Just a Dog Podcast

Pain wears disguises | Your reactive dog is probably in pain | Kerry Sheldrick 14.06.2026 58min

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 07.06.2026 1h 12min

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.

The invisible extreme | Why the border collie is an extreme breed too | Ellen Greenwood-Sole | The Urban Herder 04.06.2026 52min

A border collie can track a sheep across a field from the smallest flick of movement. Drop that same dog on a busy street, and the skill that makes them brilliant is the one that comes undone.Ellen Greenwood-Sole, founder of The Urban Herder, has spent more than 10 years working with collies and the people who love them. She makes a case most of us miss. A collie's intensity is not a personality; it is an extreme we bred on purpose, the behavioural version of a flat face. We just call it clever and leave it at that.We get into why so much reactivity is really pain, why teaching a dog to switch off matters more than another walk, and why the kindest move is sometimes grieving the dog you pictured so you can meet the one you have.

Aggression is communication | What your dog's growl is saying | Michael Shikashio | AggressiveDog.com 25.05.2026 1h 4min

A growl is one of the clearest things a dog can tell us, and it's often the most misread. Dog aggression specialist Michael Shikashio has spent 25 years working with dogs that other trainers couldn't help. His view is that aggression isn't a fault to correct. It's communication. It's a dog showing us that something is wrong.This conversation looks at where our beliefs about dog behaviour come from, and how often they come from people who were confident rather than informed. Michael explains why he believes you can't train aggression out of a dog, why pain is one of the most missed reasons behind it, and how the dominance and alpha ideas spread despite the evidence.Michael is the founder of AggressiveDog.com and a five-term president of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.

Why dogs react | Stress, trauma, and the canine brain | Daniel Shaw | Forensic Dog Behaviourist 11.05.2026 1h 8min

When a dog reacts on the lead or struggles to settle at home, what we see is often the end of a biological process that started much earlier in the day. Daniel Shaw is a dog behaviourist with a master's in neuroscience. In this conversation, he explains what is happening in a dog's brain and body during a reaction, including how cortisol rises with each stressor, how the amygdala grows more sensitive under chronic stress, and the physical changes that trauma causes in the brain.Daniel also works as an expert witness in UK courts in serious dog-aggression cases, where his assessment can determine whether a dog goes home or is put to sleep. The conversation moves through the stress bucket, why secure fields can sometimes be better than a half-hour walk, why reading body language is a skill that takes time to develop, and the holes in the Dangerous Dogs Act that affect everyday guardians.Daniel runs a behaviour consultancy in Kent, founded the Brain and Behaviour Academy for dog professionals, hosts an annual UK conference, and gives evidence in courts deciding the fate of dogs across the country.Connect with Daniel Shaw⁠Website⁠ | ⁠LinkedIn⁠ | ⁠Instagram⁠ | Spotify

Behaviour is information | Why what we read as 'bad' behaviour is usually a dog in pain | Dr Lisa Radosta DVM, DACVB 27.04.2026 1h

In this episode, we look at why dogs behave in ways that confuse or worry us. Dr. Lisa explains how pain, fear, and the way we treat dogs at home can show up as behaviour we'd otherwise call "bad". It's a conversation that asks you to look again at what your dog might be trying to tell you.Dr. Lisa Radosta is a board-certified veterinary behaviourist based in Florida. She's one of a small number of specialists worldwide trained both as a vet and as a behaviourist. With over 25 years of clinical experience, she's also the current president of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists.If you have a dog who's anxious, reactive, or hard to live with, this conversation will give you a different way to look at what's going on. Dr. Radosta also breaks down when to call a trainer versus a behaviourist, and why it matters. And if you just want to understand your dog better, you'll come away with plenty to think about.Connect with Dr. Lisa RadostaWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Cashmere from dogs | Turning discarded dog undercoat into luxury yarn | Sebastian Salvat, Chiora 22.04.2026 47min

