Your Dog – March 2026

Summary

Research first published in 2013 shows dogs align their bodies along a north-south axis before toileting — and the March 2026 issue of Your Dog Magazine (£5.99) unpacks magnetoreception with Dr Jacqueline Boyd, alongside Charlotte Wilde's guide to putting your pet on TV and two owners making the pragmatic case for rehoming.

Dr Jacqueline Boyd writes twice this issue: the cover story on magnetoreception explains how cryptochrome 1 in dogs' retinas may let them sense Earth's magnetic field, why wolves patrol defined territories, and how some lost dogs travel hundreds of miles home — before landing the 2013 finding that dogs align north-south to defecate. Her second column asks whether dogs can be autistic or have ADHD, settling on 'canine dysfunctional behaviour' as the honest, supportable label.

The training section is dense with named methods. Toni Shelbourne contributes two Tellington TTouch pieces — a household-object confidence course for rainy days, and a heelwork takedown arguing the traditional left-side position causes the pulling it punishes. A sponsored puppy-school page covers bite inhibition, and holistic vet Vicky Payne uses real cases (a TPLO-repaired gundog, a 'sloppy-sit' diagnosis of hip dysplasia) to show why competition dogs need different veterinary conversations.

Real life fills the middle: Charlotte Wilde's TV-animal agency (Labrador Dickens spent eleven years in ITV's Grantchester), two owners' rehoming stories that argue against stigma, and Pippa the Leicestershire school dog. Crumpet the guide dog puppy faces his first Scottish winter in Perthshire, ten spring walks span Greenwich Park to the Fife coast, and the Italian Greyhound gets a full fact-file profile.

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Content Guide

▸ Cover Story

p.14 · Magnetic attraction

Dr Jacqueline Boyd walks through the science of magnetoreception: the cryptochrome 1 molecule found in dogs' retinas, wolves' scent-plus-magnetism territories, and the stories of lost dogs travelling hundreds of miles home on biological navigation rather than love. She cites 2013 research showing dogs align on a north-south axis before defecating, and notes many lost dogs never make it home. The takeaway for walkers: let your dog take his time choosing a toilet spot, and treat identification tags and recall training as non-negotiable insurance.

▸ Features & Real-Life Stories

p.16 · Lights, camera, action

Animal trainer Charlotte Wilde, who started her agency in 2001 and ran the 2014 show Dogs Might Fly, explains what productions want: dogs confident around noise, lights and crowds, able to go to a mark, sit, stay, 'speak' on command and put their head down on cue. Her Labrador Dickens starred in Grantchester for eleven years. Owner Sandra Hallam's Bernese Mountain Dogs earned billboards and adverts. If your dog suits it, email pictures and details to the agency — but expect pocket money, not a fortune.

p.18 · Home truths

Andrea McHugh tackles rehoming without the guilt framing. Vet nurse Nikki Collins describes four difficult years with Sprite, a Russian Toy who shook and growled until a trial stay with a friend's four female Russian Toys transformed him. Chiropractor Emily Crookes rehomed 12-year-old Border Collie Lex after building work and a new baby left the dog feeling unsafe. Dr Jacqueline Boyd argues trainers should put rehoming on the table earlier. If you are managing a chronically stressed dog, a supervised trial stay elsewhere is a practical first diagnostic step.

p.28 · Back to school

Joanne Bednall reports on Pippa, a one-year-old Golden Retriever now on staff at Whitwick St John the Baptist CE Primary School near Coalville, Leicestershire, trained through the Dog Mentor Programme (running since 2012 in over 600 schools). Headteacher Helen Noon's rollout is a usable template: acclimatise the dog to an empty school during half-term, brief governors and parents — none of 384 objected — and give nervous children a pencil-on-desk signal. A dog-free staff room handled the one allergic teacher.

▸ Training & Behaviour

p.32 · A TTouch of confidence

Toni Shelbourne's indoor confidence course needs no bought kit: broom handles and dowelling to walk over, flowerpots and dining chairs to weave, doormats and duvets as surfaces, hula hoops to step through. Place 'elements' close together, lure with treats set a metre ahead to force slow pauses, then fade food to hand signals. Fifteen minutes tires body and brain, doubles as an agility warm-up, and watching which elements your dog trips over or avoids can flag a physical imbalance worth a vet check.

p.34 · The problem with heelwork

Shelbourne attacks the traditional left-side heel position itself as the cause of pulling, not the dog. Her fixes: relax knees and shoulders, hold the lead thumb-down so a lunge doesn't become a jerk, meet tension then 'melt' the contact so the dog has nothing to pull against, and use wide circles, figures of eight and curb work to make him think about his feet. She names specific kit — the Harmony Leash and TTouch Connector with sliding rings — over fixed double-ended leads. Train both sides so you can keep him away from traffic.

p.36 · Puppy love

A sponsored but solid puppy-school primer on bite inhibition. Core protocol: keep a toy on you at all times, end the game the moment teeth touch skin, stay still rather than snatch your hand away, and turn away with crossed arms if mouthing continues. Swap wrestling for structured fetch, rules-based tug and puzzle toys. Most nipping happens when a puppy is overtired — zoomies, ignored cues and increased biting are your cue for sleep, not punishment. During teething, chilled rubber toys beat old shoes, which only confuse what is chewable.

