“Dogs are pack animals and they take their human protectors as pack leaders.
“If we’re not giving them feedback they panic. They don’t understand why you’re not responding.
“If you’re walking down the street and your dog sees a cat it will look to you for guidance as if to say, ‘Can I..?’
“And because you haven’t given a response, as you’re engrossed in your phone, the dog simply goes ahead and does what it wants.
“It needs reassurance from you to say either ‘yes it’s okay’, or ‘no, stay here’. If you don’t provide that input you’re making it anxious and also asking for behaviour issues in the long term.
“After all, as the saying goes – a dog might be a small part of your world, but you’re their entire world.”
Amber working in her surgery at The Vet in Nottingham.
Annoyed Daisy
It’s not just dogs though, cats and rabbits feel the same too.
My brother John says his rescue cat Bowie hates it when the iPhone comes out. He said: “He sits in a sulk facing the wall if we try to take his photo.
“We have to catch him unaware and he always looks glum on photos.
“If we’re on our phones he’ll go in the hall and scratch away at the carpet and meow until we turn our attention back to him.”
Grumpy Bowie
