Companion Animal Psychology

Photo: otsphoto / Shutterstick By Zazie Todd, PhD Companion Animal Psychology Blog is taking a summer break. Meanwhile, on twitter and facebook we continue to share links to the best writing about companion animals and their people. Why not join us? If you’re looking for some summer reading (and listening and viewing), these are some of our favourites: We’re delighted that some CAPB stories now appear in Pacific Standard, including Dog Training, Animal Welfare and the Human-Canine Relationship     Can Playing with your Cat Prevent Behavior Problems? Mikel Delgado investigates. Wild behaviour: The science of cats in boxes is explored in this Human Animal Science podcast with Sandra McCune. We can’t resist this video from Japan of a cat falling asleep on a watermelon .    What the pug is going on? by Mia Cobb at Do You Believe in Dog. The First Thing to Teach Your Puppy by Eileen and Dogs  Five Things You Can Do to Bite...

Photo: Lakatos Sandor / Shutterstock What are the effects of an owner’s prior dog experience and the dog’s housing on behaviour problems? A survey of people with Argentine Dogos investigates. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Some previous research has suggested people who are first-time dog owners are more likely to have a dog with behaviour problems, perhaps because they don’t have enough experience. Also, sometimes people say breed experience is helpful. The aim of this study was to investigate this by looking at only one breed of dog, the Argentine Dogo.   This breed was chosen because it was affected by dangerous dog legislation in Italy and, as the researchers put it, “was publicly blamed for posing a risk to human society.” Hence, it is an interesting choice for investigating the relationship between dogs and their owners. The survey, conducted by Silv...

Is a one-off puppy party a suitable alternative to a six-week puppy class? Research says you can’t skip the socialization if you want a well-rounded adult dog. By Zazie Todd, PhD Everyone knows that a puppy class is a good idea to help with socialization , but some trainers also offer a one-off puppy party. Which is best? A study by Ai Kutsumi et al (2013) of the Azabu University Graduate School of Veterinary Science compares four groups of dogs : those who attended a six-week puppy class, those who went to a one-hour puppy party, those who attended a six-week adult dog training class, and those who didn’t attend any puppy or training class at all.  Dogs who attended the 6-week puppy class or the adult dog training class scored significantly better on response to commands, showing that dogs can learn obedience commands at any age. Dogs who had been to puppy class were significantly more likely to give a positive response to a stranger than those who had been to ju...