Puppies should be let to stay with their mothers and siblings for at least 2 months, ideally 3 months. If they are in a good home with a good mother and with people that socialize with them, also letting some visitors see and handle the puppies, the puppies will...

Dogs will naturally want to meet other dogs. And they should be let to do so often. However, we can’t always let them and many dogs seem to have problems meeting other dogs on the street. Why? Normally it’s because people have unintentionally taught them to behave...

Stress in dogs, as in us, releases stress hormones in the brain. The effect of this is simply that if any learning can happen, it happens much slower. But the dog is more likely to learn wrong things, such as fear of the situation, or something related to the...

Abrantes, R. (2005) The Evolution of Canine Social Behaviour. Wakan Tanka Publishers, USA. Beerda, B., Schilder, M. B. H., Van Hooff, J. A. R. A. M., De Vries, H. W. and Mol, J. A. (1999) Chronic stress in dogs subjected to social and spatial restriction. I:...

Punishment increases stress. When a dog is stressed (like any animal or human) the ability to concentrate goes down and any learning will happen slower. Or, more likely the dog will learn wrong things! It will learn not to trust and to be afraid. Dogs are likely to...

How dogs behave is a result of what they have (or haven’t) learned in their environment. They always learn from us, whether we are aware of it or not, whether we want it or not. Problem behaviours are also a result of what dogs have (or haven’t) learned, and not for...

Comparing the social hierarchy of wolves to dogs and thinking we need to “dominate” dogs according to it is an outdated belief. First of all, even the hierarchy of wolves is much more flexible, wolves are peace-loving animals and do not compete for leadership as much...