Fearful and Anxious Dogs with Zazie Todd, PhD, at Bark! Fest

Learn about how to help fearful and anxious dogs and why Zazie wrote her book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog in this panel from Bark! Fest.

By Zazie Todd, PhD

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Fearful and Anxious Dogs with Zazie Todd, PhD, at Bark! Fest

Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers, celebrated the launch of my book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog. The festival took place in September 2024 with 11 panels featuring writers of many wonderful animal books.

This is the recording of the final panel, Fearful and Anxious Dogs.

You can watch the recording on Youtube or below, listen wherever you get your podcasts or below (Apple, Spotify), or scroll down to read a transcript of the highlights.

Get the books

Bark! is now out in paperback and available wherever books are sold.

All of the books from Bark! Fest are available from good bookstores including my Amazon store and Bookshop (which supports indie bookstores in the US). 

The conversation with Zazie Todd

Zazie Todd is at the forefront of the move towards positive animal welfare and kind, humane dog training methods. Her third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog is a compassionate and practical guide to overcoming your dog’s fears. In this panel from Bark! Fest, you’ll learn how to help your dog feel safe, how your presence can help your dog, and get a new understanding of the training techniques that can make a difference, as she shares tips from Bark!. 

We talked about:

•     How Bark! Fest came about
•     How to counsel people that slow is the new fast when it comes to fearful dogs
•     Decisions about how much of the "why" and "how" to include in the book
•     Why tricks training is included in a book for fearful and anxious dogs
•     How to keep dogs and people safe
•     Whether pandemic puppies really do have more behaviour issues, and how we can use management to help a fearful dog
•     The gorgeous cover of Bark! and how much input authors get into book covers and titles with a traditional publisher
•     Plus Zazie did a reading from the book

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Trick classes from A Matter of Manners Dog Training in Santa Fe
• There's also an episode of The Pawsitive Post with Erica Beckwith about the benefits of tricks training
• The Bark! Fest panel with Patricia McConnell, PhD

This session was hosted by Kristi Benson.

Highlights of the conversation with Zazie Todd

K: So, first up, we're going to be talking about your new book, Bark! and how it can help people with anxious and fearful dogs. And I think that's a constituency of dogs that really needs as much help as we can provide. So I love that there's this book out, but let's start with Bark! Fest. How did this come about?

Z: It came about because I was wanting to do something for my book. I wanted to do an online event for my book. And the thing is that when I started asking, I asked some fellow authors if they would like to take part in a joint event with me, and more people said yes than I expected.

It was amazing. I was really pleased. And also, I asked in an author group that I'm a member of and a couple of places and said, is there anyone who wants to do a joint event? And it doesn't necessarily have to be a nonfiction book. It could be anything about dogs or, in fact, pets.

And after a few people had got back to me, I thought, this is actually worth turning into something big. And so I started approaching a few people to see if they would want to attend.

And I've been thrilled by it, actually. I've really enjoyed all of the conversations with all of our authors. I think they've been amazing, and it's just been fantastic. The audience has been fantastic, and I'm just delighted that so many people agreed to take part. And I think there isn't anything else like this.

So it's been a really special event to do, and I've just enjoyed it from start to finish, and I'm so grateful to everyone who's helped to make it happen.

K: Yeah, it has been. It has been absolutely hilarious and fun and meaningful, but it's also just been a lot. I can't believe you pulled this together. So many authors, so much, so many conversations, so many great questions.

So you asked me to come up with some questions for you about Bark!, which I love doing because I love pulling information out of you about stuff. And I found myself going back and forth between, because this is a literature festival, it's a literary festival, going back and forth between questions about your writing process and your thinking process as you came up with this book, and then also questions about dogs and dog science.

So, first of all, how do you counsel people that slow is the new fast when it comes to helping fear careful dogs?

Z: That's a really important thing because you have to go at the dog's pace. And we're always talking about how you have to go at the dog's pace, but it's really hard for people to get that. And we always want to go faster and what we think will be the dog's pace, which is often an absolute snail's pace.

And the most important thing is that the dog always has to feel safe. When your dog is fearful or anxious, your job as their guardian is to protect them and to help them feel safe. And so you really do sometimes have to go very slowly in the training. 

So I've got a lot of detail about technique in the book because the technique, technique is really important and you can get that in there.

But I've also got some really nice stories, not just about my own pets, but other people have kindly let me tell stories about their dog. 

