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Diet affects behaviour Running jokes across social media are that "millennials" are obsessed with treating their dogs as fur babies and that by being obsessed with their nutritional intake we could effectively be harming them. One article the other week by the' Telegraph' headlined its article with,"stop feeding your dogs homemade diets, charity warns". (19). Reading this article was a waste of time with a misleading headline, it was a clear case of an article space need's filling. What can it be filled with? With research there are lots of conflicting statistics from blogs and websites written by non researchers that all claim different percentages of diets fed to dogs. All you have to do is pop over to Google to see this for yourself. There's lots of inflammatory headlines that one type of food is bad for a dog and harmful and again absolutely none of them agree or come from science based research. Looking at the dog holistically, every single dog is an individual with dietary needs and food preferences, just like humans and there is scientific research to back this up as well as testing foods and changes in dog's based upon different diets. We also know that diet affects behaviour and this is something that many dog owners (guardians) are becoming acutely aware of but it is still not general knowledge. All over social media, no matter which one you will quickly find, enriching aesthetic accounts with dog food, people posting all of their dogs meals, people arguing about food for dogs and quality. This is all irrelevant for this blog; we are simply looking at how diet affects behaviour and not at brands or types of food. "A dog's behaviour is not only controlled by the environment, but also by genetic, cognitive and physiological factors. (20) Physiological factors in turn can be affected by nutrition. (21) The brain is full of an amazing communication system and within this communication are neurotransmitters and hormones and both of these components can be affected by the nutrition that a dog receives and when the brain is affected negatively or positively we can see these effects manifest through behaviour. In looking at the dog's welfare this is why it is so important to ensure that our individual dog is receiving the best possible nutrition that they can receive. The gut microbiome is the most important area of looking at the dog's diet as this area is needed to remain as undisrupted as possible, a healthy gut microbiome means that the brain communication system should be working well. When the gut microbiome is affected, the healthy balance is disrupted and many changes can occur such as inflammation, infections and the production of serotonin 90% of which takes place in the small intestine can be affected. (22) When serotonin is affected, cortisol can rise and the brain can become affected and stop or hinder normal communication and functioning. (Refer back to my brain blog last week). As well as infections and inflammation affecting the dog negatively just as it does in humans. When we have an infection or inflammation we may not be ourselves and our behaviour is altered and sadly this is the same for our dogs. A study with shelter dogs of the same breed was conducted in Italy alongside a veterinarian behaviourist and a dog handler, 18 dogs were classified as aggressive and 11 fearful and 13 dogs exhibiting normal behaviours and fed them all the same food. They then did a second study and worked with three shelters with different breeds and different food. The results showed that there were marked differences in the gut biome of the dog's with no reported behavioural issues and the dog's reported to have aggressive or fearful traits. (23) So considering the dog holistically, if we were to work with a cross section of professionals, vets, nutritionists and behaviourists we can then look at the whole dog and have a faecal exam to ensure that the dogs gut is healthy and if it isn't, then work with a nutritionist to get the right balance for the gut biome and work in tandem with a behaviourist to help to change the emotions driving the behaviours. (24) References https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/15/stop-feeding-dog-homemade-pet-food-charity-warns/ Miklosi, A. (2014). Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition. Oxford University Press. Pp. 16 Bosch, G., Beerda, B., Hendriks, W.H., van der Poel, A.F.B., Verstegen, M.W.A. (2007). Impact of nutrition on canine behaviour: current status and possible mechanisms. Nutrition Research Reviews, vol. 20, pp.180-194. Harju, C. (2016) Epsilon Archive for Student Projects, Welcome to Epsilon Archive for Student Projects - Epsilon Archive for Student Projects. Available at: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/ (Accessed: January 23, 2023). Tizard IR, Jones SW. The microbiota regulates immunity and immunologic diseases in dogs and cats. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract. (2018) 48:307–22. doi: 10.1016/j.cvsm.2017.10.008 Mondo, E. et al. (2020) Gut microbiome structure and adrenocortical activity in dogs with aggressive and phobic behavioural disorders, Heliyon. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6994854/ (Accessed: January 24, 2023).
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Being calm is really important for both your optimal health and for your dog's optimal health and development. Especially when we consider the sensory sensitivities of dogs and how this can impact them from day to day.
