Heather Thomas Clinical Animal Behaviourist

06/09/2026

TELL ME YOUR DOG’S WEIRDEST HABIT 😂🐶

It’s Friday question time!

What’s the ONE thing your dog does that makes absolutely no sense to you?

Steals socks?

Barks at the toaster?

Refuses to walk through a particular doorway?

Has to spin three times before lying down?

Carries one specific toy EVERYWHERE?

Tell me below 👇

I might even explain the behaviour behind some of my favourites!

06/09/2026

DOES OUR DOG’S ATTACHMENT TO US CHANGE WITH AGE? ❤️🐶

A fascinating study published on 21 August followed attachment behaviour across puppies, adult dogs and senior dogs.

Researchers studied 222 family dogs.

They found that attachment to owners develops very early, remains relatively consistent through adulthood and becomes more pronounced again in older dogs as they become increasingly dependent on human care.

One of the things I find particularly interesting about behaviour is that it never stops developing.

The dog you have at:

🐶 4 months
🐕 2 years
🐕‍🦺 8 years
❤️ 13 years

may have very different emotional and behavioural needs.

Changes in an older dog’s behaviour shouldn’t automatically be dismissed as “just getting old” either.

Behaviour change always deserves our attention.

Abstract Family dogs’ human-analogue attachment to the owner has long been recognised; however, how this dog–owner attachment develops and changes with age remains an open question. We examined age-related variation and the effect of training experience on the attachment behaviour in family d...

05/09/2026

CAN YOUR EMOTIONS AFFECT YOUR DOG? 🐶❤️

Another fascinating piece of research published recently looked at how dogs respond to subtle cues coming from their owners.

Researchers examined dogs’ behavioural and physiological responses to owner-derived cues in different emotional contexts.

The results add to growing evidence that dogs are incredibly sensitive to information coming from the humans around them.

This doesn’t mean you need to be perfectly calm around your dog 24/7 – none of us are!

But it DOES remind us that behaviour happens within a relationship.

When working with behavioural problems, I don’t just look at the dog.

I look at the whole picture.

🐾 Dog
🐾 Owner
🐾 Environment
🐾 Routine
🐾 Health
🐾 Previous experiences
🐾 Emotional state

Behaviour is communication. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11502769/

Behavioral and physiological synchrony facilitate emotional closeness in attachment relationships. The aim of this pseudorandomized cross-over study was to investigate the emotional and physiological link, designated as co-modulation, between dogs ...

05/09/2026

MYLA 🐾

Some behaviour cases are particularly complex – and Myla is certainly one of them.

Myla is a beautiful Hungarian Vizsla who I recently visited after her family became increasingly concerned about changes in her behaviour.

During my assessment there were a number of things that made me want to look deeper than simply asking, “How do we stop this behaviour?”

With complex cases, sometimes the behaviour we see on the outside is only one piece of the puzzle.

We need to consider emotional wellbeing, physical health, pain, hormones, neurological factors, environment, previous learning and the dog’s ability to cope with everyday situations.

Myla’s family and I are right at the beginning of our journey, alongside their veterinary team, and we have put management and behaviour strategies in place to help her feel safer and more settled.

I’m really hoping to see lots of positive changes for this gorgeous girl. ❤️

Watch this space…

04/09/2026

YOUR DOG REALLY IS WATCHING YOU 👀🐶

Dogs notice far more about us than we sometimes realise.

New research published in August found that dogs blinked more when watching their OWNERS blinking.

Interestingly, the same effect wasn’t seen in the same way when they watched unfamiliar people.

It doesn’t mean every blink is your dog trying to send you a secret message! 😂

But it adds to the fascinating evidence showing just how sensitive dogs are to very subtle aspects of human behaviour.

When I assess a dog, I’m not only watching the dog.

I’m watching the interactions happening around them too.

Sometimes very small changes in OUR behaviour can change theirs.

Scientists say research suggests blinking may have acquired a social relevance in interactions between dogs and people

04/09/2026

WHAT DOES A CLINICAL ANIMAL BEHAVIOURIST ACTUALLY DO? 🤔

I get asked this quite a lot.