And one of the examples in the book, I'm very lucky to have been able to share the story of Bonnie Hartney's dog, Dixie, who was incredibly fearful as a young puppy. So right from the very, very beginning, and she tells the story, it's a really beautiful story of the work that she's done and the difference it's made.

But also you can tell from what she says that this is something that's taken years. And she talks about the progress of each year being better than the previous year. And I think that really helps to bring it home because it's one thing to know it intellectually and it's another thing to actually see it or to hear it told about in a story.

And I think that helps to make it better, really easier for people to understand.

K: Yeah, absolutely. I love the stories. I love the story components of the book, for sure.

So when you were talking about good technique, and I think that leads us into our next question quite nicely, did you start out with a particular idea of how much of the why and how much of the how? Like, I think you do a good job of saying, why do we, why do we do it like this? And what's going on in the dog's mind. But also, here's how to help specifically. 

So did you start out with an idea or did that kind of just flow?

Z: I started with an idea for the structure of the book, which is that I was thinking there are lots of things that apply to different kinds of fearful and anxious dogs or different kinds of fears really, which are the same.

And so I wanted to include those together in the first part of the book before going into the detail of more specific problems like reactivity or resource guarding or separation related issues, for example.

So I wanted to do that and I knew going in that I really wanted to get something that would get the technique right because I think that there aren't many places that have that, there are some really good resources for fearful and anxious dogs. But I wanted to write something that brought the science into it that was very up to date on the science and I didn't think there was anything else like that out there.

So I've tried to make it very scientific but very easy to understand and full of practical tips so that people can really use the information. And really it came, a lot of it came from conversations that I had people with people about their fearful and anxious dogs and trying to help them.

So a lot of it came from that and from suggestions that other people gave me or just questions that people came to me with as well.

K: Right, yeah, absolutely. I remember speaking with you about this. I guess it was a couple years ago, it seems. Yeah.

So when it comes to technique, there's a lot of repetitions that are needed if you're doing operant conditioning and also classical conditioning. And some people find that the sort of, the repetitions and the mechanics of doing this type of training is somehow, it feels coercive to them, despite the fact that coercion has a specific, different meaning.

So how can we help educate people about how gentle and important good technique are and how important good training is to helping dogs live their safest, best, most comfortable, joyful, safe.

Z: I love that question. And I think the thing is, if you don't do the things that are going to help your dog, the chances are that they will unfortunately keep getting worse because they will be exposed to things that they are afraid of and that will just make them sensitize and get worse.

So I think part of the message is that you have to do something. It's your job to help your dog as much as you can. So you do have to do something. And these techniques, really, they are very kind, they are humane. 

And there's actually quite a big section in the book about the kinds of training methods that unfortunately will make dogs worse and the kinds of training methods that we use, which are kind and humane and which will help because they're reward based. And I mean, yes, your dog has to eat, but you have to pick the right treats to help or whatever is going to help your dog.

And one of the ways I actually like to talk about classical conditioning is to think about making a big surprise for your dog.

And there is a technical term, if you're looking at the science, there's this thing called an expectancy violation happening in your brain, which is what you want to achieve. But really that's a really nice big surprise, a positive surprise and a fun thing to happen.

So even if you're working with a very fearful dog, the training should be at a level that is fun for the dog and comfortable for the dog. And you should be able to see that in their body language.  

K: Perfect. So talking about operant conditioning leads us into talking about the tricks training.

So at the beginning of Bark! Fest, you asked our wonderful colleague Erica Beckwith, who works for A Matter of Manners Dog Training, to run a tricks class, a Zoom tricks class, as part of Bark! Fest for those of the authors who are participating, which was hilarious and I loved it.

So how and why do you talk about trick training in a book about fearful and anxious dogs?

Z: Yeah, that was a wonderful tricks class. I was so grateful to Erica for teaching it. And the authors came and did it, and some Companion Animal Psychology subscribers, subscribers to my email list had the chance to come and join us, too, and it was so much fun. 

And of course, this wasn't specifically for fearful dogs, but the thing is that fearful dogs need enrichments as well. They need things to do, and fear can often get in the way of activities that you might like to do. So you might not be able to take your fearful dog for a lovely long hike or to sit on a patio or something, but tricks can be really helpful and they're something that you can do at home. 

Actually, there are lots of activities these days that you can do at home with your dog on Zoom, which makes life much easier. So there's a section in the book about providing enrichment, because enrichment is important. 

It's one of the central tenets of animal welfare and what we call the Five Domains model, which follows on from the Five Freedoms, which I'm sure everyone in the audience has heard of.

