Canine Regulation Awareness Day

The 14th September every year

Every year, the 14th of September is Canine Regulation Day, one fixed date, simple enough to sit in a diary, a calendar, or anywhere else that only has room for a single day.

But regulation isn’t something that fits into one day, and neither should the conversation about it. That’s why there’s a full week built around it too, the second full week of September, Monday to Sunday, giving people room to hold conversations, sessions and get-togethers whenever actually suits them, not just squeezed into the 14th itself.

Canine Regulation Awareness Week

The second full week of September

Every year, in the second full week of September, we turn the dog world’s attention to what’s happening underneath the behaviour. This is Canine Regulation Awareness Week.

For that week, guardians, trainers, behaviourists, clubs and rescues all point in the same direction, regulation first. It’s a week to talk about the difference between a dog who’s calm and a dog who’s simply shut down, to notice our own state and how it shapes the dogs around us, and to share what regulation actually looks like with anyone who’ll listen. However you mark it, a conversation at home, a session with a client, an event in your community, the point stays the same. We regulate together.

One week to change how we see calm.

WHY SEPTEMBER

Chosen with dogs in mind.

The second full week of September is no accident. It’s mild, past the heat of summer, so dogs can be out and comfortable rather than struggling. And it’s the time of year people come back to their routines, ready to take something on.

A movement about reading a dog’s state should choose its moment by how the dogs will feel. So we did.

2026 — THE FOUNDING YEAR

Be part of the first one.

14th – 20th September 2026 is our founding year, and there’s only ever one of those.

This first week is about laying the foundations: getting the pledge out into the world, putting resources in people’s hands, and gathering the people and organisations who’ll carry this forward. Everyone who signs this year is a founding member, the ones who were here at the start, before anyone else.

You can’t join a founding year twice. This is the only one there’ll ever be.

HOW TO TAKE PART

However works for you.

• Sign the pledge: The single most important thing, and it takes thirty seconds.
• Display your badge. Show your community where you stand.
• Start a conversation. With a client, a friend, or the person at the park whose dog “won’t listen.”
• Use the resources: Free materials to help you explain regulation in plain language, ready to share.
• Mark the week. A post, a session, an event, whatever fits how you live and work with dogs.

The first week starts with you.

Sign the pledge, take your place as a founding member, and help build a more regulated world for dogs and the people who love them.

We regulate together.