What are the opening hours?

Monday 09:00 - 17:00 Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00 Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00 Thursday 09:00 - 17:00 Friday 09:00 - 17:00

Whole Dog Behaviour

Home
Sudan
Kosti
Whole Dog Behaviour

🌱 You don't need someone to train your dog, you need someone to teach you how to understand them
💻 A new community coming soon!
👇🏼 Let's work together

24/09/2026

Free guide in comments 👇🏼
Puppy doesn't mean painless. Just like human children, dogs can experience developmental conditions and accompanying pain.

Read Rufus' story to learn more.
Rufus had his puppy health checks and nothing was flagged, but we pushed for more.

He's a very lucky boy to have a great support network from his parents to his vet.

Ever wondered if there was something else going on with your dog? Grab the free Pain and Behaviour Guide in the comments: with 10 behavioural signs of pain, plus more information about how a functional assessment can get to the root cause of your dogs behaviour.

23/09/2026

If your dog is a type of retriever breed (spaniels, labradors and any mixes of these), chances are that they've held something in their mouth before. Maybe a sock. Maybe a slipper. For these breeds especially, holding something is very innately rewarding. It feels good, because we selectively bred them to WANT to hold and retrieve things.

One of the most common issues is unfortunately the dog running off with the item, and the human chasing after them and/or telling them off for it. The thing is, your dog is only doing the thing humans bred them for, and this is where conflict begins.

Overtime the dog begins guarding the item to keep hold of it - naturally.

Lots of positive dog trainers will tell you to exchange the item for something else, like a treat. And this is pretty decent advice - I would much rather you do that than confront your dog!

But when I work with resource guarding dogs, I don't jump straight to exchanging (unless the item is dangerous or there is a high risk of ingestion). What do I tell my clients to do instead? Ignore the dog! Ignore the item. Don't make a big deal of it. This applies to puppies and adults with a history of guarding.

Of course there is more to it, this is just one tiny snippet of a resource guarding protocol. We also want to make sure we do a holistic behaviour and wellbeing assessment to understand why the dog is guarding - is it pain? Do they have enough opportunities to search and retrieve? Is it the human response?

We also want to teach the dog to reliably drop, leave it and have an emergency trade protocol (where exchanging with a treat is actually last on the list 👀 so that your dog doesn't start looking for things to guard on purpose). Most importantly, how to change your dogs emotional association so that we stop guarding for good.

🐾 This is everything I cover with 1:1 clients and within the Whole Dog Hub (online platform where I provide direct support and feedback to guide you).

See the link in bio for a free trial or to book a free call ⚡

14/09/2026

Dog training is dog behaviour is dog health and wellbeing.

We must always push for the best possible care.

If we're lucky enough to have access to pain medicine, specialist treatments and the ability to investigate (not always possible, but is in a lot of cases with pet insurance), we should not deny our dogs the right to a pain free existence.

Behaviour is a symptom of their emotional state, which is influenced by their environment and internal processing. We can't just treat one or the other. We have to treat both.

11/09/2026

If your puppy is avoiding their harness and running away from it, or being "silly" and turning it into a game, don't ignore it. And please don't chase them to get it on them!

This puppy shows the same response to his collar, so we're seeing generalized equipment avoidance. I've been working with him for a few weeks but this was a recent development. (Read on to find out why...)

Most dogs love their walks and are fine once the harness is on, but that doesn't negate the issue. Here are a few things I would recommend as a priority if you see this from your puppy, or even adult dog:

⚡Double check you have a well fitted harness. It should be Y shaped, not impact their natural movement, leave their shoulders free, not sit too close to the arm pits but also not too far down the ribcage. If you're still not sure, I've attached a free harness guide in the comments below!

⚡Stop chasing them and forcing it on them. Being silly and turning it into a game is likely your puppy showing fooling around behaviour: this is a type of fear response where the dog tries to "change the subject" to avoid the scary and uncomfortable thing happening, in this instance the harness.

⚡Don't just ignore it hoping it will get better. In very rare cases, if there is nothing else going on and the harness is well fitted, it might change with time. But in most cases I have just seen this behaviour continue or even escalate.

⚡Begin some gentle harness desensitisation, and in the meantime, have a risk mitigation plan for getting your puppy out that will still allow them to enjoy walks but not damage the relationship or experience further.

⚡Arguably most important, get a Dynamic Dog Assessment as a starting point. Why? ⬇️

The puppy in question is showing multiple signs of gait, posture and functional movement adaptations. Luckily his vet has taken it on board and he has been referred for further investigations. At his age (4-5 months) developmental musculoskeletal conditions start impacting behaviour. Based on our assessment, his response to equipment is fear avoidance due to body pain. Check the comments grab my free guide with 10 common behaviour signs of pain in dogs and learn more about the Dynamic Dog Assessment.

06/09/2026

See link in comments if you'd like to check out the car anxiety/reactivity workshop, going live tomorrow (Monday 7th September) 🚗

Address

Kosti

Opening Hours

Monday	09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday	09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday	09:00 - 17:00
Thursday	09:00 - 17:00
Friday	09:00 - 17:00

Website

http://www.wholedogbehaviour.com/, https://form.jotform.com/260733398297369

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Whole Dog Behaviour posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.