You probably don't say it out loud. But there are times when you’re with a dog, and you are second-guessing how to interact with them. “Am I reading this situation right?” “Should I approach the dog or not?” “Is that a whale eye?”
You’ve learned it all - you’ve seen the dog videos, you know the vocabulary: calming signals, distance-creating signals, appeasement signals, displacement behaviours. You can spot them, identify them and know what they mean.
But there’s a part of you that isn't fully confident when you meet an unfamiliar dog. You find yourself constantly analysing everything that the dog is doing, every signal and then going back to the protocols you’ve learnt on how to respond.
Every time you watch a dog, you wonder: What does this mean for what I should do next?
Your interactions with dogs feel like a rehearsal of everything you’ve learnt, rather than a dynamic conversation.
You’ve been taught to watch dogs to judge them, not actually observe them.
Every glance, posture, every flick of the ear gets filtered through a question - what does this mean? What should I do about it? The dog is in front of you and you seem to be watching them, but your attention is already one step ahead, searching for the answer.
You’re building a case, collecting evidence, running it through a mental checklist so you can arrive at the “right” answer before something goes wrong.
And that’s exhausting. For both you and the dog.
The missing piece that has never been taught is how to simply be with a dog, without immediately needing to interpret them.
To watch without an agenda.
To notice without needing to conclude.
To simply let what you’re seeing land, before you decide what it means.
This is a non-judgmental observation - the most active form of attention you can bring to a dog.
Inside The Dog Observation Practice, you learn how to:
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Watching the whole dog, not hunting for signals
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Letting the moment be ‘ambiguous’ without rushing to resolve it
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Noticing your own reaction, maybe the tension in your chest or the urge to step back or reach forward
All of these are part of the conversation you’re having with the dog - not a distraction.
We include free living dogs as teachers in this practice because of who they are. Not shaped by human training or expectation, they move through life entirely on their own terms, as the full agents of their own existence. You cannot fix them or compel them into cooperation with treats or punishment. The only way to build cooperation and collaboration then, is by observations and listening.
When you learn to observe this way, something starts to change:
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The constant analysis quietens leaving you more room to notice and marvel
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You stop performing protocols and actually start responding - to this dog, to this moment and not to a group of behaviours that you’ve been trained to recognise
And this builds your practice - each time, you catch something you missed before. You notice something new in the dog, something new in your own response. And that’s what makes your practice unique and distinct.
Here is what this looked like in a real interaction - What shifted with Rocky
Rocky was a jumpy, nippy street dog I met six years ago. I knew what to do. Read the behaviour, name it, set the boundary, reward what was safe. So I did all of it, and yet, Rocky kept jumping and nipping.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to realise I was diagnosing him instead of listening to him. When I finally slowed down and stayed with Rocky, not to assess him but just to be with him, I heard what he had been saying the whole time. He wanted connection. Deeper touch. He had been asking for it plainly in our interaction, and I had been too busy addressing what I saw to listen to what he was saying.
The moment I responded to what he was actually asking for, he stopped. One second of actually listening, after minutes of not.
Rocky showed me that theory and knowledge falls flat when you have not heard what the dog is saying first. The protocol had not worked because I had not listened. The moment I did, everything shifted.
That learning lives in every interaction with dogs. The way I sit with a dog in the room, the way I describe what I am seeing, the quality of attention I bring. What I learnt from Rocky did not stay with Rocky. It came with me into every dog I have met since.
That is what observation practice makes possible. Better conversations with dogs and deeper understanding about dogs.
What happens inside The Dog Observation Practice
3 months · Maximum 10 participants · Cohort Date - 15th April 2026 - 14th July 2026
Each month holds one overarching question. Everything in the container circles that question from multiple angles — your own field observations, free-living dog footage, group discussion, and written reflection.
Async Community Space
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A shared space active for the full 3 months
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Post field observation clips, reflection notes, and responses to each other's work
Monthly Live Call — 60 to 90 minutes
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Two live calls per month
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Deep dive into the observation experience, reflections, and questions
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Finding our way collectively to the question we started the month with
Free-Living Dog Video Library
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Raw, unnarrated footage from years of field documentation
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Available to all participants regardless of whether they have access to free-living dogs
When you learn how to build your observation practice like this:
1 / You stop relying only on theory reaching for theory and start listening to the dog.
