious experiences... etc, and especially the thing we are interested in-> for motor movements, i.e.: the movement of muscle fibers that are constrained by the skeleton.

Everything rests on the dynamics of these action patterns

Behaviour arises from action patterns reconstituted constantly between the past and the now.
Prediction (anticipation) of sensation from behaviour from postdiction (memory), concious sensation and a side order of the unexpected.

Understanding that bit, makes you understand that:
"Reactivity" is simply the past playing out (prediction) without taking much notice of the present!!!

To change offensive or defensive behaviour repertoires, commonly called "Reactivity", new experiences have to be formed to add to the existing behaviour repertoire and adapt automated action patterns.

That works through autonomous explorative interactions with a semi controlled, natural environment, as Neuropark provides. Plus, and i want to ensure the reader gets how important this is: Consummation (breaks between exploration) and going through full SLEEP CYCLES thereafter!!
Sleep is where the newly learned is consolidated to long term memory, to be reconstituted as updated memory.

Training structures & protocols are reduced to recall only and slow proprioceptive excersises on the physio stations to increase balance and stability.
That's what raises confidence over time.
We have quite a few videos on our website to give ideas on what that looks like

So please- Neuropark is more than an enrichment field and not a training field.

How you and your dog interact with the environment today, literally shapes the future past.

Bono f Beeler BCCSDip.Can.Bhv.Prac.

www.canineneuropark.com

01/08/2026

Roaming with Hounds Diary

Socialization

I had a very interesting discussion with a new dog owner today about Socialization.

There are different ways people understand Socialization.
But lets first state what it isn't.
Socialization is not getting used to other beings or things. That is habituation.

Socialization is about forming social bonds with other beings. Thats sometimes also called "species recognition patterns".

Dogs can form inter-specific social bonds with other species- but the experience formed early is the key on how patterns form and adapt.

Exposure therapy, for dogs that had threat experiences during the critical period of Socialization- in those cases only works if the dogs have already formed other experiences as that of threat, to have other action pattern repertoires to build social bonding on.

Creating such environments to build other experiences - new learned action patterns grounded to environmental changes is key before engaging in any close social interactions with other dogs or other animals.

This works well at Neuropark, starting with the smell of other dogs who have been there.

Over time this can be extended to parallel walks with other dogs including circling and curving closer, followed by copying behaviour. I.e: smelling where the other dog just sniffed.
Over time they will automatically get closer.

This is how bonds form, through shared actions that are positively meaningful. Not through exposure itself.

Something to keep in mind