What to expect when booking/ how virtual consultations work?
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So for many virtual consultations may be a far out there and misunderstood experience, let’s break it down.

A virtual consultation is not a video chat, it isn’t like facetime with a friend, it is better for your dog in preventing unnecessary travel, trauma and stress. We can see you and we can see your dog, you can train in the comfort of your own home in real time and we can see this.

You need an initial consultation, any ethical behaviourist that you work with is going to want to know more, especially when we work with you holistically.

Upon initial contact if there has been a change in behaviour we are going to recommend going to the vets first and asking for an appointment concerning the problem, this is because we ethically need to consider the dogs whole being and not just behaviour modification. If you have already seen a vet to no avail, we may also recommend a complementary service such as a McTimoney chiropractor, to further eliminate or identify pain.

Within the initial consultation looking at your dog as an individual we need to also look at nutrition and diet, to ensure that your dog as an individual is on the best diet for them.

We need to review any traumas that your dog may have experienced, this is to also help your dog in the best way possible, identifying and healing traumas is going to help your dog to feel much better in their overall health and wellness.

We need to know more about the environment, the environment can play a role in your dogs behaviour and can be detrimental to the overall health and wellness of your dog and determine how they are going to progress with a behaviour modification plan.

The need and the function of the behaviour has to be identified, why is the dog giving the behaviour in the first place and what is it that they are trying to communicate?
In order to be successful as the behaviour modification and implementing changes comes down to you, you will need to keep journals and actively document your dogs behaviour, as well as any changes in the home, in order for you to be successful in any changes that can potentially take place.

Need more family members present who can't travel? No problem they can just jump on from their location.

Virtual consultations are helpful and convenient for you and especially your dog, this is who it's all about. Learning virtually and being able to learn in your home and out and about is a huge help with one to one guidance for when you're ready for your homework. Forgotten anything? No worries, simply watch the recording.

You'll also receive video tutorials, feedback, protocols and much more, so you don't have to remember everything. Virtual consultations are so much better for so many reasons, but mostly for the welfare of your dog who it's all about at the end of the day anyway!

​Healing trauma in humans
Following on from the dog does love you blog.

Whether you have had a traumatic experience with your dog, whether you have ditched aversives or felt a lack of a bond and secure attachment to begin with, whether you feel you haven't been the best guardian to your dog or that you have made mistakes, it's time to forgive yourself and begin the healing journey for you and your dog.

Forgiving oneself for past mistakes is a crucial step towards healing and moving forward. Here are some tips on how you can begin to forgive yourself for making mistakes with your dog(s):

1. Acknowledge and accept the mistake: The first step towards forgiving oneself is to acknowledge and accept the mistake made. It can be helpful to reflect on the situation and identify what went wrong. Maybe you already have, to move forward is to put the mistake begin you, if you are feeling incredible guilt you are already aware of what happened and what went wrong or how you feel about a situation. You don't need to dwell on it, dwelling only holds you back and develops your relationship. Your dog forgives you and loves you unconditionally, there maybe a lack of a secure attachment there because of whatever happened in the past or because you have been unable to move forward. But it's OK and here is your permission. It's now time to start a new journey together focused solely on your secure attachment.

2. Practice self-compassion: Show kindness and understanding to yourself, just as you would to a friend who made a mistake. Be patient and treat yourself with compassion. Remember your dog needs a secure emotional attachment and they need to know they can rely on you for everything and that you are both OK.

3. Focus on the present: Dwelling on past mistakes can hinder one's ability to move forward. Focus on the present and the positive changes that can be made going forward. Keep a journal, this is your blank slate, don't include the past or mistakes, a clean slate with the training you want to do, and list all of the wins no matter how small, journal about your walks, where you went, take a photo, set goals such as sniffafaris or a nice area you know you will both enjoy.

4. Make amends: Taking positive action to make amends can help in healing and forgiving oneself. Reach out to the dog and show them love and care and make a promise that you're both going to move forward, focusing solely on their needs.
5. Learn from the mistake: Mistakes can be an opportunity to learn and improve. Identify what can be done differently next time and take proactive steps to prevent the same mistake from happening again. That's as far as the mistake needs to go, no more punishment, move forward and strive to do better one day at a time.

