Positive Pet Behaviour Vet

06/07/2026

Veterinary Behaviourist Dr Katie sees all our veterinary referral behaviour cases here at Positive Pet Behaviour Vet!

⭐ Member Spotlight ⭐

Dr Katie Friel-Russell BVSc PGDip CCAB MRCVS
Member ID: 1267

🌐 Website: www.positivepetbehaviourvet.com

📍 Location
Based in Staffordshire but servicing the whole UK through remote consultations and online courses.

🐶 Services/Specialism
As a veterinary surgeon and behaviourist, Dr Katie provides veterinary behaviour consultations to assess, diagnose and treat behavioural concerns with both emotional and physical causes. She also offers a range of preventative and enrichment-focused self-paced online courses to help owners build happy, confident relationships with their dogs.

🏈 Fun Fact
Dr Katie used to play American football as a quarterback!

💡 Training Tip
If your dog can no longer perform a behaviour they previously knew, try to figure out why. Pain in certain positions can result in dogs refusing tricks, while nausea or lethargy can also affect performance. Cognitive decline in older dogs can mean they forget things they once knew. Training isn't always a training issue—we need to look at dogs as a whole to see the full picture and achieve the best results.

❓ Myth Buster
Neutering your pet is not always a simple decision. Castrating male dogs can reduce their confidence and may increase anxiety-driven behaviours. Spaying female dogs at the wrong time in their cycle can leave them in a hormonal state that increases anxiety and potentially guarding behaviours. Neutering can be the right decision in some cases, but it is not a one-size-fits-all choice.

25/09/2025

You might have noticed our name change!

Don’t worry - everything you love about our training is staying the same but we’ve updated our name to reflect the expertise of our veterinary behaviourist Dr Katie Friel-Russell and to go with our brand new website too!

We’ve done a quick blog to explain the change if you’d like to know more:

A new name for the same great behavioural support you're used to.

03/01/2025

As you’re settling in to the new year you might be thinking about some resolutions for yourself, but what about for your pets?

Check out our blog in the comment for some ideas to make this year even better than the last for you and your animals!

31/12/2024

Happy new year from all of us here to you!

We hope this next year includes even more fun walks, love and treats all round!

25/12/2024

Merry Christmas from us here at Positive Pet Training to you and your four legged family members!

Have a fantastic festive period and here are our top tips for making it a good one for the whole family!

10/11/2024

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.
Our old boy Barnaby, remembering with his poppies, including his in remembrance of all the animals who served in wartime too.

11/04/2024

They are always there for us and bring us unconditional happiness. Today is National Pet Day when we make sure that we show them that extra little bit of love! 🙂

30/03/2024

Happy Easter for your dog too!

Easter can be such a lovely time of the year celebrating bringing in new life and spring, lambs in the field, rabbits on the grass and chocolate eggs – perfect! … unless you’re a dog! Lots of things this time of year can actually be quite difficult for dogs so we wanted to share our top tips to keep your dog safe and happy during your celebrations.

Food
Most of the food we connect with Easter isn’t great for our dogs. Chocolate is toxic and can be fatal to dogs, even in smallish amounts so most dogs would be in trouble with any size of Easter egg. Hot cross buns are full of raisins which, like all grapes, can be incredibly toxic to dog – their toxicity isn’t based on how much they eat. Some dogs can die from a single grape or raisin and others get away with ingesting a lot. If your dog eats either of these Easter treats you should seek medical attention from your vets straight away – they’ll be making a LOT of dogs vomit up these foods over this bank holiday.

But other traditional foods like a lamb shank or ham hock you might be like to share with your dog. Rich meats like these can sometimes be too much for some dogs. But more importantly don’t be tempted to treat them to the cooked bones, these are high risk to splinter in the gut and cause potentially deadly damage.

Egg Hunt
Who doesn’t love a good egg hunt? The problem is your dog probably will too and as we’ve already run through it could be a huge problem if they find the chocolate first – so here’s our top tips for Easter egg hunts when you have a dog:

Link in comments for the whole blog.

03/03/2024

Lovely post from The Muzzle Movement, we really recommend their muzzles for anyone needing one!

I have feelings.
I am loved.
I sometimes have bad days.
I have a loving dog guardian.
I am brave.
I know that my behaviour doesn’t determine my worth.
I am resilient.
I am learning.
I am more than a muzzle.

Share this post. 💞

21/02/2024

What is the Number 1 problem when becoming a 1st time dog owner? Take a look at our LATEST blog down in the comments to find out!