A behaviour consultation isn’t simply me coming into your house and teaching your dog a few commands.

I want to know WHY the behaviour is happening.

That means looking at:

🐾 Medical history
🐾 Behaviour history
🐾 Emotional state
🐾 Environment
🐾 Relationships
🐾 Previous learning
🐾 Daily routine
🐾 Triggers
🐾 What happens before AND after the behaviour

From there we can build an individual behaviour modification programme.

Sometimes I also need to work closely with your vet.

The behaviour you see is the symptom.

My job is to work out what is driving it.

03/09/2026

NEW RESEARCH: SHOULD WE COMFORT A WORRIED DOG? 🐶

An interesting new study published in August looked at something owners ask me about all the time:

What should I do when my dog is worried?

Researchers compared different owner responses when dogs were exposed to an unfamiliar object – including soothing/petting, encouraging the dog to approach, using treats and remaining passive.

Interestingly, none of the strategies reliably reduced stress behaviour compared with the passive control during this particular short experiment, although what owners did DID influence how dogs interacted with them and the object.

Why is this important?

Because behaviour is rarely as simple as:

“Just give them treats.”
“Just ignore them.”
“Just reassure them.”

The individual dog, the situation, their emotional state and their previous experiences matter.

There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to fear.


https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12917-02

Providing access to millions of research articles and chapters from Science, Technology and Medicine, and Humanities and Social Sciences

03/09/2026

Meet Brodie ❤️

Brodie is a lovely Border Collie who also lives with epilepsy and has been struggling with separation-related problems.

By the time his family contacted me, they had already tried multiple trainers and received lots of different – and sometimes conflicting – advice. They were reaching the point where they simply didn’t know what else to do.

Cases like Brodie’s are exactly why looking at the WHOLE dog is so important.

Behaviour doesn’t exist in isolation. Medical history, emotional state, previous experiences, environment and learning history all need to be considered.

We’re now at the beginning of a structured behaviour programme designed specifically for Brodie.

There are no overnight fixes with complex behaviour, but I’m really hoping we can help Brodie and his family move towards a happier and much more comfortable life together. ❤️

I’ll hopefully be able to share some positive updates from Brodie’s journey over the coming months.

25/08/2026

What actually counts as “natural behaviour”?
This recent paper caught my attention because it asks a deceptively simple question:

What IS natural behaviour?

We often hear that animals should be allowed to “behave naturally”.

But a paper published at the end of July argues that for adaptable species living across many different environments, defining one single natural behaviour or environment isn’t necessarily straightforward.

Instead, the author argues for looking carefully at measurable behavioural outcomes and how animals successfully adapt to their environment.

It’s an interesting welfare question.

As a behaviourist, I think context is incredibly important.

Rather than asking only:

“Is this natural?”

we can also ask:

“What does this individual animal need to experience good welfare in the environment they’re actually living in?”

What do you think?

What is a natural behavior? I argue that the study of natural behaviors is often the study of the spontaneous behaviors of animals placed in quantifiably different environments. For behavioral generalists such as rodents, humans, and many other species, there may be no such definable construct as a....

25/08/2026

When dog training isn’t enough 🐕
You’ve been to training classes.

You’ve watched the videos.

You’ve tried the treats.

You’ve followed advice online.

But your dog is still struggling.

Sometimes that’s because what you’re dealing with isn’t simply a training problem.

Fear, anxiety, aggression, reactivity, separation-related problems and other complex behaviours require us to understand why the behaviour is happening, rather than simply trying to stop it.

I’m Heather Thomas, a CCAB-registered Clinical Animal Behaviourist with an MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour and over 20 years’ professional experience working with animals.

I offer comprehensive behaviour consultations for dogs and cats, both in person and online. My approach is kind, evidence-based and looks at the whole animal — including health, history, environment and emotional state.

📍 Bath & surrounding areas
💻 Online consultations available

📧 [email protected]