When Behaviour Became a Prescription

Reflections from over forty years alongside dogs and the people who love them

My life’s work has been the quiet, patient study of pet dog behaviour — and, just as importantly, the education of the humans at the other end of the lead.

When I look back over more than four decades in this profession, the changes in dog ownership in the UK are profound. Some have been positive. We understand far more about dogs now than we once did. We speak more openly about welfare, enrichment, fear, and emotional health. Owners care deeply — often more deeply than ever before.

And yet… there is one shift I struggle to accept.

The growing reliance on medication as a response to canine behaviour.

Pie & Betty (2 of my dogs)

A gentle confession

I’ll be honest. I am not a great believer in drugs for behaviour. Perhaps that comes partly from being fortunate enough to enjoy generally good health myself. But it also comes from what I have witnessed over a lifetime — in both humans and dogs — where dependency on medication did not lead to understanding, resolution, or true wellbeing.

In people, I have seen drugs mask symptoms without ever addressing the cause. I have seen hope pinned to a prescription, only for disappointment to follow. And now, increasingly, I see that same pattern quietly entering the pet world.

When industry leads the narrative

Big pharmaceutical companies have long had a powerful grip on much of the civilised world. It would be naïve to believe the pet industry would remain untouched.

Today, behavioural medication is presented as modern, progressive, compassionate. It comes wrapped in professional language, polished branding, and reassuring science. Vets, insurance companies, and professional associations are all part of this ecosystem — financially linked, mutually supportive, and outwardly authoritative.

That doesn’t make them malicious. But it does make the system deeply intertwined.

And when systems become intertwined, it becomes harder to ask the most important question of all:

Is this really what the dog needs?

What forty years has taught me

In all my years of work — and the many thousands of dogs I have helped — I have never yet resorted to behavioural drugs.

Not because every dog became perfect. Not because every case was easy.Not because challenges magically disappeared.

But because behaviour is information.

Fear, anxiety, reactivity, shutdown, over-arousal — these are not faults to be suppressed. They are communication. They are a dog telling us that something in their world does not make sense, does not feel safe, or has never been properly explained.

When owners learn to truly understand their dog — how pressure is applied, how emotion travels down the lead, how timing, tone, posture, and consistency shape behaviour — change happens.

Sometimes slowly. Sometimes imperfectly. Sometimes requiring ongoing management.

But always with dignity.

Moose (my dog today)

The difference that matters most

The dogs I work with do not become dependent on me. Their owners do not become dependent on endless interventions.

Instead, people learn. They grow in confidence. They understand how to guide, support, and advocate for their dog in the real world — not a clinical one.

That, to me, is the heart of ethical behaviour work.

Because a dog who is managed with understanding is free in a way a medicated dog may never be. And an owner who truly understands their dog carries that knowledge for life.

A final, gentle thought

This is not a condemnation. Nor a denial that there may be rare, complex cases where medical support has a place.

But I do believe — deeply — that we have moved too quickly away from education and too readily towards prescription.

Behaviour is not an illness.Dogs are not broken. And understanding should never be replaced by a tablet.

After forty-plus years walking beside dogs and the humans who love them, I still believe the most powerful tool we have is not found in a bottle — but in learning how to listen.

Quietly. Carefully. With compassion.

This is a blog close to my heart, therefore I included photo's of the dogs that are close to my heart too!

Avril thedogcalmer