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Biting is a natural behaviour. When puppies bite it generally has one of two functions: Teething: at 12-16 weeks your puppies adult teeth start to come through, pushing baby teeth out. By 6 months+ all adult teeth are usually in place.  Mouthing: to explore the world, this is usually outgrown by 8 months old. However, if you think what your dog is doing isn’t a usual puppy or adolescent behaviour, visit a vet to rule out pain, including gut discomfort.   Look around at the room you are currently in and consider how many objects there are the puppy could bite? Dogs learn...

  What is scent work? Scent work is teaching an indicator behaviour such as nose targeting, in the presence of a cue which is odour. The benefits of scent work: Smell is an important sense to dogs. The part of a dogs’ brain that processes responsible scents detected by their noses is approximately 40 times larger in dogs than in humans, relative to total brain size. Therefore engaging this part of the dogs’ brain in scent work training is both mentally and physically stimulating! Dogs noses have 44x more scent receptor cells than humans: 220 million olfactory receptors compared with 5–10 million...

Crate training a puppy What can be used to create a den? A den can be created using a crate or puppy pen. Owners can create positive associations for the puppy being in the space by making it the place that the dog finds things they like...   What to put in a puppy crate: A comfortable bed Chews that are a variety of textures Interactive toys/enrichment items A warm hot water bottle wrapped in a blanket.   Figure 1 This boys owner has created a comfortable and safe den with a bed, blankets and a Kong toy inside; a...

Myth busting: can dogs see colour? It is a myth that dogs only see in black and white.   While dog’s vision is different than their human handlers, it is a common misconception that dogs are colour blind, in fact their vision is colour limited.   How dogs see the world: Dogs have evolved to take advantage of low light conditions giving them a predatory edge over their handlers. Both humans and dogs utilize rods to see in dim light. A dogs retina consists predominantly of rods, whereas a human retina is mostly made up of cones (cells important for...