▸ Health & Canine Science

p.30 · The competition conundrum

Holistic vet Vicky Payne draws on real cases — a Cocker Spaniel rebuilt with TPLO surgery and back to gundog work, an obedience dog whose 'sloppy sits' revealed hip dysplasia, a Rhodesian Ridgeback show dog freed up by a month of acupuncture. Her advice for competitors: tell your vet your ambitions before treatment decisions, treat sudden drops in course times or knocked poles as a medical question first, and remember vision and hearing loss can masquerade as training problems. Racing codes have controlled-drug lists; the Kennel Club treats masking injury as a welfare offence.

p.38 · Health check

A sponsored ear-care guide covering the L-shaped canal, why floppy ears trap moisture while upright ears stay drier, and the warning signs worth a vet visit — coloured discharge, yeasty odour, head tilting, yelping when touched. Practical rules: clean only when the ear looks dirty or your vet advises it, use a vet-approved cleaner with cotton wool or gauze, never cotton buds deep in the canal, and let the head-shake bring debris out. Grass seeds are the hidden hazard: check ears, eyes and paws after walks through long grass.

p.43 · A mental game

Dr Boyd's column asks whether dogs can be autistic or have ADHD and lands on a careful no — veterinary diagnosis is impossible — but 'canine dysfunctional behaviour' (CDB) is a real category covering hyperfocus, hyperactivity, impulsivity and anxiety. Her drain-fixated Cocker Spaniel opens the piece; selectively bred collie intensity closes it as a difference we chose on purpose. The actionable path: compassion first, then a full veterinary check to rule out health causes, then a qualified behaviourist — before assuming a training failure.

▸ Breed Focus

p.40 · A graceful little aristocrat

A full profile of the Italian Greyhound, the 3.6-4.5kg sighthound kept by Charles I, Queen Victoria and President John Tyler — whose dog chewed White House furniture, with the First Lady quietly paying for repairs. The fact file logs 32-38cm height, a 12-15 year lifespan, low moulting and grooming, and moderate exercise. The verdict for buyers: adapts to flats or country, bonds deeply, hates being left alone, needs a winter coat, and fine bones mean no rough play or high jumps in puppyhood — relevant if you have boisterous children.

▸ Days Out & Regulars

p.44 · Did someone say walkies?

Ten spring routes across Britain with honest caveats: Greenwich Park for late-March cherry blossom but expect crowds; Padley Gorge in the Peak District for snowmelt streams and rockier terrain; leads required among Wakehurst's magnolia arches; bluebell-carpeted woodland at Blickling Estate in Norfolk; a 16-mile Fife Coastal Path section from Leuchars to Wormit Bay for experienced hikers (six to seven hours, pack supplies); Castle Howard's four dog-friendly cafés; off-lead space and recall practice in the Chiltern Hills. A ready-made shortlist for an Easter trip.

p.24 · Crumpet takes on winter

The Baker's Dozen litter of 13 Guide Dogs puppies produced Crumpet, Your Dog's sponsored trainee, now in Perthshire with volunteer raiser Jessica Nolan. This month: bus journeys (including a wrong-bus detour treated as nap practice), settle-mat training in cafés and pubs, GP waiting-room socialisation aimed at future hospital corridors, and puddle-walking so he won't stop on wet pavements mid-guide. The monthly series doubles as a masterclass in positive-exposure puppy raising you can copy at home.

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Editor's Take

The rehoming feature is the standout: two named owners describing guilt, relief and dogs who visibly settled elsewhere does more to destigmatise a taboo than a year of charity press releases, and Dr Jacqueline Boyd's trainer-side commentary gives it professional cover. Boyd's science pair — magnetoreception and canine neurodiversity — sits well above the level of most mass-market dog magazines. The weakness is the back half: once the spring-walks feature ends, the issue slides into campsite listings, classifieds and subscription offers, and two of the health pages are sponsor-branded filler. This is an issue for engaged UK owners who train, compete or wonder whether their dog would cope on a film set — not for anyone wanting deep veterinary content.

Strengths
• Rehoming feature pairs named owner testimony with expert commentary, destigmatising a taboo subject
• Dr Jacqueline Boyd's magnetoreception and neurodiversity columns cite real research, not folklore
• Training pages name specific equipment (Harmony Leash, TTouch Connector) rather than vague advice

Weaknesses
• Sponsor-branded puppy and ear-care pages read as filler next to the bylined expert columns
• Back pages collapse into campsite listings, classifieds and subscription promotions

Verdict: Recommended — Expert-led training and science features outweigh an advertorial back half.