Rethinking Safety: The Dog’s Perspective
- pdteinfo
- 20 hours ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 19 minutes ago
Safety is not defined by humans but by how dogs perceive and feel their world. At the most fundamental level, meeting their basic needs — food, water, sleep, personal hygiene and social interaction — forms the foundation for their sense of security and well-being. From there, we can offer comfort, gentle guidelines and loving boundaries — yet only the dogs know whether they truly feel secure.
Some dogs feel safe naturally; while others need some extra support — shaped by their temperament, genetics, life experiences, trauma — in both its obvious and quieter forms — and by the world around them. Safety is therefore deeply individual, not a universal state. Safety is not a method or a set of techniques; it is a lived, internal felt state.
Safety Enables Life to Flourish
Feeling safe allows dogs to communicate, explore, learn, rest and truly thrive. From gestation through every life stage, sensory and emotional security shape development. Our role begins with observation, listening and responding without pressure or force.
Safety Is a Felt Experience in the Body
Safety is felt in the nervous system of all beings: the amygdala senses threat long before it can be consciously registered, and the body reacts and responds immediately, before awareness catches up. The same is true for dogs, who may feel uneasy about a person, place, or situation long before they understand why. Understanding how these early reactions shape responses gives insight into the nervous system at work.
Affective neuroscience shows that these responses are not learned but arise from core emotional systems present from birth. Panksepp’s research (2011) demonstrated that mammals share deep, primary emotional pathways in the brain—core systems such as SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC/GRIEF, and PLAY. These instinctive networks shape how animals experience and respond to the world, helping social species stay safe and connected. When safety is uncertain, protective systems such as FEAR or PANIC may dominate, shifting behaviour toward defence, withdrawal, or distress. Conversely, when dogs feel calm and supported, their SEEKING and CARE systems flourish, encouraging curiosity, exploration, and connection.
Safety is therefore not shaped by teaching or “training,” but by how the brain and body perceive the world. When safety is present, dogs are free to connect, learn and think clearly. When it is missing, dogs’ behaviour may turn protective, showing signs of defence or withdrawal. Our responsibility is therefore to reduce unnecessary stress and help dogs feel safe in body and mind. When they feel secure, their internal state guides everything they do, shaping how they move, how they explore, how they relate, and how they experience and connect to their world.
Dogs Experience Safety Through Their Senses
Touch, sound, sight, taste and, most powerfully, smell shape how dogs feel in their environment. When the world becomes too much for our dogs, stress can build up, influencing their emotional state.
Smell is their primary way of making sense of the world. Where we may simply see a path or a room, dogs “read” who was there, when, and even how they were feeling. Every path they travel, every space they explore and the movement within it all informs their sense of safety. Unpredictable sounds, sudden movement and stress odours can quickly elevate arousal. As hearing is constant in all mammals, dogs’ bodies can respond to sound before they fully understand it. Movement in the environment has a similar impact, triggering bodily reactions before the mind fully registers what is happening. Gentle voices, calm gestures and soft unhurried movement will all help dogs to feel safe. Taste remains less understood in dogs. Emotion may influence flavour perception, as seen in humans, but more research is needed. What we do know is that safety supports digestion; stress suppresses it.
Dogs feel safe through what their bodies experience … Comfort also begins under their paws.
A Practical Example: Slippery Floors
Slippery floors — yes, they really do matter. Imagine stepping onto a skating rink without skates — even if you don’t fall, you feel unstable, unsure, muscles tighten, balance wavers, your stomach churns, your heart may race… in a word you are on edge.
Dogs experience the same: when their paws cannot grip, their bodies tense, their movements become cautious and their confidence wavers. Over time, repeated slipping can cause long term pain, strain joints, and subtly alter physical stability, which will also affect behaviour— much like a human with a sore shoulder flinching or snapping even at a gentle touch. This ongoing challenge continuously unsettles their inner state, keeping anxiety present and growing, so that even familiar spaces no longer feel safe.
Non-slip floors or secure carpeting give dogs the confidence to move freely, making familiar spaces truly feel safe.
Safety Grows Through Relationship and Attachment
Just as safety is sensed in the body, it is shaped and strengthened through the bonds dogs form with the humans they trust.
McMillan’s (2016) work on social pain shows that social animals, including dogs, process relational distress through many of the same neural pathways as physical pain. Emotional pain is felt as genuine hurt, not as a mild discomfort, highlighting how deeply connection shapes safety for all social species.
Bowlby (1969) and Ainsworth et al (1978) showed that babies and children with secure attachment — caregivers consistently attentive, responsive and reliably present — develop a strong sense of safety. They explore the world with confidence, feel a sense of belonging and grow in autonomy, with lower levels of anxiety and depression.
Attachment theory also recognises that when care is unpredictable, intrusive, inconsistent or emotionally unavailable, children may develop insecure attachment. This can lead to hyper vigilance, frustration, clinginess, avoidance or withdrawal — not as “bad behaviour,” but as emotional responses to uncertainty. These patterns arise when dependability is missing.
Just as children form secure or insecure attachments depending on the consistency and sensitivity of care, research shows that dogs also exhibit attachment behaviours toward their human caregivers reflecting patterns observed in children (Topál et al., 1998).
For dogs, this means that the quality of our presence is not optional — it is foundational. When care is steady, sensitive, and reliably available, they flourish, gaining confidence, emotional balance, and the freedom to engage with their surroundings. But when interactions are unpredictable, controlling, inconsistent or confusing, dogs may also become anxious, overly dependent, shut down or defensive, not because they are “difficult,” but because they are unsure they can rely on safety.