Remember that dogs are incredibly forgiving creatures, and it's never too late to make positive changes to improve the relationship with them. Seek professional help and learn new techniques to communicate and interact with your friend positively. With time, patience, and dedication, you can forgive yourself and create a better future for yourself and your dogs.

Maybe you made a mistake with your first dog, or you shouted at your dog, or you used aversives in the past or anything that makes you feel guilty. Moving forwards, learning from your mistake and focusing on making your dogs the best life that it can be by meeting their needs will help you to both heal and move forward stronger than before, with a secure connection and emotional stability for you both.

This is a very lengthy but really interesting journal on Learning from Errors: and how this affected students in a learning setting, the negative impact, poor feedback from teachers and conversely positive outcomes and feedback. The conclusion is we learn from errors and we become better when we learn we have made an error depending on the individual, the feedback and how they could move forwards. https://www.annualreviews.org/.../annurev-psych-010416...
With this in mind the self care journal I mentioned to begin with I have created and included below for you to print. I really hope this helps you as a tool on your healing journey, learning to forgive yourself and focusing on a strong emotional connection with your dog.

What is trauma in dogs? They're just reactive, right?

Wrong. Trauma in dogs refers to an event that causes the dog to experience fear, anxiety, or physical harm. The experience of trauma can lead to long-term behavioural and physical changes in dogs. These changes can include increased anxiety, nervousness, and aggression towards other animals or people.

It can also lead to shut down, freezing on walks, hiding at home, weight loss, poor coat and other noticeable physiological changes and of course internally, externally you may see vomiting and diarrhoea as an example.

One way to help a dog heal from trauma is through various therapies that support their emotional wellbeing and help them process their experiences. These therapies may include cognitive behavioural therapy, desensitisation and counterconditioning, and emotional support therapy.

A study published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior found that the combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and medication can significantly reduce anxiety in dogs. Another journal published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science recommends the use of desensitisation and counterconditioning techniques, which work by gradually exposing the dog to situations that make them anxious, in a controlled and positive way. This helps the dog to feel less anxious over time.

But when we apply this holistically we don't want to do this in an intense way, first we need to work on healing and re establishing a secure emotional attachment to ourselves, we need our dogs to feel safe with us and secure and the connection needs to be settled and secure before beginning desensitisation. We focus on healing first.

Building a secure attachment with your dog is essential for their emotional and mental well-being. A secure attachment can help your dog feel safe and supported, reducing any potential anxiety and stress they may experience. Here are some tips to help build a secure attachment with your dog:

1. Spend quality time together: Whether it's taking your dog for decompression walks if they want to go and can manage this or playing with them, make sure to allocate time each day to spend one-on-one time with them. This helps build a bond between you and your dog.

2. Use positive reinforcement: Reward your dog for positive behaviours, praise them often and take time to set up training sessions at home where they feel safe to utilise these opportunities. This positive reinforcement helps to develop trust and a positive association with you.

3. Be consistent: Consistency is essential when building a secure attachment with your dog. Be predictable, if they ask for cuddles, give them, if they need space, allow them their space, if they want to play, play. If they need enrichment rather than play, utilise this on an individual basis of what your dog enjoys as an individual. Give them time to rest and heal through sleep, allow them to express their emotions such as barking and allow them to release the tension which may have built up, another great thing you can do is set a dig box in the garden, https://youtu.be/Yvt8C1UHc98 herbal safe plants for sensory enrichment and to encourage curiosity and confidence, bringing puppy behaviours back.https://youtu.be/JwUfqJXTCO8 This consistency helps your dog feel safe and secure. This is also a great link for beginning a sensory garden https://www.rufflesnuffle.co.uk/creating-a-sensory.../
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4. Provide comfort: Dogs seek comfort when they are feeling anxious or stressed. Providing a comfortable space for them to rest, cuddling with them, or giving them a favourite toy to play with can all provide comfort and make them feel secure. Watch a film together or try out DogTV. This has helped us a lot and they love watching it. https://youtu.be/WNOls9-0On0
5. Attend classes online: Attending classes online with your dog can help establish a healthy relationship and provide valuable training. This can give your dog confidence and help them feel secure by remaining in their own home and not having to face other dogs and feeling overwhelmed and scared.