This looks like when a dog does something unexpected, instead of freezing and going back to all your protocols, you take a breath and watch a little longer. You let them finish what they are saying. That pause which felt like inadequacy now feels like your biggest value addition.
2 / Dynamic, unscripted moments interactions stop feeling like a threat.
When a dog doesn’t follow the script or a consultation with a client goes sideways, instead of being filled with dread and panicking, you slow down, be present and improvise.
3 / You practice what you preach with your clients. You begin to work with dogs — not just believe in it.
You model what it means to listen to dogs, you model what it means to actually observe them and listen to what they are saying instead of telling your clients and not doing it yourself.
4 / You stop describing what the dog did and start describing who they are. The dog becomes your primary teacher. You finally see the dog in front of you.
Your conversations with clients about their dogs change - it’s no longer reduced to behaviours but it becomes about the whole dog, their personality, their quirks, their unmet needs.
5 / Your blind spots become visible before they become mistakes.
You learn to watch the same dog from different perspectives. You learn to see what you missed and lean into that information to deepen your skill, your learning, and your own observation practice.
6 / You become a continuous learner
You begin to notice your assumptions, biases, the urge to intervene when you observe. You learn to pause them, be more open, let the full story play out and become a more nuanced practitioner.
The practice of non judgemental observation goes beyond dogs
This practice changes how you move through the world. You become more present in conversations, more patient in relationships, more comfortable sitting with what you don't know. You start paying attention to the physical world again — what is actually in front of you, in nature, in the small moments that pass before you've even registered them. You also become a more discerning consumer of information, about dogs and everything else, asking better questions and no longer taking at face value what is handed to you. Once you've built this capacity with dogs, you start applying it everywhere.
Who is this for?
This is for you if you are a dog professional who regularly works with dogs — a behaviour consultant, shelter worker, vet, paravet, groomer, walker, sitter, or similar — or a deeply curious dog person who has moved well past casual interest and into something that feels more like a calling.
Specifically, this is for you if:
You are drawn to free-living dogs as a serious source of knowledge and are ready to learn from them even if they are not part of your living environment
You have studied calming signals and canine communication but the gap between knowing them on paper and catching them in real time has never closed
You believe in cooperation, negotiation, and genuine feedback between you and the dog — and you want your actual practice to reflect that, not just your values
Your instinct in interactions is still to intervene, manage, and fix — and you want to build the counter-reflex of pausing, observing, and receiving first
You have started to sense that the dog knowledge you were handed is very human centric and you’re ready to actually learn from dogs
You want your practice to be more ethical, more examined, and more honest
However, this is not for you if you are looking to resolve a specific behaviour problem in your own dog, or if you regard free-living dogs as anything less than a valid and serious source of knowledge about dog behaviour and dog lives.
It may also not be the right time for this practice if you are not yet ready to examine and decolonize your understanding of what the dog-human relationship is — who it centres, whose knowledge it treats as valid, and what it has historically left out.
Your Investment
This first cohort is priced at a founding rate. The people who join now are not just participants. They are part of building what this becomes and co-creating this space together. This is the only time it will be offered at this price. The founding price does not reflect the full value of this container. It reflects the fact that this is a pilot — and the people who join at this stage are taking that leap with me.
Founding Cohort Pricing:
₹27,000 for participants in India
Payment plans starting at ₹9,ooo/month
USD 339 for participants outside India
Payment plans starting at USD 113/month
Full Program Value
$429/₹37500
*If price is your only obstacle to signing up, then apply and mention in your application form and we can work something out together.
This practice asks for field work, genuine preparation, and the willingness to have your assumptions examined. The investment is designed to reflect that ask — and to ensure that everyone in the room has made a considered, committed choice to be there.
About Me
My name is Sowjanya...
In my first home consultation, the dog barked at me the entire time, despite following all the protocols. Nothing landed. Not because I was doing it wrong. But because I was so caught up in proving I knew how to fix the situation instead of listening to what the dog was saying.
