Welcome to the Head Start Blog

Hello, and welcome to the Head Start blog — a small corner of the internet built for the people who love their dogs fiercely and want to do right by them.

For years I’ve been answering the same gentle, thoughtful questions in living rooms and on muddy Edinburgh paths: Why does she pull on the lead? Why won’t he settle? How do I get her to stop barking at the postie? The answers are almost never what people expect. They are rarely about dominance or stubbornness, and they almost always begin with one quiet idea: your dog is trying to communicate something, and we just need to learn to listen.

This blog is where I’ll be writing those answers down. Long, short, science-backed, story-driven — whatever the moment calls for. Some posts will be practical guides (“five things to teach in your puppy’s first week”). Others will be reflections from real cases — what worked, what didn’t, what surprised us both.

A few promises before we begin:

• No outdated dominance theory. Ever. The science left that behind decades ago, and so have we.
• No quick fixes. Real progress takes patience, and I’d rather be honest about that than sell you a shortcut.
• No judgement. If you’re here, you already love your dog. That’s the part that matters most.

If there’s something you’d like me to write about, get in touch — I read everything, and the best post ideas always come from real questions.

Thanks for being here. Now go give your dog a scratch behind the ears.

— Katya