Season's Greetings

-


Christmas time pets
Photo: gurinaleksandr / Shutterstock

Season's Greetings from Companion Animal Psychology Blog!
We wish you Happy Holidays and all the best for a wonderful 2015.

Animated Christmas Reindeer Gif


By Zazie Todd, PhD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dogs Who Attended Puppy Class are More Trainable

-
Image
Going to puppy class has benefits for later dog behaviour, study shows.



Puppies have a sensitive period for socialization from 3 until about 12-14 weeks, during which it is especially important to have a wide range of positive experiences. Many people take their puppy to puppy class during this time, but some people wonder, “Is puppy class worth it?” A new study published in the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour finds several advantages for dogs that attended puppy class when younger compared to those who didn’t.

The study, by Dr. Ángela González-Martínez (Santiago de Compostela University) et al., took place in Spain and compared dogs who had completed puppy class one year earlier to those of the same age who had not taken a puppy class. The dogs were assessed using a questionnaire called the C-BARQ which was completed by their owner.

The results showed that dogs who attended puppy class were more highly rated as trainable, and were less likely to have non-social fears (such as sound s…
Read more

Don't Punish Your Dog for Peeing in the House

-
Image
Why punishment is the wrong approach for house training mistakes, and how you should house train your dog or puppy instead.


By Zazie Todd, PhD

Suppose your dog suddenly starts to pee in the house. You clean it up the first time but it happens again…. And then again.

Or your new puppy keeps having accidents indoors even though you take her outside often.

In this situation, some people will yell at their dog. Some might even try physical punishment like hitting the dog or an alpha roll. And we’ve all come across the advice that you should rub their nose in it.

Don’t do it.

Whether you're toilet training an adult dog or house training a puppy, here’s why that’s the wrong approach, and what you should do instead.


Punishment can make things worse
First of all, let’s think about it from the dog’s perspective.

Suppose they pee in the house and you yell at them. What do they learn from this?

It’s unlikely the dog will understand why you are yelling. This is especially the case if there is …
Read more

"Bad Dog?" The Psychology and Importance of Using Positive Reinforcement

-
Image
Calling a dog a "bad dog" very often displays a lack of knowledge about dog behavior, says Marc Bekoff in this essay on the importance of positive reinforcement in dog training.

This guest post by Marc Bekoff is part of the Train for Rewards blog party.


"Eugene, you're a bad dog. Why did you try to fight with Melvin?" "Monica, why did you attack Rosie? Bad dog!" "Bad dog, bad dog, bad dog! Good dogs don't do that." "My dog Joey was badly abused by other dogs and humans when he was young and learned that he had to fight back. He was doing what came naturally. Now that I've worked hard to socialize him to other dogs and to humans and to praise him when he doesn't fight back, he's learned that fighting fire with fire doesn't work. I always told him he's a 'good dog' when he didn't fight back." "I learned that letting Henry know he was a 'good dog' when he wasn't reactive was the best…
Read more