How to communicate with your rescue dog and earn its trust

Rescue Tails

In this episode I chat with Sally Adly about how we can communicate more effectively with our rescue dogs. When you bring your dog home, it will probably feel overwhelmed and quite scared. But it takes time for a dog to settle in its new home and it’s so important to learn how to listen to and respond to your dogs needs beyond the basics of food and shelter.

Sally also talks about the importance of taking a force free or punishment free approach to training. She shares some interesting research that shows the negative impact of using aversive or forceful approaches to training. This is such an important topic for all dog owners.
And I would urge anyone who is working with trainers who suggest they use things like shock collars, choke chains, hitting the dog or any force/punishment to look at what the evidence shows. You really are putting yourself and your dog at risk with these approaches.

Here are the research papers Sally referenced in our conversation:

Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors

Efficacy of Dog Training With and Without Remote Electronic Collars vs. a Focus on Positive Reinforcement

Does training method matter? Evidence for the negative impact of aversive-based methods on companion dog welfare

Sally is the founder of Kelabi, a free educational platform that helps dog owners understand more about canine communication. She is also the founder of Egypt’s top rated dog hotel where she hosted and worked with hundreds of dogs over the years.

You can find them on Facebook or Instagram.

As always, I hope you enjoy this episode! If there is a topic you'd like us to cover in future episodes, reach out to me on [email protected].