Debbie Busby Canine Behaviour - Clinical Animal Behaviourist

27/10/2025

If the Facebook algorithm has caught your interest in canine behaviour, you might have gained an impression that behaviourists just go at all those "problematic animals" with Skinnerian consequences. Not those of us who have taken a UK clinical route any time in the last 25 years, I'm glad to say. And especially not those who have the good fortune to have been educated by Dr Anne McBride.

In this talk Anne introduces us to three inter-related factors which can affect interspecies belongingness and self-esteem, namely the concepts of attachment, empathy, and parenting styles. These have profound effects on our adult relationships, with people and animals, and on our resilience to the vagaries of life and flexibility to change attitudes and behaviour.

Join the APBC for this inspiring talk which facilitates further understanding of why we see differences between clients when supporting them in developing and maintaining new ways of interacting with their animals.

TOMORROW AT 8PM!

In this talk Anne will give a brief introduction to three other inter-related factors which can affect belongingness and self-esteem, namely the concepts of attachment, empathy, and parenting styles. These have profound effects on our adult relationships, with people and animals, and our resilience to the vagaries of life and flexibility to change attitudes and behaviour.

Book now: https://bit.ly/48UBnih

11/10/2025

New UK Dog Behaviour Survey Launched

The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has just launched a nationwide survey (part funded by Battersea) called “Living With Dogs” to better understand how dog behaviour affects everyday life for owners and families.

What I like about this one is that it isn’t only for people who think their dog has “behaviour problems.” They also want to hear from owners who don’t see their dog’s behaviour as an issue – because the same behaviour can feel fine in one home, but really difficult in another. (As we all know, context is everything!)

Takes "about" 30 minutes (add a buffer, I always find surveys take longer than the writers think)
For dogs aged 12 months and over
Closes 9th November

The goal is to identify which behaviours cause the most stress and why some households find the same behaviour either stressful or problem-free, so that support and advice for owners can actually improve.

For example, I can tune out to any amount and duration of barking, but most people I know want it to stop after just a few seconds!

A good opportunity for everyday dog owners to shape future understanding and resources, if you'd like to take part.

Here's the link:

This survey aims to find out how UK owners feel about behaviours which their dogs display. The UK is recognised as a nation of dog lovers, with around 1 in 3 UK households owning a dog. Dogs bring great joy to many of us but sometimes our dogs behave in ways that we find unwanted, annoying or even d...

28/09/2025

Rethinking Canine Minds

I'm running a canine behaviour workshop at Northumberland College on Tuesday 7th October, exploring the world of dogs and what it means for them to share our lives, through a fresh, welfare-focused lens. Grounded in the understanding that our dogs are sentient beings with unique emotional lives, we’ll delve into how every interaction between us, no matter how small, can shape their experience, behaviour, and wellbeing.

This session is designed for anyone who works with, or cares for, dogs in any capacity and who wants to explore fresh ways of thinking about the canine–human relationship and what it means for wellbeing — for both species.

📅 Tuesday 7th October, 1pm–4pm
📍 Kirkley Hall Equestrian Centre, NE20 0AQ
🍪 Light refreshments included

✨ Tickets and details: http://bit.ly/4nu92nA

Please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rethinking-canine-minds-understanding-dog-behaviour-tickets-1492295178049

Every interaction matters. This workshop offers fresh, welfare-led insights into canine behaviour.

27/09/2025

The secret superpower of street dogs

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1MTPBWXqt6/

19/09/2025

Between dog and wolf...

From their wolf ancestors to today’s sweet, loyal companions, dogs’ social intelligence has been shaped over millennia, uniquely attuned to humans compared to other domesticated or wild species.

25/08/2025

I had the great pleasure of delivering a talk recently at Northumberland College on behaviour-led practice in canine care.

We explored how putting behavioural and emotional needs at the centre of practice benefits not only our canine companions, but also staff, students, and the wider community. It was fantastic to see the lively discussion that followed and to hear how these insights and ideas are already being understood and applied in kennels, dog walking, grooming, and therapy settings at the college.

A huge thank you to Naomi Ainley and your team for the invitation and for such an engaged audience; it’s exciting to see the next generation of canine care professionals embedding behaviour-led practice into their work.

Next up: Animal Sentience and Ethics - a cross-college approach to putting these principles into practice and preparing the animal care professionals of the future, across all sectors.

Image: Claire Mcknespiey

29/07/2025

I posted this in one of my local Facebook groups today...

🐕Give Them Room to Settle: A Gentle Reminder for Dog-Loving Café Goers

I saw a little dog in a café today, sitting and held tightly on a lead next to a chair.
The lead was held so short that they couldn’t even lie down.
They were panting, not from heat, but from stress.
Their humans were chatting and smiling, completely unaware.

And it made me think…
How often do we take our dogs into busy places with good intentions, but without realising the small things that could make a big difference?

