Meg Ashby - Canine Behaviour Consultant

16/10/2026

If you work with me, you’ll have heard me say 🗣️ …

14/10/2026

Why I don’t do reactive dog classes
Reactive dog classes and group sessions are often marketed towards dogs who show typical reactivity towards other dogs, and claim to be the solution. But when multiple reactive dogs are together in a village hall, park or street - you’ll often see the reactivity worsening or the dog shutting down and appearing “cured”. As soon as you take your dog for your usual walk, they return to their usual behaviours as dogs struggle with generalising and being able to understand different contexts. So if you’ve been told that group classes will fix your reactive dog, or been told to do something that doesn’t sit quite right with you - RUN 🏃

Dogs (and their people) do much better in a 1-2-1 environment where the trainer or behaviourist can tailor sessions exactly to your needs, support you throughout, and be your second pair of experienced eyes. Effective behaviour modification helps dogs feel safe with exposure to triggers in safe and controlled environments initially and then building on the foundations. So don’t fall for the marketing terms and gimmicks of “real world” training, or cheap group classes that can make frustration and reactivity worse, or shuts your dog down until they leave the park

12/10/2026

The size of treats most people think they should be feeding vs the actual size 🍪

Rewards based training doesn’t/shouldn’t make your dog overweight. You can chop a babybell into 50 pieces, a sausage of pate into thousands; they don’t need a full hot dog for every reward!

10/10/2026

Friendly reminder that your dog doesn’t want to go to Hull Fair 🎠

08/10/2026

Hera the Rommie rescue 🐾
Hera was adopted from Oakwood dog rescue around six years ago, her owner got in touch as she was reactive towards her partner. Hera’s mum was pregnant when we started sessions, she had concerns with heras behaviour at home plus adding a baby into the mix. Due to her reactions towards her mum’s partner, he showed caution & apprehension around her, which was completely understandable, but made Hera more nervous.

We started on the routine of the behaviours, with the car door shutting, front door opening, walking past her bed and sitting in the living room - and helped her regulate her emotions towards the build up of triggers. Hera and her family did so well with homeworks between sessions and made some real progress on helping Heras reactions and responses to thinks that freaked her out, as well as working on some pre-baby training! Since then, heras mum gave birth and Hera has taken to her new role of big sister like a dream, and is much more comfortable around her dad, well done team Hera!

06/10/2026

Advocating for your dog (non blooper version)

There can be so many reasons why someone may say no when you ask to stroke their dog, they may be in training, anxious or fearful towards new people, reactive or aggressive, the list is endless. If someone says no, please listen. They know their dog best and are protecting their dog if they’re unsure of new people - and potentially saving you from a bite. Also, even if an owner says yes but the dog is saying no with their body language, please listen to the dog too!

You’ll always get someone that says ‘I’ve owned dogs for 40 years or all dogs love me’, don’t be that guy - it’s the human equivalent of saying ‘my dogs friendly’ just because you’re friendly - doesn’t mean the dog is. Even though no should be able to be a full sentence, we all know some people don’t understand that, so here’s some other things you can do -

🌻 Yellow dog accessories - lead sleeves, leads & harnesses are pretty well known for ‘leave my dog alone’ - https://yellowdoguk.co.uk
🗣️ Helping people understand - doesn’t need to be a full conversation, just a simple ‘she’s nervous towards new people’ ‘she doesn’t like men’ ‘we’re in training’ ‘or she’s reactive’ should suffice
🍪Don’t let people give your dogs food - especially for nervous or reactive dogs, if you dog wants the food but doesn’t want the person, there can be a huge internal conflict and can often cause frustration that leads to a snap
🚫If your dog doesn’t redirect if they’re reactive, body blocking the person can help your dog feel more protected and shows them you’re looking out for them - but this really does depend on the dog

04/10/2026

The importance of rest days (not to be confused with never exercising your dog or avoiding walks/triggers/life) 💤

If your behaviourist has ever told you to take a few days off to help your dog relax, it’s for a reason. If your dog is reactive or anxious towards a trigger, constant exposure can quickly turn acute stress into chronic stress. Dogs can hold cortisol for over 72 hours, constant exposure to something they dislike can build up over time, making them more stressed generally, with bigger reactions towards their trigger. I see a lot of trainers taking this as OmG tHeY sAiD tO nEvEr WaLk ThEiR dOg AgAiN !1!1!1!!Anyway… 🥱 I often ‘prescribe’ a couple of rest days, a change of routine or to go a quieter route on a walk for a week to help dogs prior to training. Fig has a rest day at least once a week, especially with me being chronically ill, it’s not realistic that she gets out bang on 7am every single day - if anything, I’ve noticed her calmer at home for this.

Fig hurt her paw last week at the field, initially she kept running and playing until I noticed her hobbling along - which is where people think ‘my dogs not in pain, they still run for miles’ WRONG, I know dogs with severe hip dysplasia that would still run like the wind if they could. For dogs, it’s often adrenaline > pain, which can make injuries a lot worse, they often don’t show the “classic” signs of pain before it’s worse. We brought Fig home and gave her a couple of rest days, if I walked her, she would have happily done all of the above and tried to keep playing, because that’s what dogs do. But because I’ve implemented rest days, she did not ask to go for a walk once because we’d already “trained” for this. No one wants their dog to get hurt, but training and implementing days just to rest, have a mooch in the garden, at home enrichment & lots of naps will help them when they need to know how to switch off for a bit 🤏🏼

02/10/2026

I couldn’t believe how low this plane was flying! 😳✈️

Late to the trend as per, but little reminder that your dog isn’t giving you a hard time, they’re having a hard time

30/09/2026

Controversial take but… your dog that’s pulling on their lead is not a ‘disobedient dog’ 🐕

Dogs naturally walk faster than people, having a dog in a permanent heel on a street walk may be great for social media, as many people perceive this as the height of dog ownership ✨control, obedience, respect✨ But is the dog happy? Fulfilled? Able to perform innate behaviours? Sniff? Be a bloody dog???

Dogs that pull on lead may be - under fufilled if their only exercise is a walk around the block. Dogs that pull on lead may be - in pain; dogs can often try to be quicker on their feet if they have an abnormal gait. Dogs that pull on lead may be - overthreshold or overstimulated, if you’re in a busy area, a new fun place with loads of sniffs, or somewhere your dog generally dislikes. Dogs that pull on lead aren’t bad dogs, they may need a longer lead, a less structured walk or more enriching walk & to be understood, rather than corrected for being a dog.

29/09/2026