An Introduction to Signs of Pain & Discomfort - Workshop
A workshop recording and handout to raise awareness of basic things to look for that could indicate your dogs may have pain or discomfort
Workshop Summary
Understanding the correlation between pain and behaviour is an incredibly important part of living with dogs, because obviously they cannot tell us when they're uncomfortable because of joint pain, or their ears feel painful, or their tummy feels sore, or they have an Ouchy somewhere.
But actually, they often do tell us... in how they behave and in how they move (or don't as the case may be) as well as by way of many subtle signs that may seem insignificant to us if we don't know what to watch out for.
Certain aspects of their physical appearance can also give us clues, and an introduction to all of this is what we cover in this workshop.
In a study done by Daniel Mills of Lincoln University, it was found that 60-80% of dogs that displayed over reactive behaviours were experiencing pain or discomfort.
That is a HUGE number and why this workshop will be valuable to every Dog Parent, and especially those with dogs that overreact.
Although there will be lots of valuable information shared in this workshop, it is merely an introduction to this HUGELY in depth topic, as I'm sure you can imagine, but what it will do is provide you with some basic understanding of what to look for and what to pay attention to so you can be aware of things your dog may be telling you that you might be missing.
Workshop Content
Ms Michelle Masters
Meesh Masters is the founder and business owner at The Dog's Point of View and specialises in working with Romanian & Overseas Rescue dogs, providing educational resources for their adopters via remote one to one consultations, home study courses, webinars, training programs and her popular Adopters Coaching Group - The number one resource anywhere on the internet for Romanian and Overseas rescue dog information and support.
After becoming involved with Romanian Rescue dogs in 2015, both as a support advisor to new adopters and a fosterer herself, she was led to look deeper into the thinking, feeling, emotional depths of these dogs when things began feeling different about them.
She soon realised how the Romanian dogs were different to British born dogs, that their genetics and bloodline, being from street dogs and dogs that had evolved through more natural selection, meant they seemed to be more in tune with their instinctive nature's. She went on to learn that she needed to adjust the ways she interacted with and worked with these dogs, to accommodate their more instinctive and cautious characteristics. It became very evident that these dogs responded differently to 'training' in the conventional sense at times.
And so it became her passion to share everything she was learning, and is still learning, about the Romanian Dog's Point of View with as many adopters as possible. Today she is Patron of two Romanian Rescue Charities, Cloud K9 Rescue and Annie's Trust, she is also advisor to various other rescue organisations. She runs a course for qualified trainers, The Romanian Rescue Pro Trainers program, to help other canine professionals understand more about working with Romanian & foreign rescue dogs and their families, as many of them can be quite complex compared to working with British dogs. She has also launched an invaluable education & resource program for rescue organisations rehoming Romanian & Eastern European dogs, to help them & their volunteers to understand how to correctly support their adopters if they encounter basic problems.
Meesh is also now a certified Dynamic Dog Practitioner which qualifies her to complete detailed assessments of dogs in the areas of biomechanics, gait, movement & posture to determine whether there are any potential pain or discomfort issues that could be contributing to behaviour. This is an invaluable qualification to have given that her entire business focuses solely on supporting and working with adopters and canine professionals of predominantly Romanian but also other European street, rescue & shelter dogs. With the poor start many of these dogs have in life, along with the potential for them to have sustained untreated injuries, abuse and trauma prior to adoption, being able to assess for pain in a totally hands off, non-intrusive way is often the only way they can be assessed.
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