But one of the central tenets of that is that you have to be providing positive experiences for your dog for good welfare. And that's a real challenge when your dog is fearful, because if they're so fearful, they can't take part in it.

But tricks training, it's a fun thing to do. It takes the pressure off you as the dog trainer. And Erica Beckwith spoke to me for the book, and a few other trainers spoke to me for the book as well, about activities that are good to do with the dog that you can't take out and about in the world, so you can still do something fun. 

And also these tricks can turn out to be helpful in situations where your dog is perhaps a little bit nervous or you think they might be a little bit nervous, and you can just ask them to do some of the tricks and give them rewards, and it will help to keep them distracted and help them to have a positive experience in that situation. 

So tricks training actually can be really helpful, and a trick can be anything that you want to teach them, right?

K: Yeah. I love the phrase it's all tricks to dogs when we're doing positive reinforcement training, you know, so I think that that is a useful way to look at it. And the idea of having a class on zoom and things that you can do with your dog at home to keep them safe leads us nicely, I think, into our next question.

So the question is about the need to keep other beings safe, both dogs and people. So if you have a dog who's fearful and reactive, the dogs and cats and people around this dog need to be kept safe as well.

And this is a big question, and it's a complicated question. So what factors do people need to consider? And why can't our very human emotions get it wrong?

Z: I think human emotions often make us get it wrong because we think we know the dog, and so we don't think that there's going to be anything that might go wrong.

From our perspective, we expect the dog to tolerate us and like us. And they don't necessarily, of course. And if a dog is fearful or anxious, then if they're backed into a corner, they might actually be aggressive. And if we're not very good at reading dog's body language, we might not see the signs that build up to that.

So it's important for us to keep our dogs feeling safe, but also the people around the dog being safe.

And that can sometimes be as simple as putting barriers in the home so that people can't approach the dog, making sure that any visitors to the home don't go and approach your fearful dog, but your dog has somewhere safe to go. 

And it's a good idea for every dog, but especially a fearful dog, to have a safe space, which is somewhere that they can go where they won't be disturbed. They can go whenever they want. You will never pull them out of it.

So it could be a crate, but it can't be a crate that you send them to. It has to be somewhere that they go to at specific times. So if you have a crate that you send them to, but you want a crate to be their safe space, well, then you need a second crate to be that safe space.

And I spoke to Professor Daniel Mills for the book, and he told me that actually for some of the dogs that he works with, and bearing in mind that he works with dogs with really quite severe problems sometimes, he said for some of those dogs, simply giving them a safe space and making sure that everybody in the household recognizes it over a few weeks, that can sometimes be enough to really make a huge difference to the dog and to their behavior. So that's really good to know.

So the dog safety is really, I would say it's essential, it's a need and it's a feeling of being safe.

So if the dog is afraid of things that we, we don't understand why they're afraid of it, that doesn't matter. We just have to recognize that the dog is afraid and so we have to do what we can to help them.

K: Right, perfect. Yeah. So you do mention pandemic puppies in the, in the book or the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic on dogs.

So is this pandemic puppies, is that a real thing? And if so, what affected, what effect did it have on the dogs and their families?

Z: It is a real thing. So in the pandemic a whole load of people rushed out to get dogs and circumstances were quite different. So if people got puppies during the pandemic, it will have varied a little bit depending on where people lived. Because I think each country's or state or province's pandemic expected experience was slightly different.

But for a long period of time, people couldn't actually socialize their puppy, they couldn't take them to puppy class, or if they could, they maybe didn't feel safe to go, so they didn't want to. So that meant that there's a whole kind of generation of puppies that missed out on socialization during the sensitive period, which is from 3 until 12 to 14 weeks. And that's a really important time.

So we would expect that to cause problems. And we've had anecdotal reports of people saying there are more dogs with fears and anxieties as a result. 

But there is also now some research, especially from the Royal Veterinary College in the UK, which looks at that and it found that it's not just the lack of socialization. It also is the case that the people who went out and got puppies during the pandemic didn't necessarily do as much research as people normally would, or you might hope they would.

Many more of them were actually first time dog guardians, so they maybe didn't know as much. So to some extent also it might be that people didn't know what they needed to do as much and everyone was distracted by other things, so they were less likely to probably to go and find out what they should do.

So it does seem that there is this group of dogs who through no fault of anyone, have ended up not being properly socialized. And unfortunately having increased fear and anxiety as a result.

And it's something we need more research on. But it does seem to be a real phenomenon.

