What does it really mean to understand a dog?

In this conversation, Dr Marc Bekoff explores how dogs experience the world and what helps them thrive emotionally, socially, and psychologically.

Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder and one of the world’s leading voices on animal emotions. He is a long time collaborator and close friend of the late Dr Jane Goodall through the Jane Goodall Institute. His research has helped expand scientific understanding of animal sentience, emotion, and social intelligence.

In this episode, Marc explains why every dog is an individual shaped by personality, history, and context. He shares why choice, safety, and trust sit at the centre of healthy relationships and how dogs communicate continuously through movement, scent, posture, and behaviour.

We discuss what it means to become fluent in dog. How learning their language deepens connection. How agency supports emotional wellbeing. And why observing dogs in natural social settings reveals behaviours that cannot be seen in isolation.

Marc also reflects on his decades of fieldwork with dogs, wolves, coyotes, and other social mammals, and on the influence of Jane Goodall’s approach to observation, patience, and respect.

This episode explores:

→ How dogs express emotion and social intelligence→ Why individual personality matters more than labels→ What agency looks like in everyday life→ How dogs communicate through scent, movement, and choice→ The role of trust in learning and connection→ What long term observation reveals about behaviour→ The legacy of Jane Goodall’s work and its relevance today

This is a conversation about attention, curiosity, and relationship. About learning to see the dog in front of you.

And about how understanding another being can quietly change the way we live alongside them.

In this episode of Just A Dog Podcast, I speak with Ádám Miklósi, Professor of Ethology and one of the most influential researchers in dog behaviour and cognition.

Professor Miklósi is the founder of the Family Dog Project in Hungary and has spent decades studying how dogs think, learn, and form relationships with humans.

His work has shaped much of what we now understand about dog human attachment, social behaviour, and the role of environment in behavioural development.

In our conversation, we explore how dogs are shaped by biology, environment, and the human relationships they live within. We discuss why dog behaviour must be understood in context, why dogs do not exist in isolation, and how human expectations and living conditions influence behaviour.

We also talk about individuality, attachment, and what scientific research can realistically tell us about the inner lives of dogs.

G Dogs research project

Professor Miklósi’s team runs the G Dogs project, a long term scientific study of dogs who can recognise the names of objects and reliably retrieve specific items when asked.

Dogs of any age may be eligible if they already know between 5 and 8 object names. Participation is remote, with full guidance provided.

For more information or to enquire about taking part, contact:
miklosi.adam@ttk.elte.hu

What does it actually take to change a law that harms dogs?

In this episode of Just A Dog Podcast, I speak with Dr Marc Abraham OBE, the veterinary surgeon and campaigner behind Lucy’s Law, which banned the third party sale of puppies and kittens in England.

Marc shares the moment that shifted him from treating individual dogs to challenging the system itself, how grassroots campaigning really works, and why patience, strategy, and kindness matter more than outrage alone.

We talk about puppy farming, ethical breeding, rescue, political lobbying, celebrity influence, and what ordinary people can do when they feel powerless in the face of injustice.

Marc is the author of several books, including Be More Mosquito, a practical guide to grassroots campaigning and creating change with limited resources.

He is also the presenter and co creator of the documentary Dogspiracy, which examines irresponsible breeding, puppy mills, and the systems that allow them to continue, while also highlighting how change can happen.

You can follow Marc and his work online
Facebook | Instagram | X | Website

Marisa Heath has spent over 15 years working inside UK Parliament to improve the lives of dogs. She runs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW), leads the Canine and Feline Sector Group, and co-founded the Innate Health Assessment, a tool that helps people recognise extreme conformation before buying a puppy or choosing which dogs to breed from.

Extreme conformation refers to physical features that have been bred so far from a dog's natural form that they cause pain, discomfort or difficulty doing basic things like breathing, walking or playing.

In 2009, Marisa published A Healthier Future for Pedigree Dogs. Sixteen years later, she is still asking the same questions.

