Watch here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/70Z7q5hZzO1B0rYir4p6t8?si=JvBBtgjdQ66MjxCuXQlzHg
In the second half of our conversation about The Things Our Dogs Know, Cory and Melaney talk about what can happen when we stop assigning human motives to our animals and start paying attention to what their behavior is actually telling us.
Dogs aren’t spiteful. They aren’t sitting around plotting their revenge. And when a dog who has behaved one way for years suddenly starts acting differently, instead of asking, “Why is my dog doing this to me?” it may be time to ask, “What changed?”
From a four-year-old Springer Spaniel who suddenly begins resource guarding, to scent behaviors that make perfect sense to a dog—even when they make absolutely no sense to us—Cory and Melaney talk about instinct, genetics, medical changes, stress, and why knowing what’s normal for your dog matters.
And because apparently dogs weren’t enough, the conversation expands to birds that seem to know when danger is coming, a Cooper’s hawk that silences an entire backyard, Cory becoming an accidental killdeer wizard, and a Disney lion documentary that may owe the water buffaloes an apology.
Your dog isn’t a tiny human in a fur coat. They’re an animal with their own instincts, communication, senses, and way of experiencing the world.
Pay attention. Learn their language. And give them the respect of getting to know who they actually are.
