10/08/2026
Jelly and Clark! 🙌 The old me would’ve shut this down, well before it started. I was all ‘prevent/manage the rehearsal of undesirable behaviors’— after all, practice makes perfect. And while, generally, that is true, it can also lead to behavioral suppression which isn’t necessarily healthy from a welfare standpoint.
What I’ve since learned is to understand more deeply, a nuanced picture of the individual dog in front of me.
WHY are they performing a behavior in a given context/environment? What’s the natural function - motivation there? What are their unmet welfare needs? How might all that change, moment to moment?
For many modern dogs the 4th domain - behavioral interactions with other animals, with people, with environments (see 5 Domains of Animal Welfare), is often THE most deficient in terms of an individual’s provisions/needs. Many dogs I see live an overly controlled life, as a captive species, which limits their agency/choice/control and thus opportunities for highly motivated natural behaviors. Dogs are a social species, and yet many are especially lacking meaningful relationships with each other, and from a behavioral diversity measure.
I don’t mean to judge here, it’s largely on account of how/where we live— especially
challenging in more populous urban and suburban areas— and each of us with unique experiences and perceptions. The question is how do we help our modern dogs adapt and thrive? From my lens, it starts by responsibly and safely creating meaningful social and behavioral opportunities for them in NATURE.
For Jelly and Clark the solution started with our Adventure Dog program, which provided the freedom, agency, and choice to engage a diverse range of highly motivated behaviors. But we also have to manage the environment and build predictable patterns to support the balance of safety and needs inside. Lastly, timely periods of ‘rest & recharge’.
Over the weekend, Clark learned quickly that Jelly didn’t like it when he stole her blanket then growled at her, while she was laying on it. She responded accordingly and he backed off. I narrated that for Clark while I intervened to calm the waters. (No bite contact or injuries.)
Then on Sunday, after a brief friendly play session outside, we set this lovely pattern up with fake dog Karl to help him cooperatively engage with her, and continued monitoring and narrating their positive interactions.
Note how Clark learns/makes a choice, on his own: bringing Jelly stuffed dog Karl is a more effective means to initiate and maintain play with her (his primary motivation in this context). In turn, Jelly learns that the situation is safe (she’s had plenty of practice sharing toys with her trusted pal Yoda before this), and that through sharing she gets to continue to mouth and shred Karl (her motivation in this context). Both are having positive interactions.
Now, the alternative could be to simply maintain more separation. And there are certainly dogs and situations where this setup just wouldn’t be safe or responsible. One has to understand the individual dog and provide for their safety and others’— solutions are always very situation dependent.
For these two, we were able to fully align provisions to “feed their needs”, and continue building each dog’s behavioral diversity. THAT leads to Good Life Welfare— the end goal here…