Building a secure attachment with your dog takes time, patience, and effort. But with these tips, you can develop a strong and healthy relationship with your dog.

Zombie has taught me so much, I knew I was taking on an anxious puppy and I didn't realise how anxious of course until he came home. The first thing I offered him and he sought was a secure attachment. This photo of him as a puppy was the day after he came home. I was studying and he chose to be next to me and go to sleep and he's been like this ever since. When he was overwhelmed on a walk after an off lead dog came bolting into the field and tried to play with him, he hid behind me without being cued, when we got the dog away and asked the owner to put their dog on a lead who was not even at the entrance of the field he jumped onto me and took deep breaths like a human, it's really hard to explain but it was like watching a human taking breaths in a pattern following a panic attack. We stayed there for ten minutes, breathing, gentle stroking, cuddling allowing him to lick to soothe himself and waited until he felt he could walk home. He slept all night (as he had to be walked as close to midnight as possible due to his fear of daylight walks and other dogs and people) and he slept for two days after, only waking for the toilet and his meals.

It was awful for me to see at the time but the fact that he knew he could immediately use me as a shield and seek me for releasing all of the panic immediately after the dog was gone was a relief to me as if he hadn't this could have been much worse.

With careful management, building on the secure attachment, showing him he can consent and refuse to consent, playing with him, dropping everything when he seeks my connection, gentle training and allowing him to express his biological needs paired with complimentary therapies he's gone from strength to strength. He can now select dogs he can play, he can walk in daylight and ask to go out in daylight, he can now seek out fuss from other humans and has no fear around women and is only slightly cautious of men.

He sleeps a lot less and he's comfortable with seeking out my company rather than his enrichment area to be alone.

Acknowledging that he didn't want to be around people or other dogs, that he didn't want to attend clubs or socialise in groups and that he needed to have space as he grew and matured has set him up to be an awesome and confident dog, I even had people say to euthanize him because of how nervous he was and I'm so glad that with the power of holistic care, complimentary services and love that he's a happy, confident and securely attached dog.

In summary, healing from trauma can take time, but with patience, love, and the support of a village, dogs can overcome their traumatic experiences and lead fulfilling lives.

You wouldn't remove your smoke alarm batteries, so don't prevent your dog from growling!

Growling is a common form of communication in dogs and is usually used as a warning sign to indicate an uncomfortable feeling or a potential threat. It is essential to understand that growling is not necessarily aggression but is a form of canine communication to express their emotions.

It was found that humans are adept at using vocal cues to understand the emotions of not only other humans but also animals like dogs. However, there are limitations to our ability to perceive certain emotional nuances in vocalisations, such as with growls. It underscores the importance of context in interpreting emotional expression. Faragó, T. et al. 2017

To understand the reason behind the growling, it is important to consider the context, body language, and tone of the growl. For example, a low, rumbling growl could indicate that a dog is feeling uncomfortable, stressed, or threatened, while a higher-pitched growl may indicate excitement or a need for connection seeking. Other factors, such as the dog's history, breed, and temperament, can also influence their communication.

It is vital to note that punishing a dog for growling can be counterproductive and increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour. Instead, it is important to identify the root cause of the growling and address it with positive training methods such as counter-conditioning and desensitisation. These techniques can help dogs learn alternative behaviours and reduce their stress levels, leading to better communication and behaviour.

It's not recommended to punish a dog for growling because it can cause the dog to learn that growling leads to punishment, and then they might stop growling altogether. This can be dangerous as growling is a dog's way of communicating, and a dog that doesn't growl may resort to biting without warning.

