This is another wordy one, without funny memes or joyous dog pictures. Doesn’t feel right.
If you can get through the next 1500-ish words, thank you!

With 2024 done and dusted, it’s time to review the year’s data, looking at what happened, what worked, what didn’t work. As always, keeping, collating and analysing data is revelatory even if it’s not always pleasant.

As I reflected on 2023, at the beginning of last year, the effects of the Pandemic continued to loom, and has impacted 2024 too.

There are similarities between 2023 and 2024, but little in the way of improvements. Sadly.

Please read my reflections on 2023 here for context; this piece will be a continuation it seems.

Outcomes

In 2024, 36% cases through our Behaviour Matters program ended in behavioural euthanasia.
One dog was returned to rescue and another dog was rehomed privately, relating to their behaviour. That’s a lot of heartache for so many of my clients, and their dogs.

(Again, my sample may be somewhat skewed as some of these cases were referred to me to specifically address and counsel these decisions.)

While these cases are disheartening, upsetting, depressing and frustrating, I do believe that the right decisions were made. Nobody goes into this wishing for these sorts of outcomes but maintaining these dogs’ welfare under their current living conditions had become impossible. And they were suffering.

Of these dogs who were euthanised in relation to their behaviour, 79% of them had been adopted from rescue organisations. The majority of these dogs had been in their adopted homes for less than two years, with a few home just a couple of months.

Where do dogs come from?

Across my cases, 56% of dogs came from rescue and 33% had been purchased from a breeder, DBE etc. A small number of dogs had been rehomed privately from another guardian or vet’s.

43% of dogs had been home up to two years and 45% had been home 2-4 years. But almost all had been exhibiting behaviours of concern for at least a year before coming to us.

30% of dogs were under the age of 3 when we started, and 66% were between the ages of three and six years at the beginning of their Behaviour Matters journey.

Of those dogs purchased from some sort of breeder, 77% had been reared, during their first 12 weeks of life, outside a family home type environment, so in sheds, barns, kennels and so on.

Of dogs adopted from rescue, 62% had spent more than two months in kennels but most of them had lived in kennel environments for more than a year.

The dogs.

All of my cases in 2024 were neutered, with just one neutered with careful timing and their individual behaviour and health in mind, after they had started our program. 70% of dogs were neutered males.

Timing of neutering may be impactful on behaviour, and behavioural health was not primarily considered in neutering any of the other dogs.

38% of dogs were overweight and 30% were prescribed anxiolytic medications, most of whom started as part of our program in collaboration with their vet teams.

52% of cases included medical involvement, mostly gastrointestinal issues and musculoskeletal pain, with some neurological issues too.

13% of Teams had worked with another trainer/behaviour professional previously on the specific behaviours of concern, not including those cases referred to me by other professionals.
But just 4.5% of Teams had had any training, proactively implemented, before issues arose.

Behaviours of Concern

While all cases include primary concern/s, almost all also brought secondary concerns too, often revealed as we started to delve into history taking and data collection.

Primary behaviours of concern included the following.

41% of cases involved injurious bites to humans, with 10% of cases involving serious bite injuries to children and a further 10% involving serious injuries inflicted to other dogs, including a couple of dogs who had killed at least one other dog.

36% of cases involved behaviours including barking & lunging at other dogs, joggers, vehicles, and so on

Separation related behaviours made up 11% of cases and 8% involved fear responses and avoidance behaviours.

Most help is sought when dogs exhibit behaviours that cause concern to humans. So behaviours of concern not as demonstrative are often missed without help.

Numbers

These are just numbers, stats. While they paint a pretty grim picture, they don’t tell us about the enormous devotion my clients have for their dogs’ well-being. They don’t illustrate their dogs’ trust and love for their humans, who are doing their best. And they don’t portray the great sadness and pain felt when living with and loving a dog doesn’t turn out as expected.

I’m sad and disappointed for all these Teams, and not just those with the worst outcomes. We must do better.

What can we do better?

Every dog is surrounded by humans who can make a difference in that dog’s life. In my ideal-world, every dog would have a dedicated and collaborative Care-Team from the very beginning providing guidance and support. But this is just a dream, and the dogs with whom I work have often not had humans capable of making sure that individual dog’s behavioural health will be prioritised as a matter of welfare, from the very beginning and throughout.

Training & Behaviour Professionals

Be better. Be professional.
Get off social media and stop chasing likes and follows. There’s a whole world of canine science not bastardised in reels and shorts.

