The Positive Academy

21/10/2026

17/10/2026

Just because we can, does it mean we should?

Imagine a child refusing to hug a relative.

One adult believes children should learn manners, respect their elders, and understand that we can't always do only what we feel like doing.

Another believes that showing respect shouldn't require physical affection.

Both want to teach the child something important.

And I think that's what makes these conversations interesting. Sometimes, we aren't disagreeing about the values we want to teach. We're disagreeing about how those values should be taught.

Now imagine a stranger approaching your dog.

"Can I pet him?"

Your dog turns away, but the stranger insists that dogs need to learn to be friendly with people.

And perhaps there's a reasonable concern behind that too. Dogs do need to learn to cope with certain kinds of handling, especially when it comes to their health and safety.

But does that mean every interaction is necessary?

Research in human psychology has explored how autonomy support relates to children's wellbeing. Canine behavioural research has also examined what happens when dogs have opportunities to approach, avoid, or participate in handling under different conditions.

These studies don't tell us that children and dogs are the same. Nor do they suggest that every decision should be left to them.

But they invite us to think more carefully about something.

There's a difference between having responsibility for someone and needing to make every decision for them.

Sometimes, our responsibility requires us to intervene, even when someone doesn't want us to.

Other times, we might have the authority to insist, but no particularly good reason to use it.

And perhaps that's where things become interesting.

Because respect isn't only something we expect others to show us.

It's also something we demonstrate through the choices we allow them to make.

So here's something I've been thinking about:

When someone expresses discomfort, are we listening to what they're communicating, or are we more concerned about getting them to behave the way we expect?

I'd love to hear different perspectives on this.

— The Positive Academy

14/10/2026

We spend a lot of time teaching our dogs how to behave.

How to listen. How to manage their emotions. How to navigate the world we bring them into.

But I've been thinking about something.

People often say that dogs are some of our greatest teachers. But what exactly can we learn from them?

And perhaps more importantly, are we paying attention?

Human psychology has spent decades studying how we learn, how we respond to stress, how relationships develop, and why people behave the way they do.

And sometimes, these ideas offer an interesting perspective on the way we live with our dogs.

Not because dogs are children, or because human psychology can explain every aspect of canine behaviour.

But because the questions we ask about others can sometimes reveal something about ourselves.

Why do we become frustrated when someone doesn't listen?

Why do we feel the need to be in control?

When does helping become interfering?

And are we always responding to what someone needs, or sometimes to what makes us feel more comfortable?

So here I am, exploring what our dogs might be able to teach us, through the lens of human psychology and canine behavioural science.

This new series from The Positive Academy brings together established research, everyday experiences, and different perspectives on caregiving.

Not to decide who's a good parent or a good dog owner.

And not because every question has one correct answer.

But to explore the science, understand the reasoning behind our choices, and perhaps see familiar situations a little differently.

We spend so much of our dogs' lives trying to teach them to become better companions.

Sometimes, they might be teaching us how to become better humans.

If we're willing to pay attention.

10/10/2026

My private clients

02/10/2026

A lot of people train STAY by doing one thing:

Making it longer.

5 seconds.
10 seconds.
20 seconds.
30 seconds.

Then the dog gets up, and we assume the dog “doesn’t understand stay”.

But duration is only one part of the behaviour.

A strong stay also needs to cope with:

• distance — how far you move away
• distraction — what is happening while the dog stays
• duration — how long the dog stays there

One common mistake is increasing too many of these at once.

You walk farther away, stay away longer, move more, bend down, turn around, start exercising… all in the same repetition.

Then when the dog gets up, it becomes hard to know what actually made the exercise too difficult.

Another mistake is treating every repetition like it needs to beat the last one.

It doesn’t.

If your dog just did a harder 8-second stay, the next repetition can be an easy 3-second one.

Training can look like:

3 sec → 6 sec → 2 sec → 7 sec → 4 sec

The overall ability can still improve even when individual repetitions go up and down.

Think of it less like constantly trying to set a new record, and more like building a skill your dog can perform reliably.

And if your dog breaks the stay, ask:

Was I too far away?

Was it too long?

Was the movement too difficult?

Then adjust that part and give the dog another achievable repetition.

One more detail people often miss:

Rewarding the dog does not always have to mean the stay is finished.

You can return, reward while the dog is still in position, then either start another repetition or give your release cue.

That helps keep the release cue meaningful.

A strong stay isn’t just:

“How long can my dog stay?”

A better question is:

“What can my dog stay through?”

27/09/2026

Our friends from ❤️ Le Bliss Paws and Friends 🐶 asked me to talk about why dogs reject food.

And the truth is, there are just way too many possible reasons.

It could be medical.

It could be behavioural.

It could be related to lifestyle, training, feeding habits, the environment, or simply the individual dog.

So rather than trying to squeeze every possible reason into one post, this carousel looks at just one part of the picture:

the behavioural lens.

More specifically, we’re looking at what happens around the meal.

What happens before food is presented?

What does the dog actually do?

And what happens after the dog refuses?