By punishing a dog for growling, you suppress the warning signs, which can cause the dog to become anxious, fearful, and aggressive. Instead of punishment, it's essential to try to understand the cause of the growling and address it appropriately. For example, if the growling is a result of fear or anxiety, you can work on desensitising the dog to the trigger, using positive reinforcement to encourage relaxed and calm behaviour. Ultimately, it's essential to encourage open communication between a dog and their guardian, rather than punishing the dog for expressing their emotions.
Understanding a dog's growling is essential for effective communication, and it is important to avoid punishing growling behaviour. By recognizing the underlying reason behind the growling and addressing it with positive training techniques, humans can help their dogs feel more comfortable and prevent aggressive behaviour.

Researchers found that humans are not able to translate a growl whether the growl sound played indicated aggression or a positive communication. Taylor Am, et al. 2009

Dogs growl during play to communicate with their playmates. It is a natural behaviour for dogs to growl during play because it's a way for them to express their excitement and enthusiasm. Often, the growling is not aggressive in nature but is a way for them to communicate that they are having fun and want to keep playing. However, it's important to keep an eye on the behaviour of the dogs to ensure that it does not escalate into aggression.

Dogs happy growl, to communicate their positive emotional state. Happy growling is usually a low, rumbling sound, and it often accompanies wagging tails, playful behaviour, and other signs of enjoyment. Happy growling is a way for dogs to express their excitement, contentment or happiness, and can be triggered by a variety of situations, such as getting attention from their guardians, playing with other dogs, or enjoying a good belly rub. It's important to note that happy growling is usually not a sign of aggression, and it's a natural and healthy behaviour for dogs to exhibit.

When a dog is happy growling, their body language usually signals that it is relaxed and comfortable. Signs that a dog is happy and not aggressive include:
- A wagging tail (with the tail wagging from side to side or in a circular motion)
- Open mouth with the tongue hanging out
- Relaxed ears that are not pinned back against the head
- A relaxed, loose body with a wagging or bouncing movement
- Playful behaviours such as play bowing, jumping or rolling over
- Soft and round eyes with a relaxed expression

Overall, when a dog is happy growling, they will exhibit the same body language cues as when they are engaging in friendly play, relaxed and comfortable with the situation.

Dogs can growl for all sorts of reasons it can be an energetic expression, it can be an emotional release, it can be to protect themselves from perceived threats, it can be happiness, connection seeking, play or fear based aggression or aggression.
Growling is a wonderful communication that we need to encourage for our dogs and not punish, growling can prevent an escalation to a bite and help the overall well being psychologically and physiologically.

Acknowledge the growl, listen to the communication and don't punish.

References:
Faragó, T. et al. (2017) “Dog growls express various contextual and affective content for human listeners,” Royal Society Open Science, 4(5), p. 170134. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170134
Taylor AM, Reby D, McComb K. 2009. Context-related variation in the vocal growling behaviour of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Ethology 115, 905–915
- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). (n.d.). Understanding Dog Growling and Other Canine Vocalizations. https://www.aspca.org/.../understanding-dog-growling-and...
- Coren, S. (2012). Do Dogs Need Punishment to Learn?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/.../do-dogs-need...
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https://youtu.be/cDmOpmBE_w0youtu.be/cDmOpmBE_w0

The Pet Professional Guild Assistance Animal Division latest blog is available via Pets and Their People and a big thankyou to Pam for all of Pams hard work. "Stereotypes of assistance and service dogs" there will be a regular series of blogs from the division to help to educate the general public and professionals about assistance, service and therapy animals! A great step forward for teams, professionals and the public, you can subscribe to Pets and Their People too, to stay up to date with the latest articles! 

https://petsandtheirpeople.education/perceptions-of-assistance-and-service-dogs-by-the-general-public/?fbclid=IwAR1U-QHijh5RoOehNlvYlRq7XkDy8bDSUi8c9UXJBaNi8fPXB0_DtWPf9hs

Journals are incredibly helpful for helping you with your journey with your dog and sometimes it's tough to know where to begin or journals online can be costly.
Here's a free one you can use and print as you go: You can print all the pages or save them and print just the one you want at the time for example adding in separation anxiety pages or walks or training. Whichever one you need. Hopefully this is a help to all of you.

Behavior means what you are teaching, for example a pattern game.

Duration is the amount of time spent on training the behaviour.

