Knowing their normal | The power of observing your dog(s) | Jo Middleton

Knowing their normal | The power of observing your dog(s) | Jo Middleton

Your dog can't tell you when something's wrong, so they rely on you to notice. The person who lives with a dog knows their normal in a way no vet or trainer ever could, because you're the one who sees them every day. That everyday knowledge is easy to underestimate, right up until the moment it matters. Jo Middleton found that out with her own dog, when 2 vets told her everything was fine and she wasn't convinced. This conversation is about the power of observing the dog in front of you, what a calm dog might be masking, and why the closest eye on a dog is usually the most reliable one. Jo is the principal of the International School for Canine Psychology & Behaviour [https://www.theiscp.com/], and she runs Canine Principles [https://www.canineprinciples.com/], where more than 20,000 students have enrolled. She also leads the International Institute for Canine Ethics [https://www.canineethics.org/], an assessing organisation for the ABTC. She's spent 25 years in the dog world, much of it in rescue, working with dogs whose normal nobody knew yet. Courses mentioned in this episode: L3 Diploma in PAWS™ Dog Rescue Mental Health Support [https://www.theiscp.com/challenge-page/b0ee0044-df22-45c4-80f4-e9d4df996368] ISCP Free Course - Bite Size Canine Communication [https://www.theiscp.com/challenge-page/eab8c520-4837-4e27-9d06-5404102585a6?programId=eab8c520-4837-4e27-9d06-5404102585a6&participantId=undefined]

Love isn't enough | What really shapes a rescue dog's behaviour | Trish McMillan

A puppy who only ever knew kindness grew into the most dangerous dog Trish McMillan has ever lived with. His story, and that of a dogfighting survivor who turned out gentle, sit at the heart of why a rescue dog is never a blank slate, and what the dog pays when we get that wrong. The conversation covers rescue dogs and behaviour, how shelters decide which dogs are safe to rehome, the real weight of behavioural euthanasia, and why a harder caseload can be a sign of progress. Trish has spent over 30 years in shelters, rescues, and welfare work, focused on the dogs whose behaviour is most difficult, complex, or unsafe, and on supporting the people responsible for their care. More from Trish McMillan: https://www.trishmcmillan.com/ [https://www.trishmcmillan.com/] https://www.shelterbehaviorhub.com/ [https://www.shelterbehaviorhub.com/] (Shelter Behavior Hub) https://www.instinctdogtraining.com/personnel/trish-mcmillan/ [https://www.instinctdogtraining.com/personnel/trish-mcmillan/] Journal article: The perils of placing marginal dogs [https://journal.iaabcfoundation.org/the-perils-of-placing-marginal-dogs/]

Running isn't racing | Does a greyhound love to run or race?

A greyhound loves to run. Running across a field and racing around an oval track aren't the same thing, and greyhound racing depends on us not noticing the difference. Nadine talks to three people working to end the sport about what it looks like from the dog's side: the falls, the kennel hours, the breeding, and what happens to a greyhound who stops winning. They trace how one country after another has banned dog racing, and why Britain, 100 years on, has not. Norb runs Shut Down Campaigns, Isobel campaigns with Animal Aid, and Emily Lawrence campaigns with the League Against Cruel Sports. On 25 July 2026, they march in London, a century to the week after Britain's first greyhound race, to end greyhound racing for good. Links mentioned in this episode: League Against Cruel Sports report: https://www.league.org.uk/media/filer_public/c5/5c/c55c246b-78d9-4205-bddb-10f8f2ef445c/uk_report_final_32326_digital.pdf [https://www.league.org.uk/media/filer_public/c5/5c/c55c246b-78d9-4205-bddb-10f8f2ef445c/uk_report_final_32326_digital.pdf] The AI investigation into racing records (University of Melbourne): https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/greyhound-racing-says-its-transparent,-so-we-used-ai-to-check-dog-by-dog [https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/greyhound-racing-says-its-transparent,-so-we-used-ai-to-check-dog-by-dog] Inside the kennels (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deKUhm4ZQYI [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deKUhm4ZQYI]

Pain wears disguises | Your reactive dog is probably in pain | Kerry Sheldrick

If you've ever stood in your kitchen at half eight on a Tuesday with a dog who's barking at nothing, lunging at the postman, scared of the front door, scared of you, scared of their own shadow, and wondered what on earth you're doing wrong, this episode is for you. It rearranges how you see your dog. Most of what we label as bad behaviour isn't behaviour at all. It's pain, fear, or stress that nobody has spotted yet, and you can't punish away pain, and you can't punish away fear. The barking, the lunging, the guarding, the dog who can't settle, almost always it's a dog telling you they don't feel safe, or they hurt somewhere nobody has found. So the work was never about control. It's about understanding what a behaviour is for, asking why instead of how do I make it stop, and meeting a frightened dog with distance, patience, and kindness rather than more pressure. Your dog isn't giving you a hard time. They're having one, and the kindest, most useful thing you can do is work out why. Kerry Sheldrick runs Howl School for Dogs, a qualified and APDT-accredited dog trainer and behaviour consultant offering remote support for clients all around the world, and mentoring for other dog professionals including dog trainers, dog walkers and daycares. She also hosts regular online workshops and her own informative and entertaining podcast, Are You There, Dog? It's Me, Kerry, available on all the usual platforms.

Grief is love | Why losing a dog can hurt the most | Lisa Waggoner

If you've ever been through it, you'll know how painful it can be.  You'll know what it's like the next morning after they've gone.  The little signs of them missing, like the pitter-patter of their paws across the floor, the sound of their tongue lapping at the water bowl, the warmth of their body as they scoot closer during a Netflix binge. A recent study from Maynooth University found that losing a pet can sometimes be as intense and as long-lasting as losing a person. Part of why it affects us so deeply is that our dogs get to see a side of us that no one else ever sees.  That playful, that gentle, that childlike part of us that only ever comes out around them. They give us purpose. They need us completely.  So when they go, there's a part of us that goes with them, a part of us that existed only in their presence. And because dogs don't live that long, loving them means grieving them more than once, sometimes many times across a single lifetime.  Lisa Waggoner, my guest on the podcast today, has lived exactly that. She's a force-free dog trainer for more than 20 years, the founder of Cold Nose College, faculty at the Victoria Stilwell Academy, author of Rocket Recall, and an ordained animal chaplain. She's lost 4 young dogs, one of them hit by a car at a year old, and each one changed the course of her life and her work.  We talk about why losing a dog can hurt as much as it does, why the world is still so quick to say it's only a dog, and what that kind of grief reveals about the way they were loved. This is Just a Dog Podcast, and I'm your host, Nadine. Let's begin.