I’ve just assessed two dogs who are a bonded pair and were adopted together. I worked with them one at a time, starting with the more sensitive dog out of view to keep things as low stress as possible. They’re rarely separated, so it was important to give each dog space to show me what’s really going on. I’d really love you to have a watch and share what you notice. There’s no right or wrong here, just your observations and thought process. If you’d prefer to message me privately, that’s completely fine too. I’ll be writing up my notes tomorrow. This is very much a working case, so it will be interesting to see whether my current thinking holds up as we move forward. I’ll keep you updated.

Second dog same family, how do you think they differ ?

Have you ever conducted a decoy dog assessment with one of your cases? I’m really interested to hear how many of you are using this as part of your assessment process, and what you’re paying attention to in those initial moments. Those first few seconds can tell us a lot. Distance, hesitation, approach patterns, recovery, and subtle shifts in body language often give far more insight than the more obvious behaviours people tend to focus on. It’s also an area where interpretation matters. Without a clear framework, it’s easy to either overestimate risk or miss important information entirely. For those wanting to explore this in more depth, I have a full presentation available where I cover: • when a decoy assessment is appropriate • how to set it up safely and ethically • what to look for, including commonly missed details • how to interpret responses without increasing pressure I’d genuinely love to hear your experiences or thoughts in the comments.