knowyourdogdevon

What happens when we let our dogs watch

June 4, 2025 knowyourdogdevon

There’s a lot to be said for letting dogs watch and take things in.

We humans are very quick and very busy. We don’t make a lot of time for taking in things (big or small) and don’t always consider that our dogs need to do this. This can mean we hurry our dogs on in certain situations and interrupt important environmental processing.

I’m not just talking about sniffing, but looking at things and watching, at a distance that your dog feels comfortable and calm at. A lot of learning goes on during this time.

An example could be watching dogs from a distance. If you have a dog that is worried by other dogs, ensure they are far enough away that they feel safe. If your dog can get excited by other dogs, ensure they’re a distance away that helps them to be calm.

Your dog may also stop to watch people, leaves blowing, birds, cars – anything really. Dogs may even choose to sit down, stand, or lie down independently during this time.

My dog used to see a seagull on our walks that he found very interesting because it was in a place that a seagull didn’t really ‘make sense’. Same one every time, because of a marking on its wing and an unusual walk. If I tried to redirect him on every time, that could be really frustrating for him and result in difficulties walking calmly afterwards. Instead, I gave him the chance to watch the seagull for a few minutes when he wanted to. Now he pays little attention to it.

If we start seeing our dog becoming worried, fixated, or over aroused then of course we can get their attention and move them on. Often if they’re in a calm and relaxed state, after a period of looking, they’ll move on when they’re ready anyway.

Next time your dog stops to watch something or suss it out, if they’re calm and relaxed, why not let them do this and give them to opportunity to move on when they’re done, rather than hurry them on because we want to? Make some time for it on your walks.

This additional choice, agency, and ability to suss things out without micromanagement can have a positive impact on behaviour and wellbeing.

Sally Lewis 2023

Why is being able to examine each part of your dog’s body so important?

June 4, 2025 knowyourdogdevon

Recently, my dog was making efforts to keep one of his paws off of the ground on-and-off.

I carefully examined his paw but couldn’t see anything obvious. I looked between each of his toes, and also checked his nails for any cracks or potential painful niggles. Still couldn’t see anything.

I raised his toes slightly to look around his metacarpal pad (this is the biggest pad on your dog’s paw) and could see a small cut in between the metacarpal pad and his toes. I’m canine first aid trained which is really helpful for preventing vets visits for things like this, so was able to clean the area for him and will continue to do this over the next few days. This is an area that gets infected easily due to dirt on the floor and moisture, so it’s important to keep an eye on it and ring the vet if needed.

This process probably took me 5 – 10 minutes to do, during which he received lots of reassurance, praise and some treats.

I’m sure you can imagine, this would be impossible if he was not comfortable with me handling his paws to such an extent. For dogs that do not let people handle their paws, this sort of thing would be very difficult to do without causing distress. Some dogs may even require sedatives to minimise trauma and also so that the area could be examined and treated properly.

So, why can dogs develop sensitivity to areas being touched?

Past trauma e.g. injury or illness. If a dog has required treatment for this that they have struggled with then this could feed in to negative associations (see below).

Negative associations that have been built e.g. if a dog has had an unpleasant experience involving their ears, they might not tolerate ears being handled. For example, ear drops being put in. We know that this is for the benefit of the dog but if they have not liked it, they may dislike their ears being touched over time.

Ongoing pain or illness (may be undiagnosed)

Other things that can feed in to this include distrust of the person doing the handling, or stress relating to the wider environment.

Being aware of sensitivities, reasons that your dog has become sensitive to areas being handled, and ensuring that we are taking the right steps to help our dogs be comfortable with this (in whatever form that takes) is really important so that we can provide ongoing care.

It is important to get dogs used to having parts of their body handled from puppyhood, although that isn’t to say that they may not develop sensitivity to part of their body being handled later on. Even if you do not have to do things like daily grooming, you may have to tend to an area due to a minor injury like I did today. Being comfortable being handled and examined is very important for veterinary care and grooming needs.

Sally Lewis 2024

Dogs are still dogs.

June 4, 2025June 4, 2025 knowyourdogdevon

Dog ownership has exploded in recent years. Recent studies suggest that at least 36% of homes in the UK have one or more dogs. That’s over a third! This means that we are seeing more and more dogs out and about.

What I am also seeing, is more people not understanding that their dog is a dog. Not a cat, not a rabbit, not a robot.

𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨𝐲𝐬, 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐬𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐨 – 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐫. Yes, there are times when some of these behaviours can become excessive and then we have to look at what might be causing that, but to a point, all of this is normal.

I was recently on a walk and saw a beautiful sighthound walking along. Sighthounds have very developed eyesight, and were bred for detecting the movement of prey, chasing, and catching the prey. They are very speedy, and agile dogs.

This particular sighthound was being walked directly towards a duck that was sat on the grass. We were in a huge area where the duck could have been given a wider berth. The sighthound lunged at the duck, about 2 metres away. No physical harm to the duck, who waddled away and got in to the water. The sighthound however, was told off, shouted at, their collar was grabbed and they were called “naughty”.

Is this naughty? Or did a hound, bred for hunting, seemingly no other training around wildlife, get walked straight towards a duck while their human made no efforts to engage them in anything else? Is the dog at fault, or is this a case of ‘user-error’?

Don’t get me wrong. My dog used to be quite interested in wildlife! So, we did lots of training, teaching him alternative behaviours on sight of birds and waterfowl. He has safe outlets for prey drive that don’t involve the real deal.

Society’s expectations of dogs has shifted recently. Dogs behaving like dogs can be seen as a problem. People aren’t using good judgment. People choose breeds that were bred for specific purposes, such as alarm barking, guarding, following scents, hunting, herding, and then get cross when they display any of these behaviours. People don’t want to engage with their dogs. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 “𝐝𝐨”, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.

It is on us to offer safe outlets for natural behaviour, to offer training, and manage situations to set our dog’s up for success.

They aren’t born in to the world knowing that our expectation of them is quite different to behaviour that is normal for their species (which I am sure you’d agree, is unfair). They don’t have an off-switch that we can just press for being a dog.

A quick tip for walks, is to engage with your dog. A lot of people take their dogs on walks with them but don’t interact with them a lot. A first step if you want to make changes to your dog’s behaviour is to engage with them when out and about.

Please don’t tell your dog off for being a dog.

www.knowyourdogdevon.com

Sally Lewis 2025