Your Dog Isn’t Giving You a Hard Time: The Science Behind Bad Dog Behaviour

Engaging, thought provoking lectures by experts, professors and storytellers in Ottawa bars 📚Lecture: Your Dog Isn’t Giving You a Hard Time: The Science Behind 'Bad' Dog Behaviour ⏱️Time: Doors: 6pm Lecture: 7pm 🎤Speaker: Dayna Desmarais (Certified Dog Behavior Consultant & Accredited Dog Trainer) Your dog knows they’re not supposed to do that… right? They bark at the window, steal food off the counter, ignore a perfectly good “come,” and somehow always seem to know when they’ve done something wrong. It’s easy to call dogs stubborn, dramatic, dominant, jealous, or badly behaved but what if much of what we think we know about “bad” dog behaviour is wrong? Join Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Accredited Dog Trainer Dayna Desmarais for a fascinating look at what’s really happening behind your dog’s behaviour. Using behavioural science, learning theory, and real-world examples, we’ll explore how fear, stress, reinforcement, motivation, environment, genetics, and physical wellbeing shape the behaviours humans find so frustrating. You’ll learn why dogs can behave perfectly at home and “forget” everything outside, why punishment can sometimes make problems worse, why growling is valuable information, and how humans accidentally reinforce behaviours they’re trying to stop. Instead of asking, “How do I make my dog stop?” we’ll ask a much more interesting question: “Why does this behaviour make sense to my dog?” Dayna Desmarais is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Accredited Dog Trainer (ADT) through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Her work combines behavioural science, training, canine nutrition, and years of hands-on experience helping people better understand why dogs behave the way they do. As an educator and pet-industry entrepreneur, she focuses on humane, evidence-based approaches that consider learning, emotion, environment, physical wellbeing, and the individual dog.