muttsandmischief

🧠 Behaviour Makes Sense: The Amygdala Have you ever wondered why your dog sometimes seems to react before they’ve had a chance to think? One reason may be a small, almond-shaped structure in the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is often described as the brain’s alarm system. Its role isn’t to make your dog obedient or disobedient. Its primary job is to detect potential danger and prepare the body to respond. When the amygdala perceives something as threatening—whether that’s another...

Healing isn’t always the moment you discover something new. Sometimes it’s the moment you realise something you’ve always believed wasn’t true. In this episode of The Feral Behaviourist, I talk about leaving a two-hour counselling session and the emotional weight of understanding my childhood, my late autism diagnosis, neuroplasticity, and why those experiences have profoundly shaped the way I work with both people and dogs. TW; talk of child abuse. One thought stayed with me throughout the...

🧠 Behaviour Makes Sense: Activity-Dependent Synaptogenesis It might sound like a bit of a tongue twister, but activity-dependent synaptogenesis describes something wonderfully simple. The brain builds and strengthens connections based on what it repeatedly does. Every time your dog experiences something, billions of nerve cells (neurons) communicate with one another. When those same neurons are activated repeatedly, the connections between them become stronger and more efficient. You may...