Every spring, a double-coated dog sheds enough undercoat to knit a jumper. Most of it goes in the bin, or worse, on the garden fence for the birds, where flea treatment residue can kill hatchlings. Sebastian Salvat wants a better option.Sebastian is a fashion marketing student at London College of Fashion and the founder of Chiora, a project turning brushed-out dog undercoat into a cashmere-like yarn. He's been working in dog rescue since he was sixteen, lives with two rescues from Romania (Chai and Ora, who the brand is named after), and is backed by LCF's startup programme. The British Dog Wool Association was doing something similar for soldiers in hospitals over a hundred years ago. So the idea isn't new. The question is whether it should exist now.We get into the ethics of building a luxury material from a living animal, the economics that keep the model honest, and what Sebastian is doing differently this time around. If you live with a double-coated dog, pause before you throw the brush-outs away. Send your dog's brushed-out undercoat to Chiora info@chiora.org | chiora.org

BONUS | If you love dogs, come to Brighton this May | Sally Muir 18.04.2026 25min

Sally Muir is one of the UK’s most prolific painters of dogs. Her books A Dog a Day, Old Dogs, and Rescue Dogs are published by Pavilion. Her work has been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, including Elderly Dog (2018) and Hound (2019), and she won the Holburne Portrait Prize in 2012.She co-hosts The Dog Show in Brighton with Joanna Osborne, her business partner of over 40 years. They first met in 1979 through a shared interest in knitting machines, and went on to found Warm & Wonderful. Their black sheep jumper, worn by Princess Diana, was later sold by Sotheby’s in 2023 for $1.1 million, becoming the most valuable sweater on record.Alongside her studio work, Sally has spent the past decade visiting Galgos del Sol, a galgo and podenco rescue in Murcia founded by Tina Solera. During that time, she has painted murals across the kennels, education building, and puppy block, alongside her commissioned portrait work.If you love dogs and you love art, this is for you.The Dog Show is an exhibition of dog art, part of the Brighton Artists Open Houses.Open House Exhibition on 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, and 25 Mayfrom 11 am to 5 pmAddress: 33 Sillwood Road, Brighton, BN1 2LEOver 200 pieces of dog art from 15 artists, including returning and new exhibitors, across a range of mediums.Visit the official website for more information.

Consumers fix industries | The pet owners changing how dogs are trained | Niki Tudge | Pet Professional Guild 09.04.2026 1h 33min

A dog screaming during a dog training session in a pet store aisle set something in motion that became a 20,000-member global movement. Niki Tudge went in for supplies and came out in tears, and the Pet Professional Guild exists because of what she heard that day. That moment crystallised something she had already suspected: that the dog training industry was broken, unregulated, and unlikely to fix itself from within.This conversation covers the culture clash between punishment-based and force-free training, why licensing won't protect dogs but consumer pressure will, and what a landmark $2 million shock collar lawsuit in California signals for an industry at a crossroads. Niki also shares what the latest research on pet owner behaviour is revealing, and why she believes the industry is closer to a tipping point than people realise.What makes her optimistic is not legislation or professional consensus but the shift happening at ground level, in the questions pet owners are starting to ask and the choices they are starting to make. Niki holds a master's degree from Oxford and is the founder of the Pet Professional Guild, DogNostics Career Center, and The DogSmith.

Dog leather looks exactly like cow leather. Did you know that? | Abigail Forsyth, PETA Asia 26.03.2026 49min

There's a dog asleep on your sofa right now, or there was this morning. And there's a reasonable chance something in your wardrobe is made from dog leather.Abigail Forsyth is Campaign Manager for PETA Asia, leading investigations and campaigns across the region to expose animal exploitation. In this conversation, she talks through the industries designed to stay invisible: the dog leather trade operating inside Chinese slaughterhouses, puppy mills producing litter after litter while 100,000 dogs sit in UK shelters, the dog meat trade and what South Korea's landmark ban actually means, and thousands of dogs still used in UK laboratories every year.We also get into why we disconnect what we see from what we know, how quickly public perception can shift when people are given the truth, and why these industries only change when consumers stop funding them.This episode wasn't made to shame anyone. It was made to close the gap between not knowing and knowing.If you'd like to learn more about the dog leather trade, please visit https://www.peta.org.uk/news/were-calling-on-the-eu-to-ban-dog-leather/

