David Sands

Dr David Sands

Gained a doctorate in ethology for animal behaviour research from the Faculty of Science, Liverpool University, David is a Fellow of the Canine and Feline Behaviour Association (FCFBA) and a Council member of the PETbc offering guidance to government bodies.

He is a human-companion-animal practitioner, based in Lancashire, and specialises in the treatment of behavioural conditions in dogs, cats, birds, horses and exotic animals. His expertise is based on the treatment of aggression, fixation and obsessive compulsive-like disorders, (stress), noise phobia and over-dependency on owners (separation-related type anxiety). David is an Expert Witness in court cases surrounding the Dangerous Dogs Act.

He is an internationally established author and photographer in psychology and zoology. Research has taken him around the world and he has lectured on South American ecology and related natural history in Europe, Japan, USA, Canada and the Far East after many expeditions to South America including the Amazon and Peruvian Andes. David has also travelled to the rainforests of Guyana, Venezuela and has described several new species to science and has a popular Amazon catfish species, Corydoras davidsandsi, named in his honour.

Television

Has been featured in several UK television documentaries and programmes such as ‘Fish People’, ‘Absolutely Animals’, ‘Pet Rescue’, ‘Potty about Pets’ and BBC’s ‘999' and consulted on and appeared in ‘To The Ends Of the Earth’ (Amazon) filmed for Channel 4 and Anglia Survival. He also regularly contributes to UK TV and Radio news programs on related human and pet companionship subjects. Granada TV series based on his clinic, ‘The Pet Set’, co-presented and consultant for the 2005 Animal Planet/Channel 5 series, ‘Britain’s Worst Pet’ and a documentary ‘Suicide Bridge Dogs’ about dogs that have died leaping off a gothic bridge in Scotland, Channel 5 and Animal Planet Wild X Files, William Shatner’s Weird or What.

Publishing

Has scripted many animal information videos on small animals, dogs and cats and written: Cats and Kittens, Dogs and Puppies and, ‘To The Rescue - Dogs, ‘To The Rescue - Cats’, guides to providing a rescue or re-homed dog or cat a new life, ‘The Family Dog book’ (Collins) and the ‘Encyclopaedia of the Family Cat’ (Collins) and The German Shepherd Dog ‘Care and Behaviour’ (Crowood Press in 2004). His best-selling feline book ‘500 questions CATS’ (Hamlyn) answers questions about cats and behaviour. His most successful book, Know Your Dog, based on current research into canine DNA and behavioural studies, has been published in many languages and in USA and Canada editions (Octopus-Hamlyn).

David can be contacted at drdavidsands@aol.com or by telephone 01257 249960