Creating a safe and comforting space for your dog can be so beneficial for your dog and for you! Building safe spaces for my dogs throughout the home is a kind of cathartic experience. Ensuring in each room that they have the opportunity to relax, feel safe and comfortable and focusing on creating really nice spaces in rooms such as the living room and bedroom and the craft room. The craft room has the backdoor so the dogs have both the opportunity to go outside and fully relax in this room, they can take themselves away from the business of the home and relax or play outside or they can also relax upstairs or in the living room. You can make a basic space or you can really go all out, for example the dogs love watching TV and cartoons, so they have disney - stitch themed everything, mostly for myself and my personality but I feel that by working on a theme for them, that it kind of reflects the effort and the love and care put into these projects for them. Many people worry you need a big house to do this, but I don't have a big home and I have just incorporated spaces within the rooms that I do have which gives them lots of choice and space. Sometimes we all just want our own space to a degree don't we? As well as a dog bed, toys and blankets I also made home made wax melts with lavender, chamomile and clary sage for soothing aromatherapy for them, we also use pet remedy diffusers (I'll drop a discount code in for you at the end). They also have a TV, white noise machine, radio and fairy lights, so you can make the space as elaborate or basic as you like, you choose if you want to have a theme or if you want the space to match the aesthetic of your decor. There is no right or wrong way to build a space as long as you feel your dog is comfortable! This is so important to ensure that if your dog has a negative experience they can decompress over the next few days with choice of freedom of movement and choosing where they feel safest to enter into deep sleep, rest and recover from the experience whilst the hormones and brain chemicals are levelling back out. Exploring any environmental triggers within the home is important to ensure your dog can truly relax. If there are construction workers at home, or a neighbours the noises and smells can often cause some dogs distress, neighbours who utilise bark machines can cause dogs distress and interfere with them being able to relax, dogs next door and barking, growling etc from the dog(s) next door can also trigger your dog's, loud traffic and so on. When we identify these triggers we can then do our best to eliminate them, but of course not everything is within our control, if you find your dog is barking from the window, window privacy film can really help in blocking out visual triggers. If your dog is affected by environmental sounds, playing a white noise machine and a radio simultaneously can help them to not hear the environmental sounds. If your dog is affected by a dog challenging them through the fence for example, adding a secondary perimeter away from the neighbours fence, with a second fence or bushes or an additional perimeter based on your budget can also help your dog in reducing stress for them. You can also make a sensory garden for them within the new perimeter. Sometimes being within the situation like any situation is that you don't always consider all of the different triggers, this can be because of the stress, because you're in the situation and tired and we all benefit from a fresh pair of eyes and perspective concerning stressful situations. Utilising enrichment within these spaces can also really help them to decompress and shake off the negative emotions from the negative experience, enrichment can aid nervous or anxious dogs in building confidence and optimism and enrichment is just fun and stimulating too. But enrichment like anything in dog training can be misunderstood. This is because every dog is individual and unique and not all dogs will enjoy the same benefits from any one type of enrichment. A recent study found that stuffed food enrichment wasn't as impactful for military working dogs on changing their behaviour or meeting their welfare needs when it came to behaviour. Gaines. S.A, et al (2008). Studies have also found that for some dogs food enrichment does help with reductions in barking and stress and other studies have found that social interaction when the human is involved in the enrichment shows that dogs had greater sociability, decreased cortisol concentrations and increased relaxation. Belpedio. C, et al. (2010). Researchers looked into assistance dog's within an office setting and how enrichment affected their behaviour following different types of enrichment. The behaviours that they wanted to examine was a reduction in stress and barking and if enrichment provided relaxation and less anxious behaviour such as waiting for a noise to alert to. This included stuffed food items, human involved enrichment, and a bubble machine. The findings were that although the dogs are and appeared to enjoy the stuffed food items, the greatest changes in the behaviour were from the bubbles which also included scent as the bubbles were bacon flavoured and human interaction enrichment such as tug or enrichment games played with the human. Hunt, R.L., Whiteside et al, (2022). So it's much better to engage in a variety of enrichment activities to help a dog to meet their biological needs and as a dog owner (guardian) see marked changes in behaviour over all. I have worked with many people who share that their dog doesn't like food stuffed enrichment or isn't food motivated and this is completely valid and understandable. Many times a dog isn't food motivated in 9 out of 10 of these cases because the dog has separation anxiety and is simply too anxious and stressed to eat when in this state, just like us,or there are visitors in the home or there are noises that are causing the dog to feel unsettled. But there are things that can be done to help a dog with feelings of anxiety for whatever reasons, such as a tailored separation anxiety plan as generalised behaviour advice doesn't work for every dog because of all dogs being individuals. Enrichment can be done as a part of a dog's daily routine and bringing down cortisol levels, which can help our dog's to have healthier and more enriched lives. So if you are struggling with your dog feeling uncomfortable with visitors, the neighbours dog, not being able to monitor your dog whilst occupied with work or other activities, resource guarding issues etc, setting up a Doggy Enrichment Land really can be a huge game changer for the whole family and benefit your dog in a multifaceted way! Michaels. L. (2022) Pet Remedy for all of your pets! Not just limited to dogs, Pet Remedy is steered by an amazing and ethical company who focuses on the science of herbs and essential oils to soothe pets who are in distress or as a preventative to stress. As a multi species home, I enjoy Pet Remedy for all of my animals and am proud to be a Pet Remedy partner. Pet Remedy 25% off site wide just follow this link: https://petremedy.co.uk/ref/MuttsMischief/ References
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BlogFor Mutts & Mischief If you enjoy my blogs and
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February 2025
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Or are you looking for support and would like to get to know us better?