Protocol is the method you used to help your dog, for example a white noise machine for separation anxiety or pattern games for anxiety on walks.

Criteria is how far you aim to go with the behaviour for example, spin. Today I will attempt a 1/4 turn with Koda.

Feedback is how the session went, so you can look back on how far you have come.
Just block out rest days however you like
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The cover is for you to add a picture of your best friend and enter their name in the blue box. This will also be incredibly helpful for walkers, pet sitters and family, with everyone being able to refer to your dogs journal

For any assistance dog team who may need to hear this and to educate those who simply don't understand.

There is increasing pressure and vitriol for those who have assistance dogs and service dogs.

The truth is assistance dog teams don't actually owe anybody on social media anything.

Having an assistance dog is incredibly difficult, it isn't about being able to be better than everyone else because you can take your dog wherever you like. Most of us finding it exhausting and terrifying to take our dogs to public places because of these attitudes and also because some people with disabilities have a hard enough time already going out and want to be invisible and a dog certainly doesn't aid in being invisible.

What people don't know is that assistance dogs go through intense training and not just as a one off to pass but regular training sessions to maintain tasks and behaviours.

It's also incredibly tiring for both parties, some of us choose to do public access tests and to have our dogs formally assessed.

Assistance dogs are also not servants, they aid in tasks we may not be able to do for ourselves, they aren't here to do everything for us.

There is also pressure on social media to show what assistance dogs do, when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, had a fall, is having a seizure and is at their most vulnerable, the last thing they are going to be able to do is to whip their phone out to film. This is also incredibly degrading.

For me these parts of my life are degrading, embarrassing and incredibly private, I will never ever ask anyone to film what I go through for social media acceptance and nor should any of us.

My friends see what my dogs do for me in these times, they also see what my dogs do in the build up these times, as have professionals in the healthcare sector. As it should be for dignity and respect and nobody thinks to begin to film during these times.

I will always happily share tasks such as in the video and how to train them, but the idea that disabled people shouldn't have dogs or cannot meet their needs is degrading and ableist. To ask to see an episode is degrading and ableist and also completely irrelevant because although people may feel they do, social media scrollers and trolls hold no authority and are owed absolutely nothing from assistance dog teams.

There is lots of information out there on Google you can read and access about assistance dogs and their roles and what they do as well as the behind the scenes training and needs we have to meet, without asking any of us or making us feel embarrassed or taking advantage.

Being a supporter and educating others about disabilities and assistance dog teams is the kindest thing that you can do. You wouldn't go to a hospital to view people at their worst and unwell, so why do it to assistance dog teams?
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https://youtu.be/zhxHOeBYipU 

Why do dog trainers and behaviourists keep going on about sniffafaris? Let's get technical!

A little fact many animal lovers and guardians are unaware of is the Animal Welfare Act 2006 from the UK Government (although many other countries share this same welfare). In this article we are specifically looking at Section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Gov.UK. (2007).

This section of the Animal Welfare Act states the five freedoms that pet owners have a responsibility and duty of care to meet the following needs.

• A suitable environment
• Suitable diet
• It's need to exhibit normal behaviour patterns
• Any need it has to be housed or apart from other animals
• It's need to be protected from pain, injury and disease

It is against the law and an offence to not meet the 5 above needs of any animal.
So when it comes to dogs we also have the Dangous Dogs Act 1991. Which states it is unlawful for a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public or private place. Public space protection orders means in some public areas it is legally required for your dog to be on a lead. Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. Gov.UK (2014).

So here we have two UK (England) laws which defines that dogs should be on a lead, especially within a public order area and that dogs should be allowed to express natural behaviour patterns and if these are breached the offences can be prosecuted in court, ranging from fines to prison sentences. But nowhere do these laws state that a dog must walk to heel, walk in an obedient heel criteria or be corrected for pulling or walking ahead.

We need to accept that a dog needs to sniff and sniffing has wonderful physiological and psychological benefits for dogs as well as meeting their biological needs. So much so that we have used dogs for their scenting abilities for many, many years to aid us as humans be it hunting over thousands upon thousands of years or in the modern world as medical detection dogs and military dogs.

