When I look back, I can see that my journey into dog behaviour work didn’t begin with a single moment. It began with a series of quiet nudges. The dogs I loved, the people I helped, and the realisation that balance in a home often starts with understanding the one family member who can’t speak our language.

Launching The Dog Diaries feels like the natural next chapter. It brings together my lifelong connection with dogs, my background in people-focused work, and my experience supporting a Boxer dog rescue charity where calm, patience, and empathy are daily essentials. To anyone that knows me, the alignment is perfect.

❤️ Where the dog listening approach began for me

I’ve always been drawn to dogs, their honesty, their sensitivity, and the way they communicate through body language long before they make a sound. Over the years, my own dogs have been my greatest teachers. They’ve shown me what trust truly feels like, and how small changes in our behaviour and energy can bring huge changes in theirs.

Like most owners, I’ve lived through challenges:
• separation anxiety, to varying degrees with different dogs
• lunging on the lead, jumping up at people, and dog reactivity
• the anxious pacing and not settling, barking at anything passing the window in the house or car
• the moments when you think, Why are they doing this and what am I doing so wrong?

I’ve been there. And in those moments, I realised how often we expect dogs to understand our world while we don’t always take time to understand theirs. Or, the assumptions we make of why they may be doing something – which was completely led by our human thought process, they must be bored, they have too much energy – they need more exercise, they are punishing me for going out without them, the list goes on – but this is not how a canine thinks.

💬 Discovering Dog Listening

I first came across dog listening through my work with HCBW (Home Counties Boxer Welfare) a dog rescue charity in the UK that helps re-home and help families with their Boxer dogs. Here, I met with a lovely, kind, calm, person called Ali Carrington at Calm, Kind, Happy – we were working with Ali to help provide useful information to new adopters to settle their new rescue dog. I later took a course with Ali to help with my own dog with separation anxiety after we lost one of our other dogs. I love the approach and purchased the Jan Fennell – The Dog Listener book and started to read it. The approach focused on calm leadership, clear communication, and understanding the dog’s instincts, it felt so simple, and really aligned with how I feel and sense energy can affect people and especially dogs – something clicked. It wasn’t about force, dominance, stern voices, hours of exercise, tricks and tools, or quick fixes. It was about building trust and helping dogs feel safe enough to relax by the way we communicate with them. And, I saw the immediate results, not just with my own dog but the dogs and families we were helping in the rescue world.

It matched how I naturally saw dogs: as sensitive beings trying their best to adapt to the human world.

So I decided to dive deeper and joined the School for Professional Dog Listeners – training, studying, learning from experienced dog listeners, spending hours observing behaviour, and applying everything with my own dog and the dogs coming into rescue. The results weren’t just behavioural changes – the whole relationship changed.

And once you’ve experienced that transformation, you can’t help wanting to share it.

🌱 From personal support, to charity work… to this

My professional background has always involved working with people, leading teams and listening, supporting, problem-solving, and helping individuals feel understood.

My charity work taught me patience, empathy, and how to meet individuals (human or canine) exactly where they are. It reinforced a belief I still hold strongly:

Calm creates calm.
Understanding creates change.

These foundations blend perfectly with dog behaviour work. Helping owners and dogs reconnect feels like using every part of my experience, with both species.

🐾 Why start The Dog Diaries?

Because something powerful happens when owners begin to truly hear their dog’s communication.

• Stress softens
• Walks become peaceful
• Homes feel calmer
• The bond deepens

I want to help people experience that and I want to help dogs be the calm, relaxed, happy beings they can be. I want to show that you don’t need to be a dog expert, you just need guidance, consistency, and a willingness to see the world through your dog’s eyes.

The Dog Diaries is a space where we explore real stories, real challenges, and real change. It’s about turning daily struggles into peaceful chapters — one insight at a time.

🌟 What’s next

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing:
• guidance on understanding your dog’s behaviour
• simple shifts that make huge differences
• reflections from the homes I work with
• stories from my own dogs
• mindset tools to bring calm back into your relationship

If you’re at the start of your own journey, whether you’re dealing with behaviour challenges, or simply want a deeper connection, you’re in the right place.

This is just the beginning, and I’m so excited to take these first steps with you.

Welcome to The Dog Diaries.
Let’s write calmer, happier chapters together. 🐾

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