By nurturing secure attachment, we provide dogs with a foundation of safety and trust, from which they can thrive, becoming confident, curious and free to engage with their world.
Emotional Safety in Everyday Communication
As we have seen, secure attachment provides a foundation from which our dogs’ emotional well-being unfolds through predictable presence, sensitive observation, timely support, kindness and respectful communication. Everyday politeness, such as saying “thank you,” is a small but powerful act showing our dogs we notice and value them, honouring their feelings and inviting connection.
True relationship is built on noticing rather than assuming, observing rather than directing, listening rather than commanding and responding rather than controlling — fostering a quiet dialogue of trust and understanding.
Being Heard and Feeling Safe —The Freedom to Choose
Imagine living a life where someone else makes every decision for you — when to get up, who to talk to, where to go, what and when to eat and when to rest or pause, even as your body grows tired and you long for a sense of autonomy in your own life.
Dogs experience a similar reality every day. They have very little control over their own lives: we choose when and what they eat, when and where they sleep, when to go out and where and how fast to walk / play / socialise … AND they are the only animal in the world who does not get to choose when and where they are allowed to toilet. Despite our good intentions, this lack of agency and control over their lives shapes their emotional world and can lead to frustration, anxiety, resignation or depression.
Agency is essential. Dogs need meaningful choice — to engage, to rest, to explore, to step away or simply to say no. When they can influence their world, their sense of safety deepens and confidence grows.
Punishment erodes trust, stifles communication and takes away agency. Compliance does not equal safety — a quiet dog may be shut down.
Mental engagement through exploration, problem-solving or simply choosing where and when to go out, where and when to sleep and how to interact with us builds emotional stability and confidence, helping dogs feel secure and capable.
Our role is to observe with care, ease unnecessary stress and provide both freedom and gentle guidance, creating opportunities that empower our dogs and honour their ability to make meaningful choices — recognising them as capable, discerning decision-makers —so they can genuinely shape their own experience and flourish in body, mind and spirit.
The Power of Slowing Down
To truly support safety, we need to slow down and be present alongside our dogs. Not only do we rush through life, but we are also constantly rushing about — tidying, answering the phone, making a cup of tea, checking messages, moving from one task to the next. This busyness can leave dogs without the space to rest, relax or sleep, and may heighten their vigilance.
By pausing, offering quiet moments, speaking little or not at all, and letting them settle naturally, we provide true rest— a quiet space where as Panksepp reminds us, the nervous system can settle.
These are not exercises or protocols; they are the gentle, living space where dogs — and we ourselves — can restore balance, breathe, and simply be.
Safety Is Lifelong
Socialisation is lifelong. Humans become dogs’ primary social reference, guiding emotional stability through tone, presence, consistency and the gentle care and love we show them.
We influence how they experience the world by choosing who they meet, when they meet others, where interactions take place and how those interactions unfold. These decisions can either support their safety and confidence or, if we are not careful, overwhelm them, gradually filling their “stress cups” and diminishing their sense of security, which in turn limits how they relate, learn and respond to the world around them.
So, let us honour our dogs’ decision-making abilities and give them the freedom to choose, putting their comfort and sense of safety above our expectations and the pressures of social convention.
Safety: The Foundation of a Life Lived Together
Ultimately, safety — physical, emotional and social — is the foundation for everything we hope to build with our dogs. I hope that, throughout this article, you have seen how safety unfolds, from the smallest of sensations to the love, care and steady presence we offer, weaving bonds that nurture emotional steadiness, connection and true partnership.
All of this is anchored in the PDTE Code of Ethics, which guides and underpins our approach. By observing, listening, and responding without force, we allow trust to take root, giving rise to confidence, curiosity, and the freedom for our dogs to simply be themselves.
This is not training; it is living together — It is a way of life, for life.
Marina Gates Fleming, TR IDTE
Happy and Relaxed Dogs
CR Belgium
December 2025
References/Notes
Affective neuroscience – The Science of Emotions – Jaak Panksepp
Selected Principles of Pankseppian Affective Neuroscience
Kenneth Davis , Christian Montag (2019)
Slippery floors
The Canine Ice Rink – Julia Robertson 2020
Galen handout
Social Pain
McMillan, Franklin D. The psychobiology of social pain: Evidence for a neurocognitive overlap with physical pain and welfare implications for social animals with special attention to the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) (2016)
The Theory of Attachment
Attachment behavior in dogs (Canis familiaris): a new application of Ainsworth Strange Situation Test Topal Miklosi Csabyi & Doka (1998)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13516473_Attachment_Behavior_in_Dogs_Canis_famili aris_A_New_Application_of_Ainsworth's_1969_Strange_Situation_Test
Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation
M.D.S. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Waters, S.Wall https://mindsplain.com/wp content/uploads/2021/01/Ainsworth-Patterns-of-Attachment.pdf
Bowlby, J (1969) Attachment and Loss: Vol.1 Attachment. London: Hogarth Press https://pep-web.org/browse/document/IPL.079.0000A?page=PR0006
Choice
Choice, control and animal welfare: definitions and essential inquiries to advance animal welfare science
Maisy D Englund, Katherine A Cronin (2023)
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1250251/full Born to choose: the origins and value of the need to control
Lauren A Leotti et Lal (2010)
https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/abstract/S1364-6613(10)00185-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1364661310 001853%3Fshowall=true
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