K: The coming together of first time dog owner and a dog that's maybe not socialized as head is sort of a unfortunate happenstance there.

Z: Yeah.

K: So I know you did your PhD writing about metaphor, right, if I remember right. And I love hearing you talk about metaphor. So when I was reading your book, I was thinking, I always think about metaphor in your writing.

And then I started to think about metaphors and allegories and what's the difference? I actually googled allegory because I had a vague idea, but I was like, what is allegory?

What's the difference between metaphor and allegory? So do you make use of both metaphors and allegories in your writing?

What's the difference between these two as sort of a literary tool? And what do you think that can contribute to writing about dogs? And I know this is like a super fierce question, but I am really looking forward to your answer.

Z: So allegory is using a story to talk about something abstract and it might often be used to talk about something political. So it could be used to talk about something political that you don't want to say directly, but you want to give an example that that would be one way in which allegory is used and metaphor.

So metaphor is really interesting because we think of metaphor as a literary device in which you're comparing one thing to another.

But actually metaphor is something cognitive, by which I mean it's something that helps to structure how we think about things in our, in our brains, basically.

So it's not just a literary device, it's something that structures our everyday thinking. And that would be with a whole. Like you can group metaphors together into what we, I would call a cognitive metaphor.

So if we're thinking specifically about dogs and some of the metaphors that people might use there. There's this, I call it a metaphor of dogs as a wolf, as wolf pack. And of course dogs are not actually wolves. Dogs and wolves share the same ancestors, but wolves are quite different. 

And so a lot of old fashioned thinking about dogs is using that wolf pack metaphor, which is really unfortunate because regardless of how wild wolves actually behave, somehow in this metaphor it encourages people to think of old fashioned way sort of making dogs do things rather than asking dogs to do things.

Whereas we can contrast that to dogs as family. Now dogs literally are family, but some people might talk about dogs as children and again, that's metaphorical. They're not literally children, but that will shape the way that people think about them. So metaphor is really important in terms of how we think about things. 

And I guess the way I thought about it most was in terms of how to explain some of the really complicated science. The psychological literature is really complex and really hard to understand and trying to think of ways to distill that down. 

So this idea of a surprise, linguistically, I enjoyed thinking about ways to talk about the terminology of classical conditioning, which we kind of need to know, people are kind of familiar with because everyone's heard about Pavlov, but we are always talking about a CS and a us and even dog trainers will talk about to their clients.

And it helps you to understand the things that you're talking about. But I've been writing about the CS as the thing that's considered scary because I find a lot of people get confused, like, what's the CS? What's the US? What do I do? 

And the US is the ultimate snack. Or it might be an unanticipated sausage or something like that. So I had a lot of fun thinking of US phrasings that we could use that would kind of summarize the idea that we want the dog to be having a wonderful time.

Like the thing that's considered scary happens. We have to give them the ultimate snack so that they have their wonderful party. So that's one of the ways in which I've used linguistic devices in there. 

So the ultimate snack, I think, is the best way to put it. But you can also specify it as a sausage or salmon or whatever you can make work. Sardine. An unanticipated sardine, for example.

K: I love that phrasing.

Z:  Thank you.

K: Perfect. And CS and US are such clunky, hard to remember terminology. I think it's. It's unfortunate that we were sort of saddled with that, I think.

Z: Yeah. And we're stuck with it because these are historical terms that have been around for a long time.

It turns out they were not translated very well originally from Pavlov, and we're still kind of stuck with them. And I think apparently it should have been conditional stimulus instead of conditioned. And that does make more sense, but it's still a bit clunky. 

And, you know, scientific terminology can be quite hard to understand. So it's really important to have ways to talk about this in ordinary language instead.

K: Oh, for sure. I mean, dog trainers need to understand and learn those terms. But yeah, so one of the really important sort of ways that dog trainers help fearful and anxious dogs is to talk about management.

So short term changes to the dog's environment that will help the dog feel better right away.

So management solutions for a fearful dog can be a real lifesaver and dramatically increase the comfort of the dog and the dog's welfare. And sometimes these solutions can be the whole solution.

You know, we don't even need to do any more training in some cases if we just make a few changes to the dog's environment.

And you know, sometimes that management solution doesn't sort of decrease the welfare of the dog overall. But sometimes management solutions can actually be a problem if they're allowed to sort of just continue as the whole solution forever.

So can you talk about this? Can you explain that?

Z: Yeah. So I mean, if you have a reactive dog, for example, one of the management things you can do is to stop taking them for walks for a while. Or a lot of people might just find times a day when it's quieter.

