Dr. Else Verbeek is a highly skilled and compassionate dog behaviorist who is dedicated to helping dogs overcome fear and anxiety. With a strong foundation in evidence-based practices, she utilizes her scientific expertise to create effective strategies for addressing behavioral issues in dogs.With over 15 years of experience in the field, Else has honed her skills in understanding and modifying canine behavior. Her background as a scientist specializing in behavior, emotions, and stress physiology allows her to bring a unique perspective to her work with dogs. Else's approach is grounded in the latest research, ensuring that her interventions are based on solid scientific evidence. She recognizes that every dog is an individual with unique needs, and she tailors her methods to suit each dog's specific circumstances. In addition to her work with individual dogs, Else is also passionate about education and knowledge-sharing. She regularly teaches problem behavior courses to dog professionals, empowering them with the tools and knowledge to better understand and address canine behavioral issues. Else is equally dedicated to helping dog owners navigate their pets' problem behaviors. Through her compassionate and patient guidance, she assists owners in understanding the underlying causes of their dogs' issues and provides practical strategies to improve their pets' behavior and quality of life. With her extensive experience, scientific background, and commitment to evidence-based practices, Else stands out as a respected and trusted authority in the field of dog behavior. Her unwavering dedication to improving the lives of dogs and their owners has made her a sought-after expert in the industry. Do you want to understand your dog's behaviour, solve unwanted behaviours and improve your relationship with your dog? Sign up to my newsletter now!
Why a relaxed dog can learn nothing during exposure .
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Hi Reader, When we work with a sound-fearful dog, keeping them calm feels like the obvious goal. Soft sounds in the background, a relaxed dog, nothing that stirs them up. It looks kind and welfare-friendly, and it's everywhere. I've even seen videos of dogs almost massaged to sleep while firework sounds play quietly behind them. The dog is settled, clearly not distressed, and the whole thing looks lovely. But is this actually helping the dog? Not really. Because a dog who is that relaxed, half asleep really, isn't taking the sound in. And for anything to change, the dog's fear system has to be active, at least a little. A dog who is switched off simply isn't learning anything. So what we're actually after is a sweet spot. Enough activation that the dog notices the sound and faces it, but not so much that they flood with stress and tip into panic. Because once that happens, learning shuts down at the other end as well. The fully relaxed dog and the panicking dog both come away unchanged. Somewhere in between is where the magic happens. The dog expects the sound to mean danger, and then experiences that they're actually safe. That mismatch between what the brain predicted and what happened is a prediction error. Repeat it often enough, and the dog slowly updates what they expect when they hear the sound. How to find that sweet spot, and how to keep the dog safe inside it, is one of the things you’ll learn in my free masterclass on noise phobias in dogs. It's a live session with a replay if you can't make it, and you'll get the full evidence-based framework, not just a single technique. 👉 Register for the free masterclass HERE. Best, Dr. Else |
Hi, I'm Else, specialist in dog behaviour and welfare.
Dr. Else Verbeek is a highly skilled and compassionate dog behaviorist who is dedicated to helping dogs overcome fear and anxiety. With a strong foundation in evidence-based practices, she utilizes her scientific expertise to create effective strategies for addressing behavioral issues in dogs.With over 15 years of experience in the field, Else has honed her skills in understanding and modifying canine behavior. Her background as a scientist specializing in behavior, emotions, and stress physiology allows her to bring a unique perspective to her work with dogs. Else's approach is grounded in the latest research, ensuring that her interventions are based on solid scientific evidence. She recognizes that every dog is an individual with unique needs, and she tailors her methods to suit each dog's specific circumstances. In addition to her work with individual dogs, Else is also passionate about education and knowledge-sharing. She regularly teaches problem behavior courses to dog professionals, empowering them with the tools and knowledge to better understand and address canine behavioral issues. Else is equally dedicated to helping dog owners navigate their pets' problem behaviors. Through her compassionate and patient guidance, she assists owners in understanding the underlying causes of their dogs' issues and provides practical strategies to improve their pets' behavior and quality of life. With her extensive experience, scientific background, and commitment to evidence-based practices, Else stands out as a respected and trusted authority in the field of dog behavior. Her unwavering dedication to improving the lives of dogs and their owners has made her a sought-after expert in the industry. Do you want to understand your dog's behaviour, solve unwanted behaviours and improve your relationship with your dog? Sign up to my newsletter now!
Hi Reader, The million-dollar question is how to guide noise phobic (and noise sensitive) dogs towards more confidence around sounds. In a study by Herwijnen et al. (2024) a questionnaire was sent to 3,009 dog owners (and 622 cat owners!) asking about their experiences with fireworks. Here are the key findings from the Study: ✅ Early-life noise exposure reduces the risk of developing noise sensitivity. ✅ Dogs with suboptimal early socialization are more prone to fear loud noises. ✅ Noise...
Hi Reader, Noise phobias can really suck the life out of any good dog trainer. That's exactly why I'm hosting a free masterclass about noise phobias. In this master class, we will discuss what's happening behind the behaviour: what is going on in the brain of a dog that is shaking with fear after a thunderclap, and why it is not the noise itself that's really the problem? I will be giving the master classes on five different dates and all of them are LIVE. The first one is on June 16, and the...
Hi Reader, Dogs can tell the time. They can't read a clock, and yet they keep a surprisingly accurate sense of how long things last. When researchers test dogs on timing tasks, judging whether a sound was short or long, they perform about as well as a lot of other species. So interval timing, the ability to estimate seconds to minutes, is just a normal part of how a dog navigates the world. This matters more than it sounds (pun intended), because timing is really a survival tool. It lets a...