How dogs think — and what they think of us

Dog behaviourist Laura Vissaritis uses science and psychology to better understand what our dogs really are telling us (R)

Laura is a dog behaviourist with qualifications in both animal behaviour and human psychology.

Dogs were the first animals to become domesticated, and over the centuries they've evolved from their wolfish origins to become more useful, attentive and appealing to us. 

Laura says that when a dog is displaying 'difficult' behaviours like too much barking, pulling on the lead, or jumping up, the first step in the process is often changing the behaviour of their human. 

She also believes with the increasing tendency in Australia to view our dogs as quasi-people has led to heavy expectations on many dogs, to which they can't always measure up.

This episode of Conversations explores dogs, pets, animal behaviour, animal psychology, fur babies, service dogs, psychology, co-dependence, animal rescue, death, grief and animal welfare.