But if you're not taking your dog, that can sometimes be a really helpful thing to do. If you're not taking your dog for a walk. But you still need to find some kind of enrichment for them, otherwise it would be a problem because they still need activities to do, they still need some kind of exercise exercise, even if it's more for their brain but than physically. So they still need something. 

And that's where the tricks of training might come in that we talked about earlier.

Another one would be if you have a dog who is somewhat afraid of other dogs, but actually would kind of like to play with them. Play is just a natural behavior for dogs. And so it's really important for us to provide opportunities for dogs to engage in natural behaviors. 

And I think some dogs, unfortunately, they just never get those opportunities because something went wrong early on. And so it's a bit kind of difficult for people to do.

But there are ways. And a dog trainer can help you find ways in which many dogs could learn how to play with other dogs, or at least to play with dogs that they know and that they are friends with.

And that's very different from going to a dog park and having to meet random dogs, which can be for some dogs is great. But for some dogs it's really quite a scary experience.

So you have to think about what your dog needs and ways in which you can provide it for them. And management often is incredibly helpful to keep your dog feeling safe.

But at the same time as doing that, you have to make sure that you're meeting your dog's needs, too.

K: Love it. So in all of your books, you use your own companion animals, your own pets as sort of one of the ways that you like to talk about what you're teaching us.

So how important was Pepper, who I think appeared for the first time in this book? So how important was Pepper for your writing process, for this book?

Z: So Pepper is my Shih Tzu who is a senior. He was a senior. He was 10 when we adopted him. So he's 13 and a half now. And you're right, this is the first time he appears in one of those books.

So obviously he appears in stories. But in terms of the process also, it's just really helpful in terms of literally physically sitting at my computer and then needing a break, because Pepper does not walk very far. He only has very little legs. He only walks really short distances.

But he is happy to have very frequent walks, so that's really good. So I can get to a point where I think, oh, I need a break. Pepper's there. He would love to go outside just for 10 minutes or something. So he really helped kind of physically by being there and wanting to go for a short walk too. 

And they're very slow, so I end up standing around outside, Pepper sniffing the grass. I've got time to think, and it just helps, like, if I'm stuck on something in the writing, that short little break can often be enough to help me when I come back to the computer, just sit down, and I've got an answer, or at least I've got somewhere to get started again.

So he was really helpful.

Plus, he's just very cute and very cuddly and very good at being a companion. That's his favorite thing, is just to be a companion. So very helpful indeed.

K: Oh, and isn't there the research that talks about how. I know you live in quite a wild area, right, With a lot of greenery and trees. So isn't there some research that says, like, participating in that kind of environment is really helpful for humans?

Z: There is, yes. And the Japanese call it forest bathing as well. But I think just spending any time in nature is good for people. So I'm very lucky to live in a place where we have a lot of green around us and it is a little bit wild.

But also exercise. There's a lot of research on exercise. Now, I don't count my walks with Pepper as exercise particularly, but at least I'm moving and moving my legs. And there's research that shows that just a 10 minute walk can help to improve someone's mood as well and is good for people.

So, yeah, those little breaks are really helpful for me. And I know that Pepper enjoys them because he goes and he sniffs and he sniffs and he sniffs and he really loves it.

And I just let him follow his nose and sometimes I throw treats in the grass for him to find. And if there's a person coming or a dog coming who he'd like to meet, he gets to meet them.

But if there's a big dog coming and I'm not sure about them, then he just gets picked up or taken away. So he doesn't have any scary experiences out there, you know, so it's just nice and fun.

K: Yeah, little dude.

So I think because you now have three published books, you've developed a bit of an expertise and I was like hearing about you, about what it's like to be a published author.

So when it comes to the covers, your covers are all so beautiful, the book covers. So how much say do you have over sort of, how much say do authors typically have? And how much say did you have over the cover of Bark!?

Z: Oh, well, thank you for that question because this is the cover. It's absolutely gorgeous and I'm not at home, otherwise I would have Wag and Purr behind me and I would be able to show you those covers.

But they're all beautiful. They're all designed by the same designer, Belle Wuthrich, and I think she's done an amazing job. She works for my publisher or she did work for my publisher.

And so authors don't get to choose the title of their book, which surprises a lot of people. And they don't get to choose the cover because that's the publisher's job and the publisher is the one who is spending the money on publishing it. So that makes sense.