Dogs in cafés have a lot to deal with:
👥 People everywhere
🍽️ Clattering plates
🐕 Other dogs
👶 Curious children
🥴 Unexpected noises

All they want is to feel safe (and a little treat doesn’t go amiss)
And one of the kindest things we can do for them?
✨ Give them enough slack on the lead so they can lie down and settle.
🐶Bonus: bring a comfy blanket out with you for them to settle on.

When their bodies can soften, their minds can too.
It’s such a simple kindness, and it’s easy to overlook.

It’s about noticing.
It’s about empathy.
And it’s about learning together.

Next time you’re out with your dog, maybe just check:
☑️ Can they lie down comfortably?
☑️ Is their lead gently slack, not tight?
☑️ Are they panting from heat… or from anxiety?

Your dog doesn’t need to be perfectly behaved.
They just need to feel safe.
And that starts with giving them space ....physically and emotionally.... to rest. 💛

Photo credit: Ylanite Koppens

15/07/2025

Other-than-human animals have rich inner experiences, social relationships, communication systems, shared behaviours and group norms.

Humans must learn how to listen to and observe animals in order to understand how animals wish to live their lives.

Animals play an active role in shaping their relationships with humans and others, through cooperation, resistance, or refusal.

Eva Meijer's new book is a fascinating, profoundly original, and important read about new ways of doing democratic politics with other beings and respecting their points of view.

14/07/2025

Piloting cooked meals for street dogs.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) plans to feed 5,000 street dogs per day with cooked meals made from chicken waste, rice, and vegetables, as part of an effort to reduce food-based aggression, support safer sterilisation and rabies vaccination, and discourage unregulated feeding at waste sites.

A pilot project to serve chicken-rice meals to 5,000 stray dogs across the city has sparked a mix of praise, mockery, and political fire. But is there more to it than meets the eye?, Bengaluru News News - Times Now

10/07/2025

RSPCA UK are recruiting Clinical Animal Behaviourists. 4 full time permanent positions, 1 part time permanent position and 1 part time 12 month fixed term position.

https://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/regional-clinical-animal-behaviourist-2289-homebased/2307/description/

https://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/regional-clinical-animal-behaviourist-2293-homebased/2311/description/

https://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/vacancy/regional-clinical-animal-behaviourist-2392-homebased/2410/description/

Working at the RSPCA provides an opportunity to get involved in a variety of ways to support our mission. Whether it’s our front line services, our veterinary teams, campaigning and prevention, education, engagement and income generation teams or in our vital support services, there is a diverse r...

08/05/2025

Your dog's memory is better than a toddler's, and they can't experience guilt but they do know when someone is cross with them.

They can learn hundreds of words, count to five and read humans like a book, so why do we struggle to understand them? Scientists reveal the truth about our pets – and whether they ever feel guilty for eating our slippers

17/03/2025

Do you eat out on holiday and find sassy street dogs trying to jump on your knee after your choice steak? Or a cheeky cat diving into your tuna salad? Don't you wish you could enjoy your meal without these interruptions, however cute or annoying?

Well, you can. But you need to know how animals learn to do, or not to do, things.

Behaviour that gets rewarded gets repeated. So if a dog jumps up at you five times and eventually you sigh and say, "oh go on then" and hand them a morsel, what have they learned? "I have to jump up at least 5 times and then I'll get the yummies." And guess what? Behaviour that gets repeated, gets stronger, so the more the dog does this and gets rewarded, the more likely they are to keep doing it, and they'll intensify their efforts.

There is another way: you order your tuna salad and as if by magic there's a cat sitting hopefully next to your chair. You know that eventually you're going to get a "meeow" and an expectant paw or two reaching tablewards. You know that's going to happen at some point, so why not intercept it and reward an alternative behaviour instead? Drop a sliver (tiny, doesn't need to be more) of tuna on the floor. Go on, you can spare it. What did the cat get rewarded for? (or, in behaviour geek speak, what behaviour was reinforced?) Sitting or standing with All Four Feet on the Floor, that's what. If the cat or dog has All Four Feet on the Floor, they can't at the same time be doing their little two legged dancing underneath the part of the table nearest to your dinner plate.

Now you know what you're doing, you can build up this "good" behaviour by helping your animal friend to learn how to stay there quietly for longer: gradually increase the time between the food drops. This is called adding duration, somewhat obviously.

If you want to you can even turbo charge Fluffy's new learning by adding a "marker word" such as "yes", "good" or "banana" (doesn't matter what it is as long as you use the same one) a split second before you drop the food morselette. This works as if creating a snapshot in Fluffy's brain, "what I was doing just at that time when that familiar sound happened (or "word" in our human world) is the thing that got me the food." The brain goes on to learn, "if I do it again (or for longer), I'll hear that sound again and a smidgy more food will come."

Et voilà, in a single sitting you can transform annoying, begging little monkeys into polite, patient pals!🐶🐱

In these pictures, I've substituted a welcome little scratch for food, because this lovely lad is a good friend who seeks me out to scratch the itchy parts he can't reach😀🐕 and before him, I've helped two cats this weekend learn that it's sitting quietly that wins them the snippets of tuna from my salad🐈🐈‍⬛