Companion Animal Psychology News October 2020

Funny animal pictures, wolf leaders, and barriers to being a vet - this month's Companion Animal Psychology news.

Companion Animal Psychology News October 2020



By Zazie Todd, PhD

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My favourites this month

“You can’t be a vet” Veterinarian Dr. Navaratnam Partheeban on the difficulties for ethnic minorities who want to become a vet.  

How to do food bowl bonuses to prevent food guarding (with video) in Don’t play with your dog’s food by Jessica Ring.

“These discoveries are changing the way we think about wolves.” Wolf leader pairs stay together for life by Mary Bates. 

 “It is hard on some days, but the satisfaction of watching a dog come in in a critical state and seeing them leave the building and go home to their family keeps me motivated.” In Vet techs keep clinics running and pets cared for, Jen Reeder speaks to some vet techs and finds out more about what the job involves, at Fear Free Happy Homes. 

“It can be confusing for new puppy parents to know if