But I'm really lucky because I think my publisher, Greystone Books, is excellent. I have a really good working relationship with them. So with this particular cover, because I've written in the past about some of the issues, health issues faced by dogs with flat faces, is I didn't want a dog that would be on one of those lists of breeds that you shouldn't use in advertising because the face is too flat.

So I sent a list from British Veterinary Association to my publisher so that they would have a list of breeds not to include. And they were very, very happy to do that because obviously they wanted a cover that fits with the books that I write and they actually sent me back three covers and I shared them with my agent.

I have an amazing agent, Fiona Kenshole, and she's brilliant too. So she looked at the covers as well and we talked about them and they actually all were gorgeous. They all were absolutely gorgeous. And this one, this one my agent thought was best and my publisher thought was best.

And I was like, I love all of these dogs. They're all gorgeous. Three very different dogs, but all gorgeous. And so I said yes, you know, any of them will do, but this one probably is the best. And it's the one that the publisher thought was, was best and went with.

And I feel so lucky to have such great covers and authors don't always get to choose.

So I know stories of authors being sent covers that they really don't like. And the thing is, if you don't like it, you do actually need to have a good reason. Like you can't just say, I don't like it. You have to say, that won't work with the book or that won't work for commercial reasons because my readers wouldn't like it.

And that's really what matters because you want a book that is going to make people want to pick it up. And I'm very lucky with this. I think it does make people want to pick it up.

So I didn't want a dog with snarling teeth and so on because the book is about helping dogs to feel safe. So I didn't want a picture of a dog that was in an unsafe situation on the cover, and that also is something that Greystone took into account.

So, yeah, I feel incredibly lucky.

K: Yeah, it is. It's a great cover. And I love how it feels like a series of your other books too.

Z: Yes, yes, it works really well. 

K: Okay, so back to language. Canadians, Americans. And you know, I'm Canadian and you are a. Would you call yourself a naturalist? How do you self refer?

Z: Well, I'm British and I'm hoping to become officially Canadian before too long, but I'm still waiting to hear back. So we'll see. British and Canadian.

But I still speak British English even though my accent has changed a bit. I mostly use Canadian words now, but there are still some times when I confuse people.

K: So Canadians, Americans and those from the mother country, which is how I like to refer to the UK, all speak slightly different English. I mean, we can all understand each other really well, I think, but we do.

You can tell based on somebody's word choice. And sometimes even grammatical structure, you know, probably about where somebody's from.

So I always enjoy it when you post in the Academy writers group, talking about word choices and saying, what does this mean. So people from Canada ask, what does this phrase make you think of? Like, how do you understand it?

So I think it's really interesting to consider the differences. So what can you tell us? Because you're writing, I assume the book is the same in all the different countries. And it's not just the spelling thing. Like, obviously there is a slight spelling difference between Canadian and American English, but it turns a phrase as well.

It's not just spelling. So I want to hear you talk about how you handle those differences without, you know, without sort of jumping into one camp or another. Like, how do you make sure that people don't get upset? How do you honor the differences between the way that we speak and the phrases that we choose?

Z: Yeah. So, I mean, the book is published in the U.S., Canada and the UK and there are moments when I'm speaking British English. My editor, I've got a wonderful editor. She's Canadian, and the copy editors have been Canadian.

So there have been moments where we've been thinking, well, is this how an American would describe this? Does this language work for everybody? 

And I've been really lucky because I've been able to go and ask questions in our writers group. And actually, I've been surprised by how much discussion it's sometimes generated where I've said, what does this word mean to you?

And people have given responses that have surprised me. So I thought, oh, it's a good job I asked.

And just to give an example, there's a section in the book about dealing with sound sensitivities and the suggestion of putting something in the tumble dryer or the washing machine to make a kind of noise to help to drown out other sounds.

And I would say it's to put a trainer in there, but this turns out to mostly mean dog trainer to a lot of people. And that would not be right, of course.

So this one actually led to quite a big discussion about trainer, tennis shoe, sneaker, shoe, plimsoll, whatever would be the right word. And in the end, we settled on sneaker as being the correct word.

But, you know, to make everybody understand, to try and use language that everybody can understand is really important. And yeah, because I'm very aware that because I speak British English, sometimes there are times when I use the wrong word.

Or obviously when speaking the wrong pronunciation, that can confuse people. And you want everything to work for as many people as possible. So that sometimes leads to quite long discussions and you never would think that people would spend so much time just on one specific word.

But sometimes many, many people have thought about which specific words something should be.

The interview highlights have been lightly edited for content and style.

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