You've done the classes. Watched the videos. Tried the tools. And your dog is still struggling. What if the answer isn't another training method?

Andrew Hale is a certified canine behaviourist with a background in human psychology. He specialises in dogs labelled aggressive, reactive, difficult or broken. And he'll tell you straight: they're none of those things. They're trying to communicate something. We're just not listening.

In this conversation, Andrew shares his own story - childhood trauma, a breakdown in his thirties, and two dogs who forced him to rethink everything he thought he knew about behaviour.

We get into why behaviour is a communication of need, not a problem to solve. Why guilt can actually be your friend. Why your dog might be struggling with emotional and social pain you can't see. And why the journey to understanding your dog starts with understanding yourself.

This one's personal. It's raw. Its honest. Enjoy x

Guest: Andrew Hale BSc, ISCP.Dip.Canine.Prac - Certified Canine Behaviourist, founder of Dog Centred Care, behaviour consultant for Pet Remedy, and creator of Your Safe Space for animal care professionals.

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