A while back, I was invited to a podcast with Sonia Jahshan and Simon Bags from the Sonia & Simon pod.
I thought our discussion was worth sharing, so without further ado, here it is:
Author: Karolina Westlund, PhD
Categories
The importance of play
I was interviewed by Marilyn Mele on her summit What Reactive Dogs Really Need on the topic of play, and I thought I’d share it here on the blog!
Want subtitles? Just click the CC-button at the bottom right! Oh, and if you’re a French Speaker, Benjamin Trévisan kindly translated this discussion – find it here!
There’s an entire module devoted to the topic of play in my online course Animal Emotions, which opens for enrollment in January!
Here’s what we cover in the interview:
The Biological Power of Play: Play is fundamental, and can literally reconfigure and reprogram an animal’s brain.
The Science of Epigenetics: We discuss how play acts as a major modulator of gene expression.
Developing an Optimistic Mindset: We cover how play induces a strong positive emotional state that helps animals become more optimistic. An optimistic animal expects good things to happen and is more likely to be curious rather than fearful.
Building Resilience Through “Rough and Tumble”: I explain how social play teaches animals to handle slight discomfort (like being chased), learning that positive events follow such moments (like chasing the other); this helps build resilience.
Training for the Unexpected: We talk about how the unpredictable nature of play helps animals learn to deal with unexpected events without being overwhelmed.
Seven Practical Reasons to Use Play: I outline specific ways to use play as a tool for:
Categories
From coercive to R+
Revised Sept 27th 2025.
The dog training world is currently extremely polarized.
On the one hand, some trainers don’t hesitate to use aversive techniques to train their dogs (in other words, they will sometimes inflict pain or discomfort). On the other, we have trainers who will jump through hoops to avoid aversives – or won’t use it at all.
For simplicity, I will call the trainers-who-don’t-think-twice-about-sometimes-using-aversives coercive, and trainers-who-avoid-aversives-at-all-costs positive reinforcement trainers, or R+ . These are just shorthand labels, not rigid boxes.
Yes, I know, I know – that’s an oversimplification. There are many different training approaches out there and some people may feel these labels don’t capture the nuance of their work.
If that’s you, please know no offense is intended. I’m painting with big strokes here only for the sake of the discussion.
I recently ran a poll in the Do No Harm Dog Training group on Facebook, curious to know the backgrounds of the members – had they transitioned from coercive to R+ trainers? And their comments were revealing.
The ongoing evolution in the dog training world.
Here’s how I see it:
I was recently invited for an interview for Radio Tacoma’s series Ain’t Misbehaving with Dr Louisa Beal, a veterinarian with a special interest in behaviour.
In this discussion, we talk about:
- how people interested in dogs might still learn something from someone who’s not a dog owner (though I cover this paradox in more detail here)
- the difference between jealousy and resource guarding
- how people often misunderstand the dominance concept
- my thoughts on how we go about weaning our pets
- do we need to do any “socialization” at all?
I’m not a dog trainer.
And so, many dog guardians – or dog trainers – don’t think that I have anything to teach them.
And they tell me so often enough to warrant an explanation as to why in the world I think it’s a good idea for me to teach about dog training even though I’m *not* a dog trainer.
Actually, I’m also not a horse trainer, but the horse guardians and horse trainers that I come across don’t voice that particular concern – at least not to my face 😉 … but this applies equally to them. And yes, the same also goes for all the other animal species out there.
This blog post could be named Animal training is like brain surgery, and everything that I discuss here is equally relevant to other species too.
Just replace the word “dog” in everything that follows with your preferred species..!
I think that the mistake that people make is that they think that dog training is sort of like driving a car.
And naturally, if you want to learn how to drive, you should learn from an experienced driver. They don’t have to be a mechanic or understand what’s going on underneath the hood, but your driving teacher needs to have personal experience in driving, and that’s simply non-negotiable. Anything else would just be preposterous.
And I totally agree! That makes total sense – when it comes to learning how to drive.
But here’s the thing.
I think that dog training is more like brain surgery than it is like driving a car.
Is your dog afraid of fireworks? How about thunder?
Keep reading, this blog post contains everything you need to know. This post is updated and all the links are double-checked about twice a year, last on December 19th, 2025 – look for the “revised” signs in the post to find the latest changes.
Is your dog not fearful of fireworks, thunder or other loud noise?
Keep reading anyway. That may change, and you should be prepared.
