07/10/2026
In a world where harsh handling is becoming normalised, choose kindness.
One of the hardest things I’ve seen recently isn’t just the way some dogs are being handled, it’s the number of people who will defend it.
And it makes me wonder when we became so comfortable with using our greater power over those who have less of it.
If an adult hit, intimidated or deliberately frightened another adult because they were frustrated with their behaviour, we would recognise that for what it is. If a boss physically punished an employee because they weren't doing what they wanted, we wouldn't call it leadership. We wouldn't call it teaching. We'd call it completely unacceptable.
So why do we so readily excuse it when the other being is smaller, dependent on us and unable to explain themselves?
Why does a dog's inability to speak our language make their fear less important?
Why do we accept that because we can physically overpower an animal, we have the right to?
And perhaps most importantly, why has obedience become more important to us than how a dog feels while achieving it?
I don't want to train dogs that are simply afraid to get something wrong.
I want dogs who feel safe enough to learn.
I want dogs who trust the person at the end of the lead.
I want owners who understand their dogs rather than simply learning how to control them.
And I want us to start measuring good training by more than whether a dog does what it is told.
How did that dog feel getting there?
What did it cost them?
Did we build trust, or did we simply suppress behaviour?
Because welfare shouldn't just mean that an animal is fed, housed and physically safe.
Wellbeing matters too.
Their emotional safety matters. Their ability to communicate matters. Their relationships matter. Their confidence matters. Their right to experience the world without being frightened into submission matters.
And when someone tells us that being gentle means being permissive, or that force is necessary to earn respect, perhaps we should stop and ask ourselves one simple question:
If we wouldn't accept it being done to a grown ass human, why have we decided it's acceptable to do it to an animal?
Dogs don't need us to be harder.
They need us to do better. ❤️
