In Stride Pet Dog Training LLC

09/06/2026

Love this! 💖🐶🐾🙌

09/06/2026

So important to remember 💖🐾🐶🤔

💢September is Animal Pain Awareness Month💢

Can We Really Recognise Pain in Dogs?

This new study by Gardeweg et al. (2026) confirms something many of us working in canine therapy see regularly—pain is often recognised when a dog limps, but much less when it shows through behaviour.

In the study, 647 people were asked to identify signs of pain in dogs.

Most people easily recognised movement-related pain such as limping, stiffness, or reluctance to move.

But behavioural signs were far less likely to be recognised, including:

• changes in sleep
• reduced play
• clinginess or shadowing
• reduced sociability
• lower tolerance
• difficulty settling
• restlessness at night
• grooming changes
• personality changes
• mood changes

Even experienced dog owners were no better at spotting these subtle signs than non-dog owners.

This is important because chronic pain rarely starts with obvious lameness.

Often, the first signs are small changes in behaviour.

Things like:

❗ “He seems grumpier lately”
❗ “She doesn’t want to play as much”
❗ “He follows me everywhere now”
❗ “She struggles to settle at night”
❗ “He seems less tolerant than usual”

These are often dismissed as behaviour problems, ageing, or just “slowing down.”

But sometimes, they are early signs of pain.

By the time obvious lameness appears, compensation patterns, muscle tension, and long-term discomfort may already be well established.

Pain doesn’t always look like limping.

Sometimes it shows up in the quiet changes first.

Recognising those signs earlier means earlier support, better welfare, and better long-term outcomes.

📚 Reference:Gardeweg, S.M.A., Picard, D.E. and van Herwijnen, I.R. (2026) The abilities in dog pain sign recognition as assessed by presenting seventeen listed dog behavioural signs and three case descriptions to dog owners and non-dog owners. PLOS ONE, 21(4), e0344512.

09/06/2026

Great information and safety tips!! 💖🐶🐾🙌

09/05/2026

Yes 🐶🐾💔

This one gets passed around constantly: mess with your puppy's food while they eat so they "get used to it," and guarding will never develop.

It's backwards.

Interrupting a puppy while they eat is more likely to create frustration, and frustration is exactly what fuels resource guarding down the road. Think about how you'd feel if someone reached into your plate at a restaurant and started taking your fries. Once might get a laugh. Every single meal, and you'd eventually snap too.

Dogs are no different. Let them eat in peace, and build trust around food through calm, predictable routines instead of testing them at every meal.

09/05/2026

Great info 💖🐾🐶🤗

Sometimes it's not how we ask but when.

We ask them to settle.
To listen.
We want them to make a different choice.
To stop jumping.
We wish they would leave "that" alone.

And sometimes we keep trying because we know they can do it.

They did it yesterday.
And they did it ten minutes ago.

So why on earth can’t they do it now?

Their level of arousal matters.

Enormously.

Knowing roughly where our dog is on that climb up can give us some incredibly useful information.

It's not about sticking a label on them. We just love those labels.
But because it helps us decide what is actually realistic and achievable in that moment.

A dog at a low level of arousal can be perfectly capable of learning something new.
A dog whose arousal is beginning to rise may still be able to respond really well, but perhaps we need to make things a little easier.

Once arousal is high, repeatedly asking for behaviours? Well, we might be whistling into the wind.

And at the extreme end?
That's when we feel they "should" listen because we have to get this under control.

It's simply too late.

This is where recognising arousal becomes useful.
It can help us decide whether to continue, ask, or limit.

Should we make something easier?
Does this play need a pause?
Is more excitement actually a good idea right now or do we see that arousal creeping up?.

Do our dogs need more distance, less activity or simply an opportunity to come back down?

There isn't a neat little gauge floating above their head.

But we do need to get better with recognising when their ability to process, respond and regulate is changing.

Because once we can see that?

We can CHANGE behaviour.

09/05/2026

Great info and tips 💖🐶🐾🤗

09/05/2026

So important! 🐶🐾💔😢

Graphic courtesy of Lili Chin

09/05/2026

One of my favorites 💖🐶🐾😉

🐾 Ready to take your dog’s focus and engagement to the next level? Discover the Up-Down Pattern Game! 🎉

This simple yet powerful exercise helps your dog process excitement or stress in a more manageable way, promoting calm, steady focus. Here’s how it works: after each treat on the floor, your dog naturally looks up at you, creating a beautiful cycle of eye contact and engagement. This “up-down” sequence helps your dog tune in to you, especially in situations where the environment feels a bit overwhelming.

Developed by Leslie McDevitt and inspired by her Control Unleashed series, the Up-Down Pattern Game is perfect for building a predictable, structured activity that helps your dog process the world around them calmly. You can start by placing treats on the floor and rewarding each look up with another treat, encouraging steady, rhythmic movement. For extra precision, try marking with a click or a “yes” as your dog looks up.

🐕 Pro tips: Start small and gradually add distractions or play in new settings, like a nearby park. The predictability of the game supports your dog’s confidence and attention, even around novel or exciting sights. Before you know it, you’ll have a focused, engaged partner looking up at you, ready for the next cue.

Enjoy strengthening your bond through this fun, easy-to-learn game! 🐶✨
https://youtu.be/KTrxoDmc9nA

09/04/2026

Great information 💖🐶🐾😉

The subtle sign of discomfort most dog guardians miss during daily walks.

Have you ever noticed your dog pausing for just a few seconds before stepping off a high kerb? Or perhaps they stop and hesitate at the open car boot, taking a moment to look up before making the leap?

When we think about physical pain in dogs, we usually watch for an obvious limp or a dog who is actively slowing down. But dogs are incredibly resilient, and subtle physical discomfort rarely shows up as a limp right away. More often, it shows up as micro-shifts in how they navigate everyday movement.

A brief pause before jumping into the car, choosing to walk around a small step rather than over it, or taking longer to settle onto their bed after a stroll are not signs of stubbornness or 'getting moody in their old age'. They are gentle signals.

Physical health, emotional wellbeing, and behaviour are deeply connected. When a dog is living with low-grade joint stiffness or muscle discomfort, their stress threshold shifts. A dog who feels physically uncomfortable may suddenly seem more reactive to noises on walks, less patient with other dogs, or more sensitive to being handled.

Behaviour is simply information. It tells us how a dog is coping with their internal and external world in that exact moment. When we stop looking at a hesitation as a training issue to fix and start looking at what sits underneath it, we can begin supporting the underlying cause.

If you have noticed subtle changes in your dog's movement or daily habits and want to unpick what might be happening, our Quick Check assessment offers a simple, video-based first step to review their functional movement. See link in the comments.

Tell us in the comments: what tiny habit or movement change have you noticed in your dog recently?