Companion Animal Psychology

The books about animals that had a profound effect on people’s lives. By Zazie Todd, PhD This is the second post in a series on the animal books that changed people’s lives. You can read part 1, animal lovers on the books that changed their lives , here. This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell Vanessa Mae Hajek MS CTC of Hands Full Dog training told me, “In 2002, my dad got me a book for my 14th birthday. Patricia McConnell's The Other End of the Leash . He knew nothing about the author and nothing about the book so he took a chance. I read it in four days. McConnell introduced me to dogs as a subject of scientific study and more importantly, further introduced me to this radical idea of modifying dog behavior not with force or intimidation, but with food. During the next few years I devoured all things force-free dog training and slowly began

A study of dog bites in Calgary finds no breed group can be singled out for serious bites, and older adults may be at more risk than previously thought. Photo: Christian Mueller/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. Dog bites are a serious public health problem. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association , 4.7 million Americans are bitten every year and 800,000 require medical treatment. New research from Dr. Niamh Caffrey and colleagues (University of Calgary), published in Animals , investigates all dog bites in Calgary between 2012 and 2017. What makes this study unique is the level of detail and reliability of the data compared to most studies of dog bites. The results show that the people most at risk of dog bites are children, youth, and older adults (aged 60 or above). While the increased risk for children and youth is as expected, the higher risk

What pigeons teach us about home, the view from a catcam, and stunning photographs of dogs... this month's Companion Animal Psychology news. By Zazie Todd, PhD   This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Wag news I am very excited to share the news that my publisher, Greystone Books, has made the official announcement that my book, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy , will be published in Spring 2020. This month I have been responding to the proof-reader’s queries and have also seen the page spreads. After all this hard work, it is finally starting to look like a real book. Some of my favourites this month  “When they were in their homes, the cats spent a lot of time following their humans around. They liked to be in the same room. A lot of my students were surprised at how attached cats were to people.” David Grimm interviewed one of the researchers behind the recent catcam study (don

I have a new post at my Psychology Today blog, Fellow Creatures, about a new review study of seniors with pets. 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 shows that while pets can have many benefits for older people, there are can also be some issues, and the report has some suggestions. Read more in the challenges and benefits of pet ownership for seniors . Photo: Peter Baxter/Shutterstock. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As an Etsy affiliate and Marks and Spencer affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Three tips to encourage and support people to use reward-based training methods with their dog or other pet. Photo: D.K. Grove/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. How can we encourage more people to use positive reinforcement to train their dog? Those of you who know me know that this question is often on my mind. It’s because positive reinforcement is good for animal welfare and fun for the dog. I explore some of this in the post that kicked off the very first Train for Rewards blog party, seven reasons to use reward-based training methods . I even wrote an article for the Journal of Veterinary Behavior about the barriers to the adoption of humane dog training methods , which you can read about in why don’t more people use positive reinforcement to train dogs . Today, I want to share three tips that we all can use to help encourage and support people to use reward

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 page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. This guest post by Marc Bekoff is part of the Train for Rewards blog party. Photo: Daniel Brachlow/Pixabay "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 &#

Confidence in being able to use the technique, perceptions of the effectiveness of positive reinforcement, and the emotional toll of having a reactive dog all influence people’s choice of dog training method, a new study shows. Photo: Balakate/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. If you’ve never had a reactive dog, then you’ve not experienced those grim moments of hanging on to the leash while your dog lunges and growls at other people or dogs . Feelings of anxiety and embarrassment are often compounded by negative reactions and comments from other people. But while reward-based training methods are the best way to resolve behaviour issues, they aren’t always what people use. New research from Dr. Emma Williams and Dr. Emily Blackwell (University of Bristol) looks at the factors that affect people’s decisions about the dog training methods to use with their reactiv