We have such a unique opportunity to shape our young, evolving industry and make our services really relevant to our stakeholders. But we need to be better.

Do you want help to do this? Just ask us…we are on the same journey to be better, and we will help you. But it won’t be via social media and those echo chambers, it will be through real, substantial, and actually evidence based education.

Veterinary Professionals

Behavioural health is health, and behaviours can be considered clinical signs. All but one of the cases that involved meaningful and impactful medical issues were not addressed until the dog started our program.

Indeed, among those cases from 2024, chasing and pushing for proactive and effective medical treatments has been a significant barrier slowing our progress.

Do you want help to do this? Just ask us.
We offer free help and consultation to all veterinary staff to help with behaviour related queries.
We will come and talk to your team about behaviour, about what we do, how we help, and what can be done in day to day practice to promote behavioural health.

Producers of dogs

Making the decision to breed two specific dogs, and the experiences of each puppy from conception through their first few weeks of life are the most important elements in ensuring behavioural health for those dogs. For life.

The buck stops with you if you are responsible for these elements. There really is no understatement here – this is that important and impactful.

Do you want help to do this? Just ask us.
We will discuss ways to evaluate matches from behavioural health angles, will provide resources and will help you to structure programs to support puppies in their first weeks of life.

Rescues

Euthanasia is often outsourced to rescue; guardians surrender dogs exhibiting serious behaviours of concern to pounds, who pass the dogs onto rescue, who rehome those dogs.
Rescues should not be expected to pick up these pieces with inadequate resources, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of help being sought.

Dogs that are being homed now are different. They are coming from a different population that appears, for the most part, not to be as well prepared for the complexities of the human world, they are spending longer and longer in under-enriched environments and outside of family life. That means they need more support to keep them in homes and even more careful placements.

Post-adoption support right from the start is a key to success and safety. Just that support in place keeps adopters on board during their first months together; this can help to keep dogs home and successful, preventing behaviours of concern causing disruption.

Do you want help to do this? Just ask us.
Keeping dogs in homes starts before they go home and continues for their first months home, to survive the many bumps in the road and build a long-lasting relationship.

Rather than waiting for problems to arise, which they inevitably will, let us get help in place before that dog goes home.

Guardians

You need more and better support, without shame and blame. But you need to meet us halfway – get help before you get your dog, before there are concerns, before you are considering making final decisions.

Last year we lamented, if only. If only guardians got in touch with us at the earliest possible intervention. If only.

‘Tis the Season for Christmas Bites to help get you and your dog ready for the Howlidays

Calm & comfortable canine behaviour doesn’t happen by Christmas magic…it happens with sensible management, realistic expectations & meeting your dog’s needs.

We can all find the Season stressful & overwhelming, including our dogs. As part of planning for the celebrations, incorporate ways to manage your dog’s behavioural health.

The festivities bring lots of hazards including forbidden foods & other dangerous ingestibles, lots of changes, novelty, guests & activity, lots of comings & goings, on top of disrupted routines & distracted humans.

That means we need to step up management, provide more distance & relief, and meeting your dog’s needs.

All this stress & chaos leads to lowering of behavioural inhibitions so your dog is less well able to resist temptation. That means they be more likely to grab a tasty morsel, more likely to ingest and/or guard access to valuable stuff, and more care with supervision of dogs + kids and guests.

Realign your expectations with reality…the reality of the preparation you’ve provided, the stressors your dog is experiencing & the conditions on the day.

Take the pressure off yourself too! When you feel under stress, you might be shorter with your dog. Realign your expectations with reality & ask, “does my dog need to take part in this, right now?”.

Check out our Christmas Bites program to help bust the Seasonal stress, support you & your dog & keep everyone safe.

Safety First

Disrupted routines and distracted humans means that accidents can happen quite easily, particularly as there are so many harmful hazards all around during the festivities.

More about…

• Festive Foods
• Winter Hazards
• Include your dog

Festive Foods

Chocolate

More cases of chocolate toxicity are presented to veterinary hospitals during December, than any other time of year (Noble et al, 2017).

The Christmas Season is full of chocolate and dogs will be able to sniff out our hidden gifts and chew through containers. Dogs might hunt down chocolate in bars, boxes, Advent Calendars, decorations, toy components, and in parcels or wrapped gifts.
Chocolate often accompanies other dangerous foods such as raisins.

Chocolate contains the methylxanthines theobromine and caffeine, that can cause CNS stimulation when ingested by dogs. The greater the cocoa solids in the chocolate, the greater the risk of toxicity, with smaller amounts ingested (Bates 2015).

