Companion Animal Psychology

It’s unassailable: we’re truly different than dogs, in really important ways. But that doesn’t mean we can throw the baby out with the bathwater and deny our similarities, either. By Kristi Benson CTC Special Correspondent Much of the information about dogs available to dog owners (even to really thoughtful and careful information ‘consumers’) is uneven at best, and flagrantly damaging to dogs at worst. In fact, dog trainers often have the unenviable and rather delicate task of breaking down some passionately held, well-intentioned, but generally unproductive‒or even counter-productive‒convictions in the very people who have hired us to help them. We’re different from dogs  Many of the misconceptions about dog behaviour and in particular, dogs’ motivations, are born from anthropocentrism. Anthropocentrism is likely a familiar concept‒it is an (inappropriate, for our purposes) willingness to ascribe human emotions, cognition, or motivation to other animals. Dog trainers regu

Photo: Kellymmiller73/Shutterstock The one thing every dog owner should know about how to train a dog. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. There’s a lot of incorrect dog training advice on the internet , which makes it hard for people with dogs to sort out which advice is good and which is not. Does it matter? Some of the time, despite using methods that aren’t recommended by professional organizations, you can get away with it. Maybe you will have a well-trained dog or maybe you will muddle along. Maybe your dog will actually be a bit afraid but you won’t notice ( people aren’t very good at recognizing fear ). But unfortunately, for some dogs, there will be issues. And perhaps, instead of blaming the method, you'll blame the dog. Here’s what one scientist concluded after reviewing the evidence on dog training methods (Ziv, 2017): “it appears that aversive training method

Favourite posts and the latest news about dogs and cats this month. By Zazie Todd, PhD Some of my favourites from around the web this month… This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. “It hit me that there is such a massive disconnect between what people think their dogs are doing and saying and what is really happening, and everyone suffers because of it. “ Marc Bekoff interviews Tracy Krulik about the impetus for iSpeakDog . So you think you have a ‘master forager’? Ingrid Johnson at Fundamentally Feline on how to make food toys harder for your cat. Shocker: some cats like people more than food or toys by Karin Brulliard. Joii the sniffari movement. Why I DON’T train my clients’ dogs to heel by Kristi Benson. Jeff deYoung: The dog who saved my life and came to live with me . Is there such a thing as a “purr-cebo” effect? Mikel Delgado looks at new research on the placebo effect in cats. Thi

The olfactory enrichment cats love but you’ve (probably) never heard of: silvervine, Tatarian honeysuckle and valerian. Find out how many cats respond to each and the best type to get for your cat. Photo:  HHelene/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. It's such fun to see a cat rolling around on a catnip toy, but not all cats respond to it in this way. Did you know there are alternatives to catnip? That if your cat does not respond to catnip these other plant substances may still get a response? And that tigers and bobcats can respond to them too? Silver vine, Tatarian honeysuckle, valerian and catnip for cats A new study tests domestic cats with four different types of olfactory enrichment : catnip, silver vine, Tatarian honeysuckle and valerian. Tigers and bobcats were also tested. The results show almost all domestic cats love at least one of these. These com

A review of 17 papers concludes that reward-based dog training has fewer risks and may even work better than aversive methods. Photo: Duncan Andison/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The review, by Dr. Gal Ziv (The Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences) looks at the scientific literature on dog training methods . Seventeen studies were identified that include surveys of dog owners, intervention studies, and reports from veterinarians. The paper identifies some methodological issues with the literature, but the conclusion is that people should use reward-based methods to train their dogs. Ziv writes, “Despite the methodological concerns, it appears that aversive training methods have undesirable unintended outcomes and that using them puts dogs’ welfare at risk. In addition, there is no evidence to suggest that aversive training methods are more

The book of the month is The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The book for April 2017 is the dog training classic The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs by Patricia McConnell. From the back cover, “Dr. Patricia McConnell reveals a revolutionary, new perspective on our relationship with dogs – sharing insights on how “man’s best friend” might interpret our behaviour, as well as essential advice on how to interact with our four-legged friends in ways that bring out the best in them.” Book club members can join in the discussion on Facebook. Alternatively you can leave your comments on the book below, or just enjoy reading alongside us. The Companion Animal Psychology Book Club reads one book a month, with January and July off. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.