This is not a conversation about bad breeders or irresponsible owners. It is a conversation about all of us. Somewhere along the way, we stopped noticing. Noses got shorter. Skin folds got deeper. Legs bowed. Spines curved. Breathing became laboured. And we called it normal. We called it cute.

We shared videos of dogs snoring and struggling and we laughed. This happened to the animals we say we love most, and it happened right in front of us. If you have ever looked at a dog and thought nothing of how they were built, this conversation might change what you see.

🔗 Try the Innate Health Assessment: https://www.innatehealthassessment.org/

Morocco agreed in 2019 to manage free roaming dogs through catch, neuter, vaccinate and return. That agreement was never made law, and many regions continued killing instead.

Since Morocco secured co hosting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2030, the pace and scale of killings have increased.

The IAWPC has documented shootings, poisonings and mass removals near proposed stadium cities including Tangier, Marrakesh, Rabat, Agadir, Fez and Casablanca.

Les Ward MBE and Debbie Wilson explain the evidence, the political pressures, the impact on rabies control, and why systemic violence toward dogs harms children and whole communities.

This episode explores what happens when image wins over science and what can still be done to change the direction of an entire nation.

IAWPC Website | Sign the Petition | IAWPC on Instagram | IAWPC on Facebook | IAWPC on X

This episode looks at what happens when a dog’s inner world does not match the life we imagine for them.

Sam Walker-Arends is a force free trainer who works with dogs carrying fear, uncertainty or history in their bodies, and our conversation keeps returning to one truth.

Every dog is an individual. Their needs, thresholds and ways of feeling safe are never the same.

We talk about Ivy the ex racer and Reyna the timid Galgo, and how raising two children alongside two very different dogs forced Sam to confront stress, expectation and the limits of tolerance.

She shares openly about recognising when a dog is no longer coping and why safety matters more than any ideal of the perfect family dog.

At its core, this episode asks a quiet but important question.

What does safety look like for an individual dog, and what does our response to that individuality reveal about us.

Follow Sam here: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Every February, as Spain’s hunting season ends, thousands of Galgos and Podencos are discarded. Some are abandoned, some are killed, and most are simply forgotten. They are fast, intelligent and deeply sensitive, yet still treated as disposable tools rather than sentient companions.

In this week’s episode, I speak with Gemma and Adva, the organisers behind Free Spanish Hounds, a UK-based movement that marches each year to raise awareness of Spain’s hunting dogs and the cultural systems that allow their suffering to continue.

We talk about how empathy becomes action, what it means to show up for animals we may never meet, and the quiet power of people who refuse to look away.

This conversation asks:
→ What does it say about us when one species can be both pet and tool?
→ Can empathy travel across borders when laws and traditions divide it?
→ What happens when love for one dog changes the course of a life?

It is an episode about compassion as resistance and the quiet hope that collective action still matters.

Follow Free Spanish Hounds

Website⁠ | Facebook Group | Instagram

Follow Hope for Podencos

Website⁠ | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

In this episode, I speak with Jenna Miller, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Spirit of the Dog Rescue, an independent charity run entirely by volunteers.

With more than fifteen years of experience in animal care and rescue, Jenna offers an honest look at what really happens behind the scenes — far beyond the social media snapshots and success stories we usually see.

We talk about what it takes to run a rescue responsibly, the emotional weight of decision-making, and the systems that often fail both people and dogs.

Jenna shares what surrendering a dog actually involves, how rescues decide who they can help, and the ongoing battle to balance compassion with sustainability.

This is a conversation about reality, not rescue romanticism.

It is about fatigue, bureaucracy, and the moments that make it all worth it. It is about humans trying to do right by dogs in a system that is stretched to breaking point.

If you are moved by this conversation and would like to support the work being done by Spirit of the Dog Rescue, you can learn more or make a donation here:

Website: www.spiritofthedog.org.uk

Donate: www.spiritofthedog.org.uk/donate

Instagram: @spiritofthedogrescue

Facebook: Spirit of the Dog Rescue

Follow Jenna’s work and stories: @dogrescuediaries