Even though theobromine toxicity is not a risk with white chocolate, VPIS, 2019, warn that with its high fat content ingesting white chocolate may lead to pancreatitis.

Check out this helpful Chocolate Toxicity Calculator from Vets Now.

In Noble, 2017, most dogs were presented at the veterinary clinic 1-6 hours after ingestion with vomiting, increased heart rate, agitation, and restlessness.
Spotting chocolate toxicity can be tricky. Many dogs will eat the evidence, chocolate and wrappers, so keen observation of your dog’s behaviour may contribute to getting timely help.

Beyond Chocolate

There are plenty of other festive foods that our pets might access accidentally or be fed unknowingly.

Cooked bones and fatty leftovers will be sought after by dogs and cats alike. But with our usual routines disrupted, left over foods may be discarded in unusual places, meaning easier and unsupervised access by pets of all species.

With an abundance of food, waste bins and compost bins may be overflowing, and many pets will seek out mouldy and spoiled foods which may leave them susceptible to Mycotoxins and similar.

Coffee, alcohols, and other psychoactive substances are readily associated with party-time and may become easily available to our pets via half-empty glasses left within reach, spills, in desserts and rising bread dough that may be left unattended or discarded.

Seasonal nuts, such as macadamias, and dried fruits such as grapes and dried grapes, e.g., raisins, currents, sultanas, are dangerous and may be in lots of foods like cakes, pudding, mince pies, stuffings & fillings.
Avocado, raw potatoes, fruit pits/seeds, fruit plant parts, and Allum species such as onions and garlic can be dangerous too.

Christmas brings many changes to family life and households including routine and physical disruptions, such as moving furniture and setting up spare rooms. These changes may increase risk of ingestion of human or pet medications; remember, dogs may chew through “child-proof” lids and containers with ease. Medications that people might believe are relatively benign, such as cold and ‘flu preparations, will feature in most homes at this time of year so take care!   

While we humans may choose to gorge on high fat, high salt, and high sugar snacks and treats, these are not safe for pets of all kinds.
And be aware that “sugar free” foods may contain xylitol, which is poisonous to dogs, and probably other pets too.

(Cortinovis & Caloni 2016)

Winter Hazards

Beyond foodstuffs, the same seasonal disruptions may contribute to increased risks relating to environmental hazards.

Christmas trees, decorations, wires, lights, candles, oils, ribbons and wrapping paper and packaging can be irresistible to pets who explore and even ingest these novelties.
Putting decorations and seasonal plants, like holly, mistletoe and poinsettia, out of reach may not reduce risks to cats particularly.

Winter hazards like rodenticides, anti-freeze and carbon monoxide poisoning may be more dangerous given the distractions of the celebrations and often inadequate supervision of pets.

(Bates 2022)

The extra excitement and background increased stress of the run-up to the celebrations lowers behaviour inhibitions, meaning your dog may do behaviours they wouldn’t normally. They may be more likely to ‘steal’, grab, ingest, guard, jump up, bark, and so on.

Disrupted routines, distracted humans, doors opening and closing, lots of activity and excitement, can leave pets unsupervised and unattended more than usual. It’s on us to step up our management game to keep our pets safe this Season!

Include your dog

While it’s important to prevent our dogs getting forbidden and dangerous festive foods, we can include our dogs in our celebrations with safe and suitable foods too.

Know your dog! Some dogs can tolerate certain extras better than others – if that’s not your dog, stick to their regular diet and make it interesting by incorporating food puzzles and fun food games instead.

Adding small amounts of fresh food extras can be a great way to boost palatability and nutrition. Our dogs should find pleasure in their food, just like we do.

Consider adding lean components so as not to upset their tummies with extra fat and to keep calorie content under control. Account for extras by carefully adjusting the amount of their regular diet, to maintain balance.

Feed the rainbow! Consider the addition of safe and suitably prepared fruits and vegetables in an array of colours to capture the benefits of a range of phytochemicals that act as pigments in plants.

You might even bake special Seasonal cookies or treats for your dog. There are lots of recipes online often incorporating banana, oat flours, peanut butter and other dog-safe ingredients.

Our human celebrations generally incorporate food; we share food with loved ones, and are sharing love in doing so. Of course we want to include our dogs, whom we love as part of our families. Of course, keep them safe and away from harmful foods, but make sure to look at ways to share the celebrations with them, and share the love!