Let's explore the dogs brain and how sniffing works so that if we understand the biological mechanics we may further understand our dog doesn't have a choice in sniffing and that they don't do it, to make out lives difficult or to make Karen and Steve feel compelled to make an unkind comment.

If you refer back to the brain blog (scroll down) and look at the diagram of the dog's brain this will help in understanding the following locations.

The dogs forebrain has a very special area called the olfactory bulb, which is literally a bulb made of neural tissue and this area is known as the olfactory cortex. 40 times larger than ours, one eighth of their entire brain and our brain is controlled by a visual cortex whereas a dogs brain is controlled by the olfactory cortex. (We enjoy reading, watching TV, social media and taking in the sights. Our dogs enjoy taking in scents). This is biological for them and us, meaning we cannot control it anymore than they can, it's a part of our genetic make up which makes us a human sapien species and their genetic makeup making them a Canidae species.

Scent travels from the olfactory bulb to the limbic system area of the brain (the lower brain where the caudate nucleus, cerebrum, hippocampus, hypothalamus and amygdala are located) and the cortex, the covering layer of the brain all communicate with one another via neurons, electrical and chemical signals.

The dog's sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans. Horowitz wrote that humans maybe able to detect if their coffee has one teaspoon of sugar in it, however the dog can detect one teaspoon of sugar in one million gallons of water. This would equate to detecting scent within two Olympic sized swimming pools.
When a dog breathes in, the air dissipates along two paths, the air separated into travel to the olfactory and the other path of air to the pharynx. This is so that the dog can process the scent and compare it within the olfactory as to whether this is a prestored scent or a new scent whilst simultaneously breathing at the same time. Dogs have three million olfactory receptors in their nose (breed dependent it can be more). We are unable to do this and when we inhale we process scent and oxygen at the same time. Dogs have a fold within their nose which allows the oxygen and the scent inhalation to separate and then be processed.

We have six million receptors. Their brain is more dedicated than the human brain to detect and process smell which makes their scent processing skills within their brains forty times more powerful than ours.

When we breathe in only a little oxygen and scent is sent to the roof of our nasal cavity whilst in the dog they are able to separate both the oxygen and the scent. Within the nasal cavity are turbinates which processes scent and then sends electrical impulses to the brain to be processed. Turbinates are responsible for the processing of the olfactory and the information and identification of the odours.
When humans inhale through the nose we simply send the oxygen received back out through the nostrils. Dogs however store the oxygen as they exhale. The spent air exits through the slits in their nostrils. When they do this it also allows the retention of the odour and increases the storage of the particular scent. This allows dogs to continue sniffing almost continuously whilst simultaneously breathing and exhaling. Dogs can go through 30 respiratory cycles within 40 seconds.

Dogs also have a secondary olfactory system which humans lack; this is called the Jacobson's organ. This is located in the bottom of the dog's nasal area. They are also able to detect pheromones within the jacobson organ, this allows dogs to understand sexual properties of other animals as well as social skills. The jacobson's organ also has its own nerve cells which means that the secondary olfactory system can process pheromones separately to Scent and oxygen.

The Dog's nose is also wet so that the nasal cavity becomes covered in mucus which allows better processing of the particles to be stored within the olfactory system, processed and stored.

The olfactory bulb is located under the frontal lobes of the brain and behaves as a result of a relay station for the processes of odour. The scent is also processed by the hypothalamus and the limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for the processes of memories and the storage of the memories from scent. Tyson, P. (2012).
The process of recalling memories can also stimulate the brain's pleasure centre for a dog to like humans when humans recall memories. The dogs sense of smell and scent detection is where their brain is mainly dedicated unlike humans. Dogs experience emotions through scent. This is why scent is so important to dogs and why the scent processing skills of a dog should be both admired and respected.
It has been found that sniffing and foraging improves dogs' welfare. How? A group of dogs were given the training task of sniffing for a fortnight and another group of dogs were tasked with heelwork for a fortnight. Both groups were presented with the presence of a stimuli (a trigger) and the dogs tasked with sniffing had positive emotions around the stimuli instead of negative emotions even if the stimuli first caused negative emotions at the start of the trial. Horowitz, et al. (2013).