If the answer is yes then click the image below to join my free facebook group. What is Mutts & Mischief Community!
So it is what it says on the tin! Its a community that is international of clients and colleagues with the most supportive and friendly people on the planet. Dog Trainers and behaviourists from all over the world!
Why did I set up such a mammoth group?
I wanted to have a group exclusively for clients. For support and build on friendships from classes or individual consults. I want clients to see you are not alone with your dog and the problem you maybe having that you are not the first and won't be the last! I wanted a safe place where clients could trade stories good and bad in one place for free!
I also wanted a safe place for the trainers and behaviourists I mentor too.
Why do this for free?
Because when I say I offer an holistic service I really do. It isn't about the money it is about you and your dogs. You and your dogs are all that matter.
So I wanted to encourage people to do homework and build better quality relationships with their dogs. So 5 years ago I had a mad idea and set up the 100 days of dog training challenge in 2019. Once a day people would spend 5 minutes plus training their dog. Recording it and uploading their video onto the community. Every participant received a certificate.
What I didn't count on was how many professionals wanted to join and how fast word would spread. So in 2020 I set up a 366 days of dog training challenge.
We have clients in America, Greece, Norway, Denmark and Spain. We have Trainers from Greece, Norway, Isle of Wight, America and many more countries. As well as dog trainers and trainee behaviourists: I mentor all over the world.
So yes this group is free. It is still primarily for clients and for people to get to know me but we now have Pawsitive Wednesdays running, where I share a narrated free video tutorial for you to try with your dog and all are welcome to upload their video to the group for support from members!
What are you waiting for? Come and join us!!
So it is what it says on the tin! Its a community that is international of clients and colleagues with the most supportive and friendly people on the planet. Dog Trainers and behaviourists from all over the world!
Why did I set up such a mammoth group?
I wanted to have a group exclusively for clients. For support and build on friendships from classes or individual consults. I want clients to see you are not alone with your dog and the problem you maybe having that you are not the first and won't be the last! I wanted a safe place where clients could trade stories good and bad in one place for free!
I also wanted a safe place for the trainers and behaviourists I mentor too.
Why do this for free?
Because when I say I offer an holistic service I really do. It isn't about the money it is about you and your dogs. You and your dogs are all that matter.
So I wanted to encourage people to do homework and build better quality relationships with their dogs. So 5 years ago I had a mad idea and set up the 100 days of dog training challenge in 2019. Once a day people would spend 5 minutes plus training their dog. Recording it and uploading their video onto the community. Every participant received a certificate.
What I didn't count on was how many professionals wanted to join and how fast word would spread. So in 2020 I set up a 366 days of dog training challenge.
We have clients in America, Greece, Norway, Denmark and Spain. We have Trainers from Greece, Norway, Isle of Wight, America and many more countries. As well as dog trainers and trainee behaviourists: I mentor all over the world.
So yes this group is free. It is still primarily for clients and for people to get to know me but we now have Pawsitive Wednesdays running, where I share a narrated free video tutorial for you to try with your dog and all are welcome to upload their video to the group for support from members!
What are you waiting for? Come and join us!!
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