Our last From Paper to Practice webinar of 2024…and it’s free!

We are talking about trauma-informed care and this paper, Potential Benefits of a ‘Trauma-Informed Care’ Approach to Improve the Assessment and Management of Dogs Presented with Anxiety Disorders, with one of the authors, Dr Claire Corridan.

Join us on Monday 25th November at 8pm, via Zoom.

Email me at IVBAed@gmail.com to book your spot!

Bringing you more goodies!

Join IVBA and Dr Eduardo Fernandez to discuss LIFE!

In our From Paper to Practice series, we take an informal but in-depth look at the literature and how best to apply it in our day-to-day interactions with animals.

This time we are looking at this paper: Fernandez, E. J. (2024). The least inhibitive, functionally effective model: A new framework for ethical animal training practices. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 71, 63-68.

This FREE webinar is an important one to attend for our community and is on Sunday 29th September at 11am (Irish time). You can book your spot by emailing me IVBAed@gmail.com

Lucky for me I get to share a new project that’s very important to me, at the same time as I lament that such a project is needed.

Dogs In Society is a new stakeholder group made up of experienced dog behaviour professionals and educators. I and some colleagues have been brought together on this because of the Irish government’s plans to enact breed-banning legislation…starting next month.

There is very little information available about how this legislation will be applied and we are troubled by the bringing forth of legislation based on flawed rationales. Our concerns include:

– Reactionary response and haste with which breed-banning legislation has been considered and written:

• insufficient time to conduct due diligence
• modelling legislation on a similar ban in the UK which has been shown to be ineffective, expensive, was enacted with disregard for considerable expert advice and is currently being challenged in the High Court
• absence of discourse involving veterinarians and without consideration from Veterinary Ireland, whose members are largely opposed to BSL

-Lacking clarity in rationale for decision making, that is clearly ignoring the valid evidence:

• lacking planning in enacting and training local authorities and stakeholders in enforcing this legislation

–Questions about the integrity of the conclusions and guidance provided by the working group

• no report has been made publicly available, but legislation has been written
• BSL position statements published by several participating organisations oppose banning and expansions to BSL
• representatives from at least two of the member organisations, of this working group, have made public statements in national media and on social media in which they have promoted erroneous information, sensationalised canine behaviour in favouring the targeting of a poorly defined type of dog and stating an agreement with the actions of the Minister in bringing this legislation forth.
  We have screen grabs, transcripts, and recordings as evidence of these public statements.
  These disparities highlight a lack of transparency on behalf of this working group, and apparently, a lack of understanding of the core issues. 
• local authority vet made representations for Veterinary Ireland on RTE 6pm News (6pm News, 05/06/2024) with statements and recommendations in direct contravention to the position held by Veterinary Ireland, and who has been central in writing this legislation

In short, BSL is based on erroneous rationale, that behaviour and safety can be predicted via morphological characteristics, and, despite being enacted here since 1998, the rate of bite incidents continues to rise. It is a blunt instrument that provides an all but superficial pretence that action is being taken, while deflecting from the complexity and nuance of the issues at hand.

As such, breed specific legislation blinds stakeholders to meaningful alternatives that are evidence based, and suggests that only the behaviour of targeted dog-types warrants care. With effective legislation and community supports in place, alternatives to breed-focused mandates can facilitate ongoing data collection to enable appropriate adjustments in response to evolving societal trends.

Download our fully referenced and evidence based Position on BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) and please share with others, including policy makers. Please share!!

While we have been working for months contacting politicians, councillors, professionals and rescues, we understand that this ban is happening. Our energy must be devoted to helping and supporting those affected by this short-sighted legislation.

Although no process has been made public, we do know that exempted dogs will need to be muzzled. This is already the current state of legislation for dogs who look like this but, just in case, we want to support guardians in preparing their dogs.

Muzzle training is an important skill for all dogs and can be a fun teaching project for you and your dog.

Download our Muzzle Love tutorial handout and please do share with others too!

Here’s a quick video demo tutorial (linked from the handout too, along with other resources):

How you can help us help more dogs:

• follow @dogs_in_society on social media, engage with and share our posts
• tell your friends!
• share our resources
• legislation, particularly BSL ain’t going to improve safety, education, guidance and support will…think education, guidance and support rather than blame or shame
• send anyone with questions or concerns about BSL, about dog behaviour, about “these dogs”, to us and we will help them without judgement
• we will have some more resources available soon including the DIS Pledge that will focus on messaging and community focused guardianship…look out for that coming soon!