Thanks to Dr. Berns who first conducted fMRI studies to further understand the dogs brain and the regions of the dogs brain we now also know that dogs process scent much faster than they process verbal cues and the areas of the brain which communicate when scent is presented using aqueous solutions. During the processing of scent within the brain dogs form a clear picture which can be seen on MRI as though we would when looking at something. Prichard. A., et al, ; Prichard, A. et al.(2020).

Dogs also rely in their olfactory system in more aspects of their life than going for a walk, they identify us as their guardians as having a specific odour and in previous studies, researchers found that dogs will look to us when struggling with a problem solving task, they will be able to show us or find rewards and toys the guardian can't locate and shelter dogs used quickly showed an attachment to the person who had been working with them in just 10 minutes. Prato Previde, E. & Valsecchi, P. (2014); Hare, B. & Tomasello, M. (2005); Nagasawa, M. et al. (2015).

Dogs rely on strong emotional bonds and connection seeking and this heavily relies upon their olfactory system, going for a walk allows them to connect socially, just like we do on social media, phone calls, visiting friends etc.

Sniffafaris are much more than a force free or holistic methodology, it is literally a biological need for our dogs and the main function of their brain system. Depriving them of these opportunities can negatively impact their emotional connections, social learning opportunities and their biological needs which in turn negatively impacts upon their physiology making them vulnerable and susceptible to disease and unwellness. Develop anxiety and or depression such as heart conditions, skin conditions, respiratory conditions, high blood pressure, kidney disease, stomach ulcers, gastric problems and more. This is not an exhaustive list and by no means is meant to be scary but to be informative to help your dog to live their best life and prevent these risks.

This is why we also recommend sniffafaris for decompression to bring down the cortisol surges and the negative impact within the brain and body and to begin the healing process.

We know due to cortisol and the higher rates of release it can take several days for the cortisol levels to drop. Weitzman, Fukushima, Nogeire et al (1970) .

Your dog's brain is literally a little jungle, with its own living environment with different areas working together and talking to each other (which I depict for simplicity with animals who represent the area of the brain) the dogs brain is always working and never stops, their nose especially is always working with absolutely no effort or engagement, let them sniff, for their well being, biological needs, psychological and physiological needs, for their welfare, so that you aren't breaking the law and because you love them and want to be the best informed guardian you can be. Your dog will literally thank you for it and they will be much healthier and happier too.

References

Participation, E. (2007) Animal Welfare Act 2006, Legislation.gov.uk. Statute Law Database. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/section/9
Service, G.D. (2014) Controlling your dog in public, Available at: https://www.gov.uk/contro.../public-spaces-protection-orders
Tyson, P. (2012) Dogs' dazzling sense of smell, PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Available at: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/dogs-sense-of-smell/
Alexandra Horowitz a et al. (2013) Smelling more or less: Investigating the olfactory experience of the domestic dog, Learning and Motivation. Academic Press. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/.../abs/pii/S0023969013000234 (Accessed: February 24, 2023).
Prichard A , Chhibber R, Athanassiades K, Spivak M, Berns GS. 2018a. Fast neural learning in dogs: a multimodal sensory fMRI study. Sci Rep. 8:14614.
Prichard, A. et al. (2020) Decoding Odor Mixtures in the Dog Brain: An Awake fMRI Study, Oxford Academic . Available at: https://academic.oup.com/chemse/article/45/9/833/5923335
Prato Previde, E. & Valsecchi, P. in The Social Dog (eds Juliane Kaminski & S Marshall-Pescini) Ch. 6, 165–190 (Elsevier Publishers, 2014).
Hare, B. & Tomasello, M. Human-like social skills in dogs?. Trends Cognit. Sci. 9, 439–444 (2005).
Nagasawa, M. et al. Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds. Science 348, 333–336. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261022 (2015).
Weitzman, Fukushima, Nogeire et al ‘Twenty-four hour pattern of the episodic secretion of cortisol in normal subjects’. J Clin Endocrinol Metab, chapter:33, pages:14–22., 1970