Good owners, unhappy dogs | The gap between good intentions and what dogs actually need | Dr. Jessica Pierce | Bioethicist & Author 12.03.2026 57min

Most of us try to do right by our dog(s). The problem is that almost everything we've been taught about how to do that was built around human needs, human comfort and human expectations.My guest for today's episode is Dr. Jessica Pierce, a world-renowned bioethicist and author of 13 books on animal ethics and moral philosophy. She's spent nearly two decades writing about dogs and exploring what life is like for them when we de-center ourselves as humans.In this episode we cover:Why 99% of dogs in a large-scale study showed signs of anxiety, stress or behavioural disturbance, and what that actually tells usThe sensory world your dog lives in that you've probably never thought to look at, including sound, smell, and a daily experience nothing like your ownWhy barking, pulling, counter surfing and chasing aren't bad behaviours. They're dogs being dogs in a world built entirely for humansWhat burned Jessica out after years in this work, and the unexpected thing she did about itBella, Jessica's 14-and-a-half-year-old dog, and the decision every dog guardian eventually faces, but few talk about openlyDr. Jessica Pierce | Bioethicist and Author

Dog rescue starts before the shelter | Tom Candy on prevention and responsibility 26.02.2026 59min

In this episode, I speak with clinical animal behaviourist Tom Candy BSc Hons MSc CCAB CSBS CDBC CBATI KA, whose career began in rescue at 15 and has spanned 15 years of frontline shelter work, behaviour support and staff development.Tom has worked across multiple rehoming centres within the UK’s largest dog welfare organisation. He now supports clinical animal behaviourists in their professional development and runs Simplifying Shelter Behaviour, an educational platform focused on improving behavioural health within rescue systems.This conversation moves beyond individual adoption stories. It examines the structural pressure facing dog rescue today.We explore:→ Why rescue is reactive, not preventative→ Why building more kennels does not solve the problem→ How rising expectations placed on dogs are contributing to behavioural fallout→ The misunderstood role of behaviour modification and medication→ The economic and cultural systems that shape surrender, acquisition and demandTom explains why prevention must sit upstream of rescue. Ethical breeding, accessible behaviour support, veterinary affordability and honest public education all shape whether a dog ever reaches a kennel.This is not a conversation about blame. It is a conversation about responsibility.If you work in rescue, behaviour or welfare, you will recognise the tension described here. If you live with a dog, you will recognise yourself in it.Rescue matters. But rescue cannot carry the weight of everything culture keeps producing.Website | Instagram | Simplifying Shelter Behaviour Podcast

Your dog isn't broken | What no one told you about behaviour | Andrew Hale 12.02.2026 47min

You've done the classes. Watched the videos. Tried the tools. And your dog is still struggling. What if the answer isn't another training method?Andrew Hale is a certified canine behaviourist with a background in human psychology. He specialises in dogs labelled aggressive, reactive, difficult or broken. And he'll tell you straight: they're none of those things. They're trying to communicate something. We're just not listening.In this conversation, Andrew shares his own story - childhood trauma, a breakdown in his thirties, and two dogs who forced him to rethink everything he thought he knew about behaviour. We get into why behaviour is a communication of need, not a problem to solve. Why guilt can actually be your friend. Why your dog might be struggling with emotional and social pain you can't see. And why the journey to understanding your dog starts with understanding yourself.This one's personal. It's raw. Its honest. Enjoy xGuest: Andrew Hale BSc, ISCP.Dip.Canine.Prac - Certified Canine Behaviourist, founder of Dog Centred Care, behaviour consultant for Pet Remedy, and creator of Your Safe Space for animal care professionals.

