A BEHAVIOURAL dog specialist from South Ayrshire is supporting a global movement to educate the public and dog owners on dogs that need space.

Dale McLelland, who owns ‘Being Canine’ in Kirkoswald, is one of the representatives for The Yellow Dog Project in Scotland, which was set up to educate “appropriate ways” to approach or make contact with a dog with permission of the owner, whether or not a dog is a “yellow dog”.

They also seek to promote the use of yellow ribbons to identify yellow dogs needing extra space – who are not always identified as aggressive, but dogs who have issues with fear, pain from surgery, came from rescue or who have not yet had the sufficient training.

Dale explained: “The Yellow Dog Project is a global project and the idea behind wearing something yellow, is to give a good visual aid to people, to say, ‘please don’t approach my dog’ and I think initially there had been concerns.

“People would think this was only for aggressive dogs – but there are so many different uses.

“I have had clients in the past that have used it because their dog is deaf, or they are recovering from an operation or being their dog is elderly - as well as ones that are genuinely a little bit nervous, that are not normally engaged with people or other dogs.

“It doesn’t always mean that the dog has got a behavioural issue - there can be a medical issue as well. It is trying to get people to understand that their dog might be very friendly and good off the lead and running around but for some dogs – another dog bounding towards them could be the worst thing.

“There are dogs that are nervous of people – they can easily not be comfortable with strangers patting them so having something yellow to say, ‘please give me space’ can really help.

“It’s about saying to people and dog owners, if they see a dog wearing something yellow, to either call their dog back or just to give them a bit of a wider space.

“I see a lot of people around South Ayrshire with their dogs that have a vest that says, ‘I need space’ or a yellow lead – I think that the lead and vest are much easier to see.

“My plea is that dogs on leads are genuinely on the lead for a reason and just be respectful of that, especially so if they are wearing something yellow – you don’t need to know why they wearing yellow – you just need to know to give them space.”

For more information on The Yellow Dog Project, you can visit their website - www.theyellowdogproject.com