Because sometimes, the response to food refusal can become part of the feeding pattern itself.

For example:

The dog walks away.

The owner worries.

Something tastier appears.

The dog eats.

If that same sequence keeps happening, it may start to affect what the dog does at future meals.

But that does not mean every dog who refuses food is “holding out” for something better.

And it definitely does not mean every food refusal is behavioural.

That distinction matters.

This carousel is most relevant when the dog is otherwise well, but meals are starting to become a repeated pattern of:

refusal → owner intervention → eating

Maybe that intervention is:

adding toppers,

opening another food,

offering chicken,

hand-feeding,

sitting beside the dog,

coaxing,

or giving treats just to check whether the dog is hungry.

Over time, dinner can slowly turn into a negotiation.

And sometimes the first thing owners need to hear is this:

your dog does not have to finish every meal.

Food left in the bowl does not automatically mean you need to make dinner better.

Sometimes the useful response is simply to pause, observe, and look at the pattern instead of immediately changing the food.

And if eating really has become a repeated behavioural problem, then we can work on the eating itself — in a structured way, rather than waiting for hunger to “win.”

One important boundary:

This post is not meant to explain every reason a dog may stop eating.

22/09/2026

This month somehow became routine-setting month for me.

I had a few new clients who were actually very well read, very prepared, and clearly trying to do right by their dogs. They believed in welfare-centred training, they had done their research, and most of them had already planned what looked like a really healthy routine.

Walks.
Training.
Mental stimulation.
Physical outlets.
Decompression.

Some even had rotating schedules so their dogs wouldn't be doing the same thing every day.

A lot of it was based on recommendations they had gathered online or from AI, and on paper, honestly, it looked pretty good.

But they all had one thing in common:

When they actually needed their dog to settle, they couldn't.

During our first conversations, I actually struggled to see what was wrong too.

The activities sounded appropriate.
The routine sounded thoughtful.
Nothing immediately jumped out at me.

It was only when I met them in person and watched the dogs go through these activities that it started making sense.

They didn't necessarily choose the wrong activities.

They got what the activity was supposed to do wrong.

A lick mat had been labelled “decompression.”

Training had been labelled “mental enrichment.”

A long walk or fetch session had been labelled “physical fulfilment.”

But just because an activity sits under that label doesn't mean the dog is actually getting that experience.

How the activity is conducted matters.

How difficult it is matters.

How stimulating the environment is matters.

How much choice the dog has matters.

And probably most importantly, what happens to the dog afterwards matters.

That was the missing piece in quite a few of these routines.

The owners were ticking the right boxes.

But the dog wasn't necessarily getting the outcome those boxes were supposed to represent.

So if you've built what looks like a really good enrichment routine but your dog still struggles to switch off afterwards, this post might help explain why.

Want to understand what went wrong?
Have a read through the carousel.

07/09/2026

The TAL situation has brought a lot of attention to dogs who may soon be looking for new homes. And while it’s heartening to see people wanting to help, there’s something important we hope every potential adopter remembers:

A dog doesn’t need an amazing life in week one. They need a chance to understand the life they’ve just entered.

Some of these dogs may have lived very different lives from a typical household pet. We don’t know what each individual dog has experienced, what they’re comfortable with, or what they may need help learning. That doesn’t mean they’re traumatised or that something is wrong with them. It means we should avoid making assumptions.

A new home can bring unfamiliar sounds, lifts, traffic, visitors, children, other dogs, new toilet routines and a completely different daily schedule. Even well-intentioned excitement can become too much when everything happens at once.

So before planning café trips, dog parks and introductions to the whole family, start with the basics: a secure home, familiar food where possible, veterinary care, rest, predictable routines and time to observe the dog.

Let the dog show you what they’re ready for. Build from there.

This carousel covers 20 things worth knowing before bringing one of these dogs home, from escape prevention and toileting to children, resident dogs, grooming, alone-time and when to seek professional help.

Please adopt because you’re ready for the responsibility, not simply because a dog has become available.

A special thank you to Angie Tan, CPDT-KSA, AVS-ACDT, C-AAIS, FDM for reminding us that moments like this are also opportunities for the dog-training community to share useful, practical information. Your reminder encouraged us to put this together, and we hope it helps more adopters prepare thoughtfully.

Save this before bringing a new dog home, and share it with someone considering adoption.

— The Positive Academy

AdoptResponsibly DogBehaviour DogTrainingSing

06/09/2026

When someone says, “My dog can’t fetch,” that usually tells me less than they think.

Because fetch is not one behaviour.

Your dog might happily chase the toy, pick it up and carry it… but not return.

Another dog might bring it all the way back but stay just out of reach.

Another might return perfectly and then refuse to let go.

Those are very different training problems.

So before trying another fetch technique, watch one full repetition.

What does your dog already do reliably?

And where does the sequence start to fall apart?

That is usually a much more useful place to start than simply asking whether your dog “knows fetch.”

In this series, we’re going to break the retrieve down piece by piece and look at why different dogs get stuck at different points.

Where does your dog’s fetch stop?

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