Fluent in dog | Why dogs need understanding not control | Marc Bekoff | Jane Goodall Institute 22.01.2026 57min

What does it really mean to understand a dog?In this conversation, Dr Marc Bekoff explores how dogs experience the world and what helps them thrive emotionally, socially, and psychologically.Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder and one of the world’s leading voices on animal emotions. He is a long time collaborator and close friend of the late Dr Jane Goodall through the Jane Goodall Institute. His research has helped expand scientific understanding of animal sentience, emotion, and social intelligence.In this episode, Marc explains why every dog is an individual shaped by personality, history, and context. He shares why choice, safety, and trust sit at the centre of healthy relationships and how dogs communicate continuously through movement, scent, posture, and behaviour.We discuss what it means to become fluent in dog. How learning their language deepens connection. How agency supports emotional wellbeing. And why observing dogs in natural social settings reveals behaviours that cannot be seen in isolation.Marc also reflects on his decades of fieldwork with dogs, wolves, coyotes, and other social mammals, and on the influence of Jane Goodall’s approach to observation, patience, and respect.This episode explores:→ How dogs express emotion and social intelligence→ Why individual personality matters more than labels→ What agency looks like in everyday life→ How dogs communicate through scent, movement, and choice→ The role of trust in learning and connection→ What long term observation reveals about behaviour→ The legacy of Jane Goodall’s work and its relevance todayThis is a conversation about attention, curiosity, and relationship. About learning to see the dog in front of you.And about how understanding another being can quietly change the way we live alongside them.

Dog behaviour science | How biology, environment and human relationships shape dogs | Professor Ádám Miklósi | Eötvös Loránd University 09.01.2026 39min

In this episode of Just A Dog Podcast, I speak with Ádám Miklósi, Professor of Ethology and one of the most influential researchers in dog behaviour and cognition.Professor Miklósi is the founder of the Family Dog Project in Hungary and has spent decades studying how dogs think, learn, and form relationships with humans. His work has shaped much of what we now understand about dog human attachment, social behaviour, and the role of environment in behavioural development.In our conversation, we explore how dogs are shaped by biology, environment, and the human relationships they live within. We discuss why dog behaviour must be understood in context, why dogs do not exist in isolation, and how human expectations and living conditions influence behaviour.We also talk about individuality, attachment, and what scientific research can realistically tell us about the inner lives of dogs.G Dogs research projectProfessor Miklósi’s team runs the G Dogs project, a long term scientific study of dogs who can recognise the names of objects and reliably retrieve specific items when asked.Dogs of any age may be eligible if they already know between 5 and 8 object names. Participation is remote, with full guidance provided.For more information or to enquire about taking part, contact:miklosi.adam@ttk.elte.hu

Care is political | Changing the systems that harm dogs | Dr. Marc Abraham OBE 25.12.2025 54min

What does it actually take to change a law that harms dogs?In this episode of Just A Dog Podcast, I speak with Dr Marc Abraham OBE, the veterinary surgeon and campaigner behind Lucy’s Law, which banned the third party sale of puppies and kittens in England.Marc shares the moment that shifted him from treating individual dogs to challenging the system itself, how grassroots campaigning really works, and why patience, strategy, and kindness matter more than outrage alone. We talk about puppy farming, ethical breeding, rescue, political lobbying, celebrity influence, and what ordinary people can do when they feel powerless in the face of injustice.Marc is the author of several books, including Be More Mosquito, a practical guide to grassroots campaigning and creating change with limited resources. He is also the presenter and co creator of the documentary Dogspiracy, which examines irresponsible breeding, puppy mills, and the systems that allow them to continue, while also highlighting how change can happen.You can follow Marc and his work onlineFacebook | Instagram | X | Website

