Companion Animal Psychology

Capturing cuteness in dogs, cats and their names, and a beautiful textile... this months CAP news. 

By Zazie Todd, PhD
My favourites this month
“Many respondents, both in our work and others, report that they would rather sleep rough than give up their pet. Yet if pet owners refuse to relinquish their pets, local authorities categorise them as “intentionally homeless”, thereby abrogating their responsibility to house them. “ ‘My dog is my home’ – the need for pet-friendly accommodation for homeless people by Dr. Jenny Stavisky and Dr. Pru Hobson-West. “We are all brave at different speeds.” Kids and dogs: scenarios to consider by Tim Steele at Behavior Matters Academy.“A lot of thought should go into choosing to bring any companion animal into your home.” Pandemic puppy pandemonium requires lots of time and love by Mary Angilly and Dr. Marc Bekoff.“Do you ever say “I wish my dog would do that more often!” after a particularly cute thing they do?” How “capturing” cute helped Sitka stay s…

The fiction, non-fiction, and (of course) cat and dog books I’m reading this summer.
By Zazie Todd, PhD

Like everyone else, I’ve not been able to travel this summer; in fact (probably like you too) I rarely go out and wear my mask whenever I do. But there’s still time for reading, and my local bookstore has a great system for picking up books. As has become tradition here at Companion Animal Psychology, I’m sharing with you the books I’m reading this summer.

You’ll find all of these books in my Amazon store. This page contains affiliate links.FictionThe Wild Heavens by Sarah Louise Butler Through the course of a day spent tracking impossibly large human-like footprints through the snow, we learn of the loves, losses and family in Sandy’s life. Set in the forested mountains of the BC interior, this book is beautifully crafted and brings the natural world to life on every page. A meditation on change, longing and transformation, this book tells the story …

Ten tips for modern dog training.
By Zazie Todd, PhD.A  new post on my Fellow Creatures blog has ten tips on modern dog training and caring for your dog. Tip number 1? You aren't a dog.Check it out here: You aren't a dog, and other surprises of dog ownership.





Zazie Todd, PhD, is the best-selling author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. She is the founder of the popular blog Companion Animal Psychology, where she writes about everything from training methods to the human-canine relationship. She also writes a column for Psychology Today and has received the prestigious Captain Haggerty Award for Best Training Article in 2017. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband and two cats.

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Check out what the Animal Book Club is reading this monthGet Companion Animal Psychology merchSupport me on Ko-fiVisit my Amazon store

A survey of the owners of diabetic cats finds that although diagnosis is a worrying time, things get better. 

By Zazie Todd, PhD
Diabetes mellitus affects around 1 in 80 cats in the US. It is most common in cats that are neutered males, over 7 years old, obese, indoors-only or inactive, on certain types of medication (glucocorticoids or progestagens), and in Burmese cats (Sparkes et al 2015). The signs include excessive thirst, excessive urination, lethargy, weight loss, and extreme hunger. So long as the condition is well-managed, the prognosis for the cat is good. Research by Dr. Carolina Albuquerque and colleagues, published in 2019 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, looks at owners’ experiences of getting this diagnosis for their cat and subsequent treatment. 
The survey (in fact two separate but similar surveys) involved 748 guardians of cats with diabetes mellitus. The results showed that while many people had initial concerns about the effects on their life, once tr…

How I, an anthropologist and dog trainer, learned the value of 'You'll have to ask someone who knows' from Dinjii Zhuh (Gwich’in) Elders.


By Kristi Benson CTC  Special Correspondent
I lived with dogs for many years before becoming a dog trainer. Although my first dogs were easy to live with, about ten years ago I found myself in a new, and tricky, situation. Through a relatively random sequence of events, I had come to live with a load of racing sled dogs. These dogs—athletic mixes of northern dogs and leggy hounds—were much scrappier than my first dogs. Much scrappier. Much. I was at a loss for how to handle it—my first dog hadn’t been snarky, and my family never had dogs. The establishment where my dogs had come from was in the small Arctic town where I lived for a few years, and the typical dog musher there had used a combination of yelling and physical punishment when fights erupted. Although that stopped the fights in the moment, I could see that it wasn’t getting me to …

“As close to sitting around the campfire with Ken Ramirez as most of us are likely to get”—Susan Friedman



By Zazie Todd, PhD

This month, the Companion Animal Psychology Book Club is reading The Eye Of The Trainer by Ken Ramirez.
This page contains affiliate links.
From the back cover,
“In The Eye of the Trainer, Ken Ramirez brings to life the power of positive reinforcement training to build trust and transform lives. Ken is one of the most creative, cogent, and effective animal trainers in the world. His positive reinforcement training principles and practices are studied, replicated, and applied in settings as diverse as conservation efforts with elephants on the African plains, canine search and rescue in Texas, oil-disaster recovery for sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, butterfly training in England, and animal shelters in Chicago.  In this inspiring, heartwarming, and hopeful series of essays chronicling his 40+ years of global exploration and observation, Ken shares not only the …