Sarah Whitehead

'Popping the bubble!'...

OK, not a title I thought I’ve ever use, but hey… given that we have all adopted this new term, along with ‘lockdown’ and my personal favourite… “unprecedented’ … I thought we’d go with it!

In this talk, I explore how dogs (and cats) may behave according to whether they are operating within their intimate social bubble, or not.. and how recognising and understanding this should have a big impact on our observations and assessments of canine body language and behaviour.

To illustrate, I look at three of the most commonly misinterpreted behaviour signals in our field: play bows, rolling over, and scent marking … and discuss how important it is that we try to see things differently according to different contexts, to help our dogs on a day-to-day basis. This is most especially when they are out in the big wide world, and are relying on us to be their safe place.

• Canine body language needs to be observed with social context in mind
• The difference between ‘family v friend’
• Our understanding of other species’ behavioural traits may help us explore those that are more familiar – in other words, what cats might be able to teach us about dogs!
  

Enjoy!