Marisa Heath has spent over 15 years working inside UK Parliament to improve the lives of dogs. She runs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW), leads the Canine and Feline Sector Group, and co-founded the Innate Health Assessment, a tool that helps people recognise extreme conformation before buying a puppy or choosing which dogs to breed from. Extreme conformation refers to physical features that have been bred so far from a dog's natural form that they cause pain, discomfort or difficulty doing basic things like breathing, walking or playing. In 2009, Marisa published A Healthier Future for Pedigree Dogs. Sixteen years later, she is still asking the same questions.This is not a conversation about bad breeders or irresponsible owners. It is a conversation about all of us. Somewhere along the way, we stopped noticing. Noses got shorter. Skin folds got deeper. Legs bowed. Spines curved. Breathing became laboured. And we called it normal. We called it cute. We shared videos of dogs snoring and struggling and we laughed. This happened to the animals we say we love most, and it happened right in front of us. If you have ever looked at a dog and thought nothing of how they were built, this conversation might change what you see.🔗 Try the Innate Health Assessment: https://www.innatehealthassessment.org/

When optics dominate | The fight to protect Morocco’s dogs before FIFA World Cup 2030 | Les Ward MBE | Debbie Wilson | IAWPC 27.11.2025 59min

Morocco agreed in 2019 to manage free roaming dogs through catch, neuter, vaccinate and return. That agreement was never made law, and many regions continued killing instead. Since Morocco secured co hosting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2030, the pace and scale of killings have increased. The IAWPC has documented shootings, poisonings and mass removals near proposed stadium cities including Tangier, Marrakesh, Rabat, Agadir, Fez and Casablanca. Les Ward MBE and Debbie Wilson explain the evidence, the political pressures, the impact on rabies control, and why systemic violence toward dogs harms children and whole communities. This episode explores what happens when image wins over science and what can still be done to change the direction of an entire nation.IAWPC Website | Sign the Petition | IAWPC on Instagram | IAWPC on Facebook | IAWPC on X

Building safety together | Understanding fear, trust and the weight of expectation | Sam Walker-Arends | Sam the Dog Coach 13.11.2025 1h 2min

This episode looks at what happens when a dog’s inner world does not match the life we imagine for them. Sam Walker-Arends is a force free trainer who works with dogs carrying fear, uncertainty or history in their bodies, and our conversation keeps returning to one truth. Every dog is an individual. Their needs, thresholds and ways of feeling safe are never the same.We talk about Ivy the ex racer and Reyna the timid Galgo, and how raising two children alongside two very different dogs forced Sam to confront stress, expectation and the limits of tolerance.She shares openly about recognising when a dog is no longer coping and why safety matters more than any ideal of the perfect family dog.At its core, this episode asks a quiet but important question. What does safety look like for an individual dog, and what does our response to that individuality reveal about us.Follow Sam here: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Tools or companions | The quiet activism for Spain’s forgotten Galgos and Podencos | Gemma & Adva | Free Spanish Hounds & Hope for Podencos 29.10.2025 46min

Every February, as Spain’s hunting season ends, thousands of Galgos and Podencos are discarded. Some are abandoned, some are killed, and most are simply forgotten. They are fast, intelligent and deeply sensitive, yet still treated as disposable tools rather than sentient companions.In this week’s episode, I speak with Gemma and Adva, the organisers behind Free Spanish Hounds, a UK-based movement that marches each year to raise awareness of Spain’s hunting dogs and the cultural systems that allow their suffering to continue.We talk about how empathy becomes action, what it means to show up for animals we may never meet, and the quiet power of people who refuse to look away.This conversation asks:→ What does it say about us when one species can be both pet and tool?→ Can empathy travel across borders when laws and traditions divide it?→ What happens when love for one dog changes the course of a life?It is an episode about compassion as resistance and the quiet hope that collective action still matters.Follow Free Spanish HoundsWebsite⁠ | Facebook Group | Instagram Follow Hope for PodencosWebsite⁠ | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok