Ep 2. Practical tips for sensitive dogs with Sarah Jones of My Anxious Dog and the #DogsInYellow day.

  📍 Welcome to the Yappy Hour, powered by Yappily, the podcast for dog lovers, dog parents, and anyone who wants to deepen their connection with their four legged friends. I’m your host, Nathan Dunleavy, and I’m so excited to bring you our second episode. In this episode, we’re joined by Sarah Jones, the inspiring founder of Sarah is a multi award winning advocate for Anxious Dogs and the creator of the hashtag Dogs in Yellow Awareness Day.

We had a heartfelt conversation about what it’s really like to own an anxious dog, the challenges, the joys and the emotional journey that comes with it. Whether you have an anxious dog or just want to learn how to support those who do, you won’t want to miss this episode. So grab a cup of tea, settle in, and let’s get started.

Welcome to the second episode of the Yappy Hour podcast powered by Yappily. I’m your host Nathan Dunleavy and I’m so excited to have you with me for what’s going to be another brilliant conversation. Today’s episode is particularly special because we’re talking about something that so many dog owners can’t Can relate to the emotional journey of owning an anxious dog.

Joining me is someone who has made a huge impact in this area, area. Sarah Jones, the founder of My Anxious Dog. Sarah, welcome to the Yappy Hour. Thank you so much for being here today. You’re my second guest on the show, so no pressure. But how are you doing today?

Yeah, I’m good, thank you. A little bit chilly today because I’ve been sitting in a cold field with Bella for two hours, but

Oh, wow. Oh, were you doing some, you were doing some man trailing this morning.

hunting,

Trial hunting.

hunting now, so that’s a new smell. So yeah, we, we’ve done all sorts now and that’s the

How,

to, to

how exciting. So our listeners, we will be having someone on to talk about that in the future. There’s a little reveal for you. So that’s great. So at least you’re in the warm now. So welcome to the show. Could you first tell me a little bit about yourself and your background, please?

Yes. So I’m new to the dog world. fairly new anyway. So my name’s Sarah. I’m 58 from Berkshire. Sounds like I’m on a dating agency or something.

It’s not blind date.

And my background is sales and I used to be a managing director in sales for an electronics company. That’s me. That’s what I used to do and the reason I came into the dog world was because back in 2012, got a gorgeous looking little puppy called Bella who’s she’s a Cocker Spaniel.

Lovely.

So yeah, so that’s how I never knew I was gonna put my toe into the dog world, but that, that’s a bit of my background.

So yeah, I’m not a

Oh,

or a dog walker or a groomer or a behaviourist or any of those things.

Wow. What a, what a complete contrast from what you were doing. So for those that may not know, could you tell us a little bit about my anxious dog and what inspired you to start it?

Yes. So my anxious dog is all around my anxious dog, Bella. And it’s funny because a memory came up on my Facebook a couple of days ago.

I saw that

And it was 11 years ago and I was asking if anybody knew a company or where I could get something for my dog that said, do not touch me.

Yes.

and that was the start of my journey because literally I, I needed something. And what happened was. got Bella back in 2012. She was eight months old. And when I went to pick her up, the, I didn’t get to see her mum. I was told that they’d been separated. and Bella had had a traumatic birth. Her mum had to have an emergency cesarean. one

Oh gosh.

had died. So she’d come into the world in tears. in trauma. So that’s the start of her journey.

Gosh.

was about five or six weeks old and she got bitten by one of the litter mates, probably playing.

Oh.

obviously hurt because when I got to her a couple of weeks later, she still had a mark on her back.

So

Oh, my goodness.

Puppy, so to speak.

my gosh.

socialization And there was, you know, four or five puppies, but she wasn’t really interested. She just sat under my chair watching all this chaos going, going on in front of her. And, and then, you know, I didn’t know anything about anxious dogs.

So, she went to training and she was really good. She was really obedient. She learned really quickly, but she would completely fixate on me.

Mm.

I thought, oh, it’s because I’m a wonderful mother to her. just loves me

Of course.

But it wasn’t, it was because I’ve learned it’s because she didn’t want to engage or have anything to do with the rest of the room.

Oh,

would

okay.

fixate on me as if there’s nothing going on here, you know. And then she got, got to a point with the training where she wasn’t happy. We went up to an advanced class and she wasn’t happy just being, if I told her to wait and leave in the room, she wouldn’t just sit there, you know, really still.

So

Mm.

I just thought this, what am I doing this for now? She’s not enjoying it. So, and it just

Why?

problem after problem, she got attacked and hurt and yeah. And I

Oh my

that.

goodness.

signs and yeah, I had a problem.

Oh, wow. Okay. Gosh, what a what a story and what a rough start for little Bella. Bless her. She’s had a few things to contend with there. I love that you’ve created dogs in yellow or hashtag dogs in yellow and we’re going to be going into that in a lot more detail. But what sparked the idea for a, and a national, a national awareness day?

day and how has it grown since you started?

think it came from, it stemmed from using the yellow. I, it was like a wow moment for me when someone told me about the yellow, it was a wow moment. And then like, even today when I got out the car, someone said to me, Oh, I’ve got a really reactive dog. And I looked at her and said, so have I. And that’s why she’s wearing yellow. And she said, Oh, but

Oh, okay.

And I was

We all used it, everybody would know. And it sort of, it comes from that. So didn’t want to give up with it. I found it was such a confidence thing for me. So I started off by doing poo bin stickers and wheelie bin stickers and car stickers and posters to the point it was like, right, this is going to be. I need something big as well, and the dog’s in yellow. Yeah, I, I pitched for the, for the Awareness Day

yeah.

and it got approved.

Oh, okay. So who do you have to pitch it to then?

It’s, it’s been so long, I

Oh,

can’t remember, but I’m sure

No.

got a podcast for that. I can’t

Yeah, I just, I just wondered, I just didn’t know how you, how you sort of like, created these aware days and when you said like, you pitched it, I wondered who had to sign it off or something, but,

it’s an official thing. You have to go to a

Oh, okay.

can’t remember who they are. But

No, that’s fine. But I just didn’t know that you had to, like you say, you had to officially

yeah,

to a company and get it approved. So brilliant. So that’s on March the 20th, isn’t it?

it’s

Yes, I got it right. So you’re in your fourth year. So we’re going to be talking a little bit more about the Awareness Day as we go through.

This episode, so March the 20th mark your diaries. Okay, so we’re going to be moving on to owning an anxious dog and the emotional journey that’s involved with that.

coming up.

What would you say are some of the biggest emotional challenges you’ve seen as you’ve seen anxious dog owners face?

a failure, embarrassed

Oh,

side of it. Yeah.

yeah.

get judged. Yeah.

gosh, right.

really, really hard. When, first started reacting. It was a buildup because I have, I have never worked with dogs before or anything like that. Never had an anxious one. I would, I had the opposite, you know, I would let my dog off in the park and eventually

Oh, okay. Okay.

back to me, you know, that, but that was quite a long time ago. But when they first start showing the signs, if you don’t see it, Bella then got on to growling and lunging because she had got a tat when she was young. She was, was all bruised down one side. Obviously I didn’t know that. So when people touched her, she just, it caused pain. So she never forgot that.

So she was really funny about strangers putting the hand down and it got to

Yeah.

where she actually started growling and snapping.

Gosh. Yes.

so

So the trauma sticks.

Yes, so when someone does that and your dog responds with that, you can imagine fear you have yourself, the panic

Yeah.

And then people just your dog’s being aggressive, it shouldn’t be out, it should be put to

Oh God. Oh God.

Yeah,

my goodness. I didn’t realize people were saying that as well. Oh God.

You can, it can be really, really hard, really hard.

Really hard. Gosh. I’m sorry there. You know, you’ve had some of those comments. So as someone who’s been through it yourself, how do you manage or how did you manage those feelings of guilt or frustration that can come with caring for an anxious dog?

I think you have to at some point and think, no, it’s okay. This is, it’s a bit like with humans. I am what I am and

Yes.

I’m, I’m going to go with it. And it’s the same with your dog, with Bella. It was like her, personality. That’s what, you know, the way she is. And I think even the dogs that you see out that are having a wonderful time and doing all the lovely things. you want to do or your dog to do, there’s probably other issues going on somewhere else, you know, with all the people that I talk to at the dog shows and everything. If it’s not one

Yeah.

else, you know? So

Yeah. Oh, okay. So there’s often judgment from others like you’ve just explained there when your dog doesn’t sort of behave perfectly in public. How do you think owners can deal with these situations and stay confident in their journeys?

I always say to people, who’s the most important person when a situation or someone’s looking at you, do you love your dog? Or do you love what that person is thinking over there that you possibly will never see again? You know, let’s get it. know, your dog is the most important thing to you. don’t worry about what someone is saying or thinking.

It’s hard, really hard. Sometimes you just got to take a deep breath and focus back on your dog and not worry about what the other people are saying to you, or, It’s really important as well not to turn into a reactive dog owner.

Absolutely.

Because

Okay.

happen too. You know, I’ve had Bella telling another dog off and there’s me going as well.

And there’s the two of us all like barking. So, I’ve, I’ve, I’ve managed to stop that and think, you know, that’s wrong. I need to, learn to deal with that. Because it, it is hard. You know, you get stuck in for yourself as well as, you know, for your dog as well.

Yeah, you’re fighting like you’re fighting for your dog. You’re being your dog superhero. You want to stick up for them. But then you want to, like you say, stick up for yourself. And it’s a bit of a vicious circle, isn’t it? So but it is hard and I like how you said with the previous question where you just, I am what I am.

It is what it is. You know, you take it or leave it at the end of the day, don’t you? So,

You do it

Yeah,

I don’t see why

you do.

dogs.

And we’re not always going to be everyone’s cup of tea. So,

I know, I know, it is, it is really hard, but I just think there’s so many different personalities

there it is.

and there’s so many personalities with dogs, but also, having experienced trauma myself, now understand as well what trauma can feel like So what does it feel like in dogs? You know, some of these dogs as well that wear yellow, had the most horrendous stuff happen to them in life.

It’s not, you know, Bella, she’s had a few issues, but nothing horrific. And some of the stories I’ve heard and been told can make you cry and you just the whole point of my dog’s in yellow day as well was to other people to just to stop and think as well about what that owner is trying to do for that dog and what possible

That dog’s been through.

So, know, it’s it works both both ways.

It does. Brilliant. Thank you. What’s the one thing you wish every anxious dog owner knew about their own emotional well being?

They’re a superhero.

They’re a superhero. Yeah.

they are, it’s hard, you know, it’s not just a case of butterflies and and things like that going on, it can be really tough, really, really tough to step foot outside the front door, And yeah, I think they’re amazing people that, you know, you, you come across and, you know, going out for a dog walk is meant to be a lovely, a lovely experience. And sometimes

is. It is. It is. It is.

be quite stressful as well. So

Yeah, stressful for you, the owners and obviously the dog as well. I mean, you don’t want to be putting yourself through that, let alone your dog. So yeah, I absolutely love that, that they’re a superhero. So always remember that.

yeah. Yeah.

brilliant. So moving on to obviously the dogs in yellow campaign. So could you just tell us the story behind like the yellow gear for anxious dogs and why it’s such a powerful symbol.

So there’s obviously lots of different gear you, you’ve got now. So, did it just start off like with a lead or how did it all come about?

Well, the yellow started when I’ve traced it back, it came from a dog trainer called Terry Ryan in Australia back in the year 2000. And the idea of it is yellow is the official warning color for caution.

Right. Okay.

the ribbon idea came from the horse world. So if you had a kicking horse, people would tie a red ribbon onto the horse’s tail to warn people that it

Oh,

kicker.

okay.

So

never knew that.

Yeah, so all of that came from from that idea. That’s where the yellow ribbon came from. And then obviously a yellow ribbon on a dog like Bella just a you can’t see it from a distance and be sometimes it can make a dog look cute, so they want to touch them even more.

Oh god, yes, you’re almost drawing people in and bringing that attention in, which is the opposite of what you want, isn’t

absolutely. So so it stemmed to having yellow products, yellow leads, yellow lead slips and coats and things like that. So 11 years ago I had the issue of trying to find something like do not touch, cause it was more important than I need space or nervous. I wanted something very clear. That’s how it started.

So then I I had some samples made up and things like that with the, where I had a keep away lead, keep away harness, and I do not touch. One as well. Lead. And it just

it?

out there weren’t very good as well.

So I wanted something Bella that I would want to use every day.

Difficult enough putting on your yellow cape. So you wanted a good yellow cape to put on. So yeah, I had issues with it fading or ripping or so, and it just stemmed a product for her that I’d want to use.

So now we’ve gone from collars and harnesses to jumpers and coats and

It’s evolved. There’s, I mean, I, I believe there’s stuff for humans as well now, like you say, coats and jumpers.

Yep. Yep. Yep. There’s everything.

you could kit out your wardrobe with some, some yellow gear.

Yeah. So even written on the back of my camper van.

Oh, right. Okay. So is that like a sticker or something?

no. So last year I done 8, 000 miles traveling the UK doing the dog shows with our yellow space

Yes.

but on the back of

Right.

van in bright yellow, it just says hashtag dogs in yellow needs space. everybody that sat behind me on the motorway or,

Oh, wow.

seen it. So

That’s a big audience to get. Yeah. I absolutely love that. Brilliant. So have you got a rewarding moment or story that you’ve heard about in, in regards to dogs and yellow and how it’s helped an anxious dog and their owner?

I’ve got lots of stories.

Yeah, I bet you have.

yeah, I get lots of messages on socials and posts. And some of them make me cry as well.

Oh, oh bless.

I just know how rewarding it is because I use it and believe in it myself. I know how it makes, how it’s

sucks.

my

Exactly. You’ve got that first hand experience.

Yeah, absolutely. And it, and it’s the acceptance of, of using it as well. When people say to me about the products or how things help or because it’s not, you know, there’s a whole package as well. So obviously the training, you know, seeing a behaviourist and things like that, I found that after I’d done that journey with Bella and found out all the things that I could do for her when I was out in public. In public, I still, she still didn’t have a voice and that’s obviously where the yellow came in. But yeah, it. There’s a, there’s a whole thing to it.

pretty. Now it must be so rewarding for you just to get those stories as well. Obviously, like you say, you, you know, how it is firsthand, but to hear like the messages from other owners on social media you know, that must, that must make it all worthwhile for you even more.

It does. It really, really does. And, and it’s funny because even when we go to the dog shows and you, you, you meet people face to face, they all say the same thing. When the dogs are at home. You know, my dog at home is lovely. Everybody has to tell you how wonderful their dog is. And because

It

safe space, you know.

And that’s how we

is,

we feel that everyone’s judging our dog on how they’re acting of the home. But they are all lovely dogs.

exactly. They just need that little bit of extra support and space, as you say. Brilliant. So how can dog owners and the wider community get involved in supporting dogs in yellow?

Well, obviously sharing their stories when they use their yellow. take a photo, put it on your socials. I mean, I always think people must be getting so fed up with seeing Bella on socials or on my Facebook, but just never stop talking about it. Be proud to use it and explain your story as well. I’m trying at the moment, I’m doing some work with a dog training school to

Oh, wow.

Talk about the yellow more to trainers as well, so that we can get. You know, I see a lot of classes on social media and things like that for reactive and anxious dogs, but you hardly see any yellow. So it’s trying to get the trainers and the behaviourists to use in the yellow and getting involved in the campaign, then to

Another way we’re trying to get get the message out, out as well.

Yeah, sure.

sharing it and talking about it and getting involved.

Yeah, they’ve got a big audience, haven’t they? Trainers and behaviourists. So it’s just about getting out in front of those different people and just raising awareness and educating new puppy owners, for example, like in puppy classes and stuff that’s a good shout.

yeah, I have I’ve spoken to a few of the trainers and people like this morning I went to trail hunt and it was my first. First one that we’ve done and the conversation straight away was talking about, got two dogs in yellow here explaining what that meant and interactions.

wow.

Yeah. And I, I trained with Wonder. I’ve been training with Wonder Marts and they were talking about, you know, they, they encourage people with anxious and reactive dogs to come. They have cer, you know, they don’t have big classes, but they,

that’s good.

They both have anxious and reactive dogs as well, the trainers.

So it’s okay.

Yeah.

like. And it’s really, really good to feel like you’re in, you can be included. I might sit on the end,

Yeah.

but you can still have a distant chat, you know, it’s, it’s just, it’s so lovely for things like that to happen as well, rather than seeing posts where dogs and things like that, you know, almost feel, you always feel like you’re being excluded.

Yeah. Yeah. I, I must’ve, I’ve seen some where they’ve said, Oh if you’ve got a reactive, not to come and

Yeah.

that, and that instantly makes you feel excluded, isn’t

Yeah, absolutely.

a nice feeling.

come and try?

Exactly. Yeah. Brilliant. Oh, I’m so glad that you’re enjoying that. So we’re going to move on to some practical advice for owners of anxious dogs now.

So what would be one small, but impactful change owners can make to better support their anxious dog?

I would, it’s quite hard with one thing. I definitely, definitely, if you’ve got a dog that needs

can have as many things.

is use some yellow, you know, use a little bit of, because it, it makes it fair as well for the other people. You know, if you don’t want a dog running up, I know there’s lead etiquette, but at least show that you’ve got an anxious or a There’s so many words for anxious, reactive, nervous, fizzy, sensitive, you know, at least show a little bit, help, help people.

So you can at least say, no, I’ve had people say to me, I’m sorry, I just didn’t know, notice a yellow, but now I see it. You know, I’ll remember it or I’ll explain what the yellow means if it’s an older person, start with some yellow at least. And then if you’re anything like me, you go from a little bit of yellow to now Bella’s covered in yellow.

A whole wardrobe is yellow because I love it so much.

It’s, I mean, yellow is a lovely vibrant and bright color, isn’t it? So, you know,

people use, it’s not a color that people use really. I mean most of the colors for the normal dog owners that I would say, they would, they use red or purple or blue or black, you know, it’s not, very rarely see someone using yellow unless they’ve got a, a dog that needs, needs space. So

yeah, sure.

that’s a good start and it gives, It gave me a little bit of confidence as well. So I think it brings your levels down because you are visually showing, you know, you don’t have to start shouting across, you know, to put your hand up and all this business that some people do. I have yellow on, and if I’m walking somewhere, I now, and an awfully over because it still happens.

You know, it’s not a miracle

Okay.

running sort of game. And then I try and run, encourage the dog from their owner. So then the other owner of the other dog goes, Oh my you know? And it’s like, well, you know, work on recall.

Yeah, yeah. It is, half the battle is like, it’s other owners, isn’t it? Rather than the dogs. Oh, it’s okay, my dog’s friendly or

Yeah, it’s okay. My dog’s friendly means I’ve got no recall on my dog. It, you know, it shouldn’t be off lead and it’s just charging around doing what it wants. It’s understandable, you know, if you haven’t had an anxious and reactive dog before, sometimes you’re oblivious, you know, I, I, and again, that’s part of the campaign is trying to show people we want, but it’s

yeah. I think if I had a pound for every time I heard someone say, it’s okay, my dog’s friendly. My dog’s friendly. I’d be a millionaire because there’s many reasons why the dog’s on lead for a reason, or, you know, it’s, it’s anxious, it’s elderly, it’s, it’s just had surgery, but you know, it is a lot around the other dog, you know, it’s probably not got great week or training.

But I kind of like where you, where you sort of say, Oh, just run the other way and make, make a game out of it.

standing in one place panicking doesn’t work. It just doesn’t

Doesn’t work.

So I change direction and walk away or do a detour and sometimes if I can see a dog running over I don’t, I turn around and then I try and do a play game with Bella. I don’t just run away type thing. But I just try and get her to trot, you know, and just make it something fun and what we’re going to do and what’s over there and That type of thing.

Then she can’t see it well, but it just,

Yeah,

know, we’re just, rather than standing there and shouting and waving your arms, because then Bella’s going to go, what the hell is going on? You know,

yeah, and it,

shouting, so

it might,

up.

I better start shouting then you’ve got a shout off and then the dog that’s off lead like thinking, Oh, this looks fun. I’ll hang out here.

Yeah, exactly. So,

Defeats the object of what you’re trying to do, trying to shoo him away. And obviously I, I liked, well, we’re trying to get away from this term reactive now because there’s, there’s a lot of reasons why a dog could be reactive and it doesn’t necessarily always mean that they’re aggressive.

But I’m kind of liking the, the change in words. So we’re using sort of like the word sensitive instead, instead. So,

yeah.

know, the dog sensitive or,

But,

fearful

think people use spicy, but we’re all reactive. We all

spicy.

you know. If someone took my dinner away, I’d go, Oi! Say, you know.

So would I. I don’t know about that.

if somebody woke me up in the middle of the night when I’m sleeping, again, I’d be going, shouting or, what the hell are you doing to me? And it’s, to me, it’s just, their voice and it’s us that doesn’t understand some, you know, what the dog’s Trying to say to us, it’s just saying the same things as, you know, if someone ran up at me in a park and tried to play with me,

Silence.

know, some of us have different personalities and want to do certain things the same as our dogs do.

Yeah, I once heard someone say when a dog was off lead or whatever, Oh, my dog’s got fleas or something like that, or got a disease. And that soon sort of made the other dog owner get their dog on lead quite, quite sharpish.

Oh, it’s, it’s crazy.

She’s, she’s really scared of other dogs because she’s been attacked. And most people will

yeah.

you know, but

Oh,

to explain, but we feel we do because we don’t want them

yeah.

our dogs. That’s the, that’s the trouble, trouble

Yeah.

but it’s

And then that goes back to, Yeah, that goes back to advocating for your dog and being your dog’s superhero. I must admit, I did like the word spicy. I’ve not heard that one before. So yeah, my dog’s a bit spicy. I often say, I often say my dog’s special. My dog’s special, so, well, they’re all special, aren’t they?

They are

So how can owners learn to advocate for their dog’s needs, especially in those public spaces where people might not understand?

Again, it’s just be, you know, feeling the love for your dog and accepting. What your dog is and how they feel as well, I think is really, really an important thing to do. It’s like trying to change. Your husband, your partner’s personality, you know, there might be something that you don’t quite like halfway through and then in a relationship, and then you want to change something, it’s, you have to accept you’ve got, don’t you?

And, and, and work with it and try and help them and make them feel safe, you know, the best way you can, and people that have, These anxious and sensitive and spicy dogs, you know, they’re amazing people. And I think the whole package of, you know, going to a trainer or a behaviourist to learn like I did of the communication signs that dogs give. And then there’s lots of other things that you can do as well. I mean, were talking to Andy hell last week and Bella’s been using now for the last six months with the car. You know, she has a calming spray sprayed on a harness. Cause you’ve

Oh yes, yeah,

calming spray powered by pet remedy, which I’m very proud

yes, you have, and I use their products as well,

and I’ve seen a change in Bella over the last six months, all these little things. So we’ve got the, the calming spray. I’ve used the calming drinks. Poured, do a calming drink. It’s again, all natural things. And all of these little things, have really helped her in the last six months, even, you know, having

oh wow,

looked at and having bone broth, then, because that’s all the thing, you know, like humans, it’s now looked at in dogs and their behaviour and their wellbeing, know, so there’s a whole

yeah.

of stuff that goes with it. These dogs nowadays vehicle dogs.

Yeah, definitely. I love the pet remedy stuff. I’ve got their plugin. We use their plugin, but we also use a bandana and have some of the spray on the bandana for a couple of my dogs. So yeah, brilliant. What would be your advice to owners on recognizing and celebrating progress, even if it’s small feels small.

So just those small wins, what would be your advice on recognizing, celebrating and that?

You’re doing so much for that dog, making it feel safe, you know? So do focus on the little things that go well and not the, you know, the, the, something else that happened, you know, 80 percent of that walk could have been good and 20 percent of it could have been quite stressful. But, know, just make sure that you focus on, the good stuff and the positive stuff.

It’s like today, you know, doing the trail hunt, Bella was, amazing. You know, she was so good. We sat on the end. We had lots of squeezy cheese in the squeezy rewards for distraction work. Yeah. And it, and, and you came away, I came away really proud of her. but

Oh,

yeah. Just,

that’s nice.

focus on on the little things cause you’ve done them.

You’ve, you’ve helped those little things happen. So

Yeah. And you mentioned the squeezy cheese. So you’ve also got these little yellow dispensers now, haven’t you? That you can put cheese in and squeezy

so this

cheese.

distraction work is, is really important as well, so finding a class that will you and your dog’s happy with and you, and you gel with the, the trainer doing the classes. I found with Bella, she really liked, you know, obviously licking is very calm, calming for

does. Yeah. It helps. Yeah.

know, going around with the Primula squeezy cheese in your pocket and unscrewing it and all this thing is quite, quite hard work.

If you also have a dog that you want to keep close to you. So yeah, we have these squeezy rewards. They clip onto your, I have a walking belt when I’m doing classes

Yeah.

Like a little pouch from a frankfurter sausages it just clips on there but it’s on a reel so you can extend it so it’s always there.

Okay.

and it just means when somebody else is doing something or it’s or someone’s close by, you know, she can focus on the squeezy cheese because she loves squeezy cheese.

Brilliant. Yeah. Oh, I love a bit of squeezy cheese. No, that’s brilliant. I’m, I’m really pleased. And yes, the licking does help bring their arousal levels down helps promote calmness.

Yeah.

and, and it’s really good for their brain and mental stimulation as well. So she’s getting that as well as, so I think that’s great.

Brilliant. Okay. So I know you said you get sick. I’ve sent loads of stories and stuff, but do you have a personal story that reminds you of why this work is so important for both you and the wider community?

I suppose the personal story is about the best way for me to give an example is Bella. I would say probably now over the last, I’ve been probably doing this after Matt had an accident. So in 2019, so I’ve been doing it full on since then. And

Okay.

if I walk past 10 people, whether it’s in the woods, or on the road, or wherever I am, and I don’t necessarily go through a park, but Six, seven of those 10 people will put their dog back on a lead. And that’s huge. You know, it makes

That is huge.

one when people say it doesn’t work, but even if one or two people do it, that’s better than the 10, you know? So it w it’s taking that level, that stacking, you know, the bucket of water filling up. And I do

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, I’m really, really

Yeah.

saying that.

That’s good. Brilliant. Thank you. I mean, I’m a big believer in one is better than none. So if you’re getting six or seven out of the ten,

Yeah.

you know, great. You know, we’ll get there to the point where it’s everyone soon enough. So by spreading this message.

done a little bit of awareness in their own area, because that’s what I’ve done. I’ve done it more than in my area now, my own area. But, you know, we sell poo bin stickers, wheelie bin stickers, car stickers. We do packs that people can take to their vets or the pet shop.

You know, there’s so much that you can do just to put.

Yeah,

done a little bit themselves, it would be. nine out of 10.

yeah. And we mentioned the pet remedy products. Is the spray in conjunction with pet remedy or is it a different spray? It is, isn’t it?

it’s still, it’s powered by pet remedy. So it’s, it’s

Ah, powered by pet remedy.

Yeah. So it’s a calming spray, but it’s, it’s obviously got Bella on it and dogs in yellow.

Yeah, that’s

So yeah.

That’s good. And going back to the point you said earlier about, oh, people probably getting fed up of seeing pictures of Bella. I don’t think we could ever get fed up of cute dog pictures or cute pictures of Bella. So, you know, I say the more the merrier.

Thank you.

So Sarah, if you could give one piece of reassurance to an anxious dog owner who feels like they’re struggling, what would it be?

If they’re struggling by being judged, don’t take any notice of anybody else. You know, I suppose that covers lots of issues, doesn’t it, in the world? Just don’t worry about what other people think about your dog, you, you know, whether you’ve got pink hair or blue hair, it’s just, got that bond with your dog.

yellow hair.

Or

You could have yellow hair.

yeah, don’t give me ideas. It’s, it, it’s, it’s have, you know, have faith in, in you, you know. If they

Hmm.

you know, if they’re struggling and somebody’s judging you, just walk away from that person, you know. They’re not important in your life, so just concentrate on your dog.

Yeah. Let, like you say, let it go. And in the,

Best

words of frozen,

Yeah, let it go.

let it go, start busting out in the frozen theme tune. No, that’s brilliant. And yeah, just, just don’t, don’t worry about anyone else. Just be, you know, focused on your, your dog.

They bring, they bring, if someone said, would you, could you, would you change Bella into that, know, dog that wants to be petted and wants to go and play with all the other dogs? Would you change her? I wouldn’t now. No, she’s just shown

No.

a whole different way of thinking and thought, and she’s brought so much, obviously, into my life. With these issues. And so many, I’ve met so many amazing people as well. So because of it. So

You wouldn’t want to change, you wouldn’t want to change it now because that’s just who she is.

yeah,

You know,

Yeah.

you know,

all different.

we are all different and why should we, you know, why should we change it? It would be boring if everyone was the same, you

Yeah. We don’t want to conform. Nor do my dogs.

and like. And like you say you’ve you’ve met loads of different people through this whole journey. You know, being, going from where you were and what you used to do and now, you know, working with obviously different dog professionals. And you’ve won some awards as well, haven’t you, Sarah?

Haven’t you? Could you tell me a little bit about a couple of your awards?

Yes. I won pet Quip Award. I won a silver marketing, trade marketing campaign for dogs in yellow. And I was against fros, so that was

Oh yes,

won

the ice cream.

So that the ice cream, so that’s a huge company. So for. little old me to come and get a silver. I was, you know, that was really amazing.

Amazing.

and

Yeah.

been a finalist in the PIF awards as well, you know, and that’s again,

Yeah, so that’s

category.

the Pet, pet Industry Federation, isn’t it? Yeah.

Yeah. so yeah, I’ve had a few, few awards, which is lovely, you

No,

to be appreciated, but it’s, it’s just, but they help with the awareness for, you know, it’s not, not about me. And it’s about getting that message out for, you know, what a dog in yellow means.

So that’s,

yeah. I mean, it’s nice to have the rec recognition, but like you say, it’s all about raising the awareness, isn’t it? And just how can you reach more people,

Yes. Yeah,

you know? It is, it’s not necessary dog owners. It’s the, it is everyone, isn’t it? Because if you’ve not got a dog and you are out, like you’re just walking down the park and you see a dog in yellow, if you’re not a dog owner, you may not know.

what that means. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it comes back to education, just everyone, isn’t it really?

And it’s been a real opportunity as well to be able to do the yellow space zones that the like at dog fest, we’re going to good

Yes.

year. And, and that has been a huge. Campaign for helping with it as well, because it’s, it’s strange. Cause people say, Oh, you shouldn’t encourage, you know, anxious dogs to go to places like that.

And I, and I, my answer to them is I’m not, I’m not encouraging people to come for a full day, they come, you know, I’ve been going to dog shows now for eight to 10 years and

Yeah.

they are brought to shows, unfortunately. And you know, you, you, you. You see them shutting down and struggling and and I had

Well,

a show not last year, the year before to go and see Ali from Be Kind Rescue.

Yes.

and it was a village show, I thought. And when I got there, it’s quite a big show. And obviously Bella was muzzled cause there’s children there and also covered in yellow. But when we went to get something to eat and a drink, It was just too busy. There was nowhere to go. so we ended up going behind the vans, and sitting down eating there, trying to find a little bit of quiet space so that we could relaxed to eat ourselves, you know, let alone Bella. And this is where

Yeah.

for that came, because I just thought wasn’t, there wasn’t a safe space for us that we could sit. Bella. and then I just thought, well, let’s see. My first shows I was doing was all about dog shows. My first one was in Newbury and I pitched the idea to them and they loved it.

And then it’s just snowballed from there. And it’s amazing the, the,

I think it’s a great idea. Such a great concept.

The amount of pictures that we took in the summer where people would come, you know, we’ve got pictures of muzzles on the little haystacks on the hay bale, sorry, where they’ve come in and been able to take the muzzles off and let their dogs have a, you know, mooch around or, you know,

Yeah.

sniffing and playing with the toys that we’ve got in there. been huge that has, and also helped with the awareness.

And I’ve going back to your point where someone said that you shouldn’t take a reactive dog there, but why shouldn’t a reactive dog be allowed to go to a show and not be able to enjoy,

Yeah.

know, some of that.

Bella. go. what I’ve been talking to some of the events is a lot of them are two days. They do a Saturday and a Sunday. Most people have gone on before the last hour. So we’re trying to, we, the first event we’ve done it for was the yellow hour. the last hour of the Saturday, it meant that dogs in yellow or any dogs that wanted some quiet time could come for that last hour because it was quite empty. And that’s worked quite well. Some, some of them can, but some of them come when they really shouldn’t come at all. You know, I’ve, seen dogs that are just all over the place and completely shut down

Oh, gosh.

But it’s just hopefully providing a little safe space and making, Some dogs that if they had a little bit of space could come and have a go at things because I remember

Mm.

at some of the shows thinking, Oh, Bella would love that.

I wish she could come or I wish I could do that with Bella, you know? So yeah, that’s been a

Nothing is great. It’s a good.

It’s

Yeah, I think it’s brilliant and

the shows to be able to, like Dogfest or Goodwith, you know, to put what Dogs in Yellow means on their website. It’s been,

that’s huge.

massive for, for

Yeah. I think even as humans, we might want to like a little chill out area to get away from the hustle and bustle of everything.

It’s funny you should say that because quite a few, we put these little pop up camping tents in there as well. And I had one lady, I’m sure she fell asleep in there.

That’s brilliant. It goes to show how nice of an area is. Brilliant. So we’re gonna start sort of wrapping up this episode for the last sort of five or so minutes. So just some some final questions and points, if that’s okay. So where can people find out more about you, Sarah, and my anxious dog.