My confidence took a nose dive. I started pulling back. Stiffening up. Staying a little further back in interactions with dogs than I needed to. Felt too much performance pressure in front of clients.
All of this changed when I started observing free living dogs, more intentionally. There was no pressure to fix anything - I was able to wait, let them communicate fully, see how interactions play out without any need to intervene. That’s when I realised - what I needed wasn’t more knowledge, I needed to practice observing dogs without any agenda.
And that’s what I see as the need for most practitioners who work with dogs
As a certified canine behaviour consultant and applied ethologist, I bring critical animal studies, intersectionality, and the politics of dog-human relationships into The Dog Observation Practice - this is a learning space where dogs show up as teachers, and not subjects.
Before you go
The practitioners who work most honestly with dogs are not the ones who know the most. They are the ones who have learned to be the most present. Who have built the reflex of pausing before interpreting. Who have made the dog — not the protocol — their first point of reference.
This practice builds that. Deliberately. Over three months. With a small group of serious practitioners doing the same work alongside you.
The dog has always had the answer. This is where you learn to go to her and sit with her for it.
Frequently asked questions...
01.
I don't have access to street dogs or free-living dogs. Can I still apply?
Yes. The fieldwork can be done with companion dogs, shelter dogs, dogs in your neighbourhood, or any dog you have regular access to. Free-living dogs are a central part of the program as a source of knowledge, but your observation practice can begin wherever you are. What matters is that you are willing to observe without controlling the interaction. The setting is secondary to that.
02.
I am not a dog professional. Is this for me?
It can be, if you are a deeply curious dog person for whom this has moved beyond casual interest into something more serious. This program is not structured around professional certification or behaviour modification frameworks. It is built around observation, reflexivity, and genuine inquiry. If that is where you are in your relationship with dogs, your background matters less than your readiness.
03.
I am very new to non-judgmental reflexive observation. Is this the right level for me?
If you are new but genuinely motivated, yes. You do not need to have a polished observation practice. This program is designed to build one. What you do need is a real willingness to sit with discomfort, examine your assumptions, and do the fieldwork honestly. Curiosity and commitment matter more here than prior experience.
04.
What does a typical month look like inside the program?
Each month opens with a prompt, a specific direction to take into your field work. The prompt is connected to the larger question we will be sitting with that month, so your observations in the field and the conversations in the group stay in dialogue with each other. There is an ongoing private group where you can share what is coming up between calls. Each month includes two live calls: one where we observe and discuss a video together in real time, and one where we unpack the threads, questions, and observations that have been building through the month, working toward the question that has been holding us. Everything is built around doing the field work and bringing it back to the group.
05.
How much time do I need to commit each week?
Realistically, 2–4 hours a week: field observation, written reflection, and group engagement. The live calls happen twice a month. The fieldwork is cumulative, meaning the more consistently you show up for it, the more you will get out of the container.
06.
Field work feels overwhelming and I don't know where to begin. How do I manage this inside the program?
Field work can feel disorienting in the beginning. This is exactly why the programme includes monthly prompts. The prompts are not assignments but a direction. They give you something specific to bring your attention to when you go out, so the field is not a blank, vast space. You can absolutely make observations outside the prompt, but it is there as an anchor when you need one. The prompts are also connected to the larger question we will be sitting with as a group that month, so your fieldwork and the live discussions stay in conversation with each other.
07.
Is field work compulsory?
Yes. The live calls and group discussions are where we make sense of what we are seeing together but fieldwork is where the actual practice lives. It is what builds your capacity to be present, to stay attentive, to notice your own inner world while something is unfolding in front of you. The discussions without the field work are just ideas. The field work without the discussions can become isolated and hard to process. The two together are what make this a practice. To get the full benefit of the program, both are needed.
08.
Will sessions be recorded?
Live calls will be recorded and shared within the group for those who miss them. However, I would highly encourage you to attend these group calls live to ensure we bring more richness to the discussions.
09.
What is your refund policy?
There are no refunds offered once the payment is made.
10.
I have a question that isn't covered here. How do I reach you?
Write to dogpawmise@gmail.com and I will get back to you personally.