The Sociable Dog Podcast

Leave us a message Zazie Todd PhD is an animal behaviour expert and the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. Her third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, is out now. Todd is the creator of Companion Animal Psychology blog and has a column at Psychology Today. She has a PhD in Psycho...

Leave us a message In this week's episode, I'm really thrilled to be talking to the person who has had the greatest impact on my professional life. My teacher, mentor and friend, Jean Donaldson. It was thanks to Jean and her Academy For Dog Trainers that I embarked on the biggest shift in my adult life. I went from being a professional sound engineer to working with dogs full time.  Jean...

Leave us a message In this, the first episode of our second series of The Sociable Dog Pod, Nina and I talk about all those times when, despite best efforts, training seems to just go south. What's that all about? Listen in to find out. Coming up in this series we'll be talking to guests about their books, why we so badly need good education in dog training and separation anxiety to name...

Leave us a message A Five Minute Friday look at dogs emotional response to their world and how that influences the decisions they make. Just how good are dogs at evaluating their situation and making forward planning decisions as a result? Thank you for listening to The Sociable Dog Pod. Find us on X/Twitter @sociabledog

Leave us a message In this, the final episode of The Sociable Dog Pod, series one, Nina vents about downer click bait and we offer up our six reasons to celebrate dogs. Thank you for listening to The Sociable Dog Pod. Find us on X/Twitter @sociabledog

Leave us a message This week we're going to talk about something that we've mentioned a lot but discussed very little; learning by consequences. In other words how dogs can influence outcomes to their advantage. There's a little teaser of a how to as well as some gear suggestions for making life in training a bit easier. Thank you for listening to The Sociable Dog Pod. Find us on X/...

Leave us a message Fear is a complex problem. It has multiple causes, can be easily "installed" and is notoriously difficult to resolve. It can regress without warning even after extensive work and may never be fully "fixed". In the past the training environment hasn't always done what is best for fearful dogs. But there is hope both for the dogs who are faced with a world...

Leave us a message Here it is! Our big catch up with Rory Cellan Jones on how Sophie is doing following my visit to Diane, Rory and Sophie. It's been roughly eighteen months since Sophie arrived in West London to start her new life as part of the Coyle-Cellan Jones household and she has made huge progress in that time.  In this candid chat with Rory we talk about the realities of living with...

Leave us a message Resource guarding is a relatively common problem experienced by dog parents. It's sometimes difficult to identify and when you do hard to fathom why your dog, who is given everything by you, should guard things from you. Join us in talking about what motivates this challenging behaviour and the techniques used to resolve it. Spoiler: It's not personal!! Thank you for l...

Leave us a message If your dog is afraid of unfamiliar people it can pose a real challenge. You can find yourself walking in the dead of night or early hours of the morning. Your route is designed to avoid anyone and as for having guests to stay for any longer than a few hours, that feels like a fantasy. This episode of The Sociable Dog Pod is all about how to deal with this truly difficult subjec...

Leave us a message In this episode Si considers the benefit of establishing a secure base for your dog. If you are struggling with a new and fearful rescue dog or just want some ideas on how to strengthen the bond with your dog it might be that you need to slow down. Take the weight of responsibility off your shoulders and focus on the bond for a while. Thank you for listening to The Sociable Dog...

Leave us a message If you live with a reactive dog it can be a real challenge. Whether they go off at dogs or people it's one of those behaviours that can have you resorting to only walking in the dead of night. You're probably a little fed up of apologising to the other dog walker as you pass no doubt. Well, in this weeks episode of The Sociable Dog Pod, we're going to look at reac...

Leave us a message Dog play can be confusing sometimes. It can look a bit rough or even violent. So how do we tell when the play is good and when it might be getting a bit out of hand? Join Si for an introduction to dog play. A topic we're sure we will be coming back to in the future. Thank you for listening to The Sociable Dog Pod. Find us on X/Twitter @sociabledog

Leave us a message In this, the first of the Sociable Dog podcasts, your hosts Si and Nina are easing in gently. We've picked a few common questions and misconceptions about dog behaviour to chat about. As time goes on we'll deep dive into what makes dogs tick and how to best help the fearful ones as well as maximise your potential as a trainer for your dog. Thank you for listening to Th...