Well, my website is my anxious dog.co uk and all my socials are the same. My anxious dog. So we’re on Instagram and Facebook as well,

Brilliant. Okay. And just remind us again of the date for the, the dogs in Yellow awareness. day.

20th of March. But it’s always a dogs in Yellow Day

Yes, it’s always a dogs in yellow day, but the actual awareness day we’ve got is coming up in the next couple of months, isn’t it? It’s the fourth one this year and that’s on the 20th of March. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that’s all about

Perfect.

if you own an anxious dog, you know, get pictures up, talk about your dog on social media, you know? That type of thing. So,

Brilliant.

there.

Yeah. So go and check out obviously Sarah’s website and all our different social media channels. So a couple of questions then to end finally, Sarah, if dogs could give us one piece of advice, what do you think they’d say?

You doing alright? You know, you’re my safe world. know you’re doing alright for

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Absolutely love that. If, if only they could talk. Okay.

Yeah.

so yeah, I love that. You’re doing all right. You’re doing a good job.

doing a good job.

Thumbs up. And that’s all we can do, isn’t it?

Yeah. Yeah.

cool. So we’ve got various different guests lined up for the yuppie hour, but if there was one person or a couple of people you think we should invite on to the podcast as a guest, do you have any suggestions at all?

A very special lady that helps me in the yellow space zone. Nikki French. So she works

I know.

with me a lot and works with a lot of

Yeah.

reactive dogs, and she’s written Stop Walking Your Dog book as well, which is amazing.

Yeah. So Nikki French. Yeah. She was mentioned by Andy on our last episode actually, so I think that’s definitely a sign that I need to invite invite Nikki on

Yeah, she’s lovely. Really,

Brilliant Brilliant. Okay. So for our listeners, we’ve got some cracking guests lined up. We’ve got a renowned separation anxiety expert, a gundog, a spaniel specialist.

We’ve got a couple of vets that are going to be coming on and they’re going to be talking about desensitization to things like obviously going to the vets and how important that is. We’ve got groomers. So we’ve got lots of different guests lined up for the happy hour. Sarah, thank you so much for your time this afternoon.

And just, I just want to say the impact you’re having on the community is absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for joining me on the Yappy Hour. It’s been an absolute pleasure talking with you and learning more about your journey with My Anxious Dog and Bella and the incredible work that you’ve been doing for anxious dogs and their owners.

Your passion and dedication in creating awareness and support for initiatives like the Dogs in Yellow Day are truly inspiring. You not only give anxious dogs a voice, but you also empower so many owners to feel seen, supported and confident in their journeys. Your impact on the dog community is undeniable, and I know that so many listeners, including myself, will all walk away from this conversation feeling both inspired.

for everything you do, and I can’t wait to see the continued growth of My Anxious Dog and all the amazing work that you’ll be doing in the future. Thank you, Sarah.

That’s made me quite emotional, thank you! LAUGHS

Oh, bless you. Thank you so much for joining me today.

You’re very welcome.

 Before I jump into today’s recap, I wanted to give a huge shout out to some of our listeners who took part in the teaser post we shared on social media. We asked you to guess who our first two podcast guests were, based on some fun clues. And we had some brilliant guesses come in. For our very first guest, Andy Howe, congratulations to Tracy Ordesh.

Di Sedi and Rachel Hunter for all getting it spot on. You absolutely nailed it. And for our second guest, Sarah Jones, a big round of applause to Vicky Mann, Louise Hughes and Jessica Bradley for all guessing correctly. Great work all of you. Thank you so much to everyone who took part. It was great fun seeing all your guesses come through and keep your eyes peeled because we’ll definitely be doing more of this in the future.

Now let’s dive into today’s key takeaways. What an incredible conversation with Sarah Jones. Her insights into the emotional side of owning an anxious dog and her work with My Anxious Dog are so inspiring. If you’re caring for an anxious dog or know someone who is, I hope you found this episode as reassuring and eye opening as I did.

Here are some key takeaways from our chat. Number one, owning an anxious dog is an emotional journey and that’s okay. Sarah reminded us that it’s normal to feel guilt, frustration and even isolation, but it’s also a journey of growth, patience and connection. Again, Advocacy is key. The hashtag dogs in yellow campaign is such a simple yet powerful way to communicate your dog’s needs and create awareness in public spaces.

It’s a movement that helps anxious dogs feel safer and more understood. Number three. Small wins matter. Whether it’s a calm walk or your dog relaxing in a new environment, Sarah emphasised celebrating the little victories because they add up to big progress. And number four. Most importantly, don’t forget to take care of yourself.

Supporting an anxious dog can be challenging, but as Sarah said, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Sarah, thank you so much for sharing your story and your invaluable advice. Your work is making such a difference in the lives of anxious dogs and their owners. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review or sharing it with someone that could benefit from Sarah’s wisdom.

And don’t forget to check out my anxious dog and the hashtag dogs in yellow campaign. March the 20th is the big day. Let’s help spread the word. Thank you for listening to the Yappy Hour. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And I’ll see you next time.