Companion Animal Psychology

I  have a new post at my Psychology Today blog Fellow Creatures on a wonderful initiative to interest girls in science, via canine science. All this month, the bloggers behind Do You Believe in Dog? , Mia Cobb and Julie Hecht, are sharing inspiring quotes from female canine scientists to encourage girls to get into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. They are using a girl's best friend to encourage girls to be scientists . Africa Studio / Shutterstock Zazie Todd, PhD ,

The five freedoms of animal welfare, the one most people miss, and what it means for pet owners. Photo: Bad Monkey Photography By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. When you get a new puppy or kitten, no one tells you your new pet has five main welfare needs that need to be met. But maybe they should, because they provide a framework for how we should care for dogs , cats , and other pets. Read on to find out what they are, how many pet owners know them, and why they matter to you. The Five Freedoms The Five Freedoms were originally defined by the UK’s Farm Animal Welfare Council in the 1960s, and subsequently updated. They are now understood to apply to the welfare of all animals, not just livestock. The Five Freedoms are: Freedom from hunger and thirst, by ready access to water and a diet to maintain health and vigour.  Freedom from discomfort, by providing an appropri...

Women in canine science, people who care for parrots, dogs in Paris, and more... the latest news from Companion Animal Psychology. 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. "Clearly - dogs are awesome. So is science!"  Women are thriving in canine science - tell a girl you know!  At Do You Believe in Dog?, Mia Cobb and Julie Hecht are celebrating the women in canine science, and encouraging girls to get interested in a career in science. Don't miss the daily inspiring quotes on their Facebook and Twitter feeds. “...it is the only study I know of which has demonstrated that petting and playing with a therapy dog can reduce human distress even when the interactions are not facilitated by a sympathetic handler” How important is the animal in animal-assisted therapy? Hal Herzog on an important new study that tests the ...

Find out which rewards dogs will run faster for, and why you need to use good treats in dog training. Photo: Dora Zett / 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. Modern dog trainers use positive reinforcement to train dogs, and that reinforcement often takes the form of food (see the ultimate dog training tip  to find out why). When you want a dog to come when you call them, you want to use your best training treats as a reward. But scientists have paid surprisingly little attention to what dogs consider worth working for – until now. A recent paper by Dr. Stefanie Riemer et al, published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science , looks at the relative effectiveness of quality and quantity of reinforcement as measured by how fast dogs run to the bowl they can eat it from. Pet dogs were trained to run along a walkway that was 20 metres long in order to obtain food. ...

Great books about animals, discussed amongst friends… The Companion Animal Psychology Book  Club is two years old. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. This month the Companion Animal Psychology Book Club is two years old. I started the book club in November 2016, intending it to be a small group. Within a couple of days several hundred people had joined and I stopped accepting new members because I did not want the group to get too big. The first book was The Trainable Cat by John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis, which remains one of my favourites of all the ones we’ve read. Other personal favourites include Being a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz, How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) by Lee Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut, and Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog. I was also pleased to re-read Plenty in Life Is Free by Kathy Sdao with the book club. But it's really...

The best way to feed cats has changed. Instead of leaving kibble in a bowl, here’s what you should do now. Photo: Africa  Studio / 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 used to be simple: put kibble in a bowl and leave it out all day. But that’s not how we should be feeding our pet cats . A new consensus statement from the American Association of Feline Practitioners explains the way we feed cats now. The AAFP says are several reasons to think more carefully about how you feed your cat. One is the increase in overweight and obesity in pet cats, which is bad for their health (see: how to help a fat cat lose weight ). Another reason is that using food puzzles for cats is a great enrichment activity that engages cats’ hunting instincts. This is especially important now that most pet cats are kept indoors for a lot or all of the time. As well, having the ri...

"The most scientifically important dog in over a century." —Brian Hare. 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 Companion Animal Psychology Book Club choice for November 2018 is Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words by John W. Pilley with Hilary Hinzmann. From the back cover,  "Chaser has fascinated dog lovers and scientists alike. Her story reveals the potential for taking out dialogue with dogs well beyond "fetch." When retired psychology professor John Pilley first got his new Border collie puppy, Chaser, he wanted to explore the boundaries of language learning and communication between humans and man's best friend. Exhibiting intelligence previously thought impossible in dogs, Chaser soon learned the names of more than a thousand toys and sentences with multiple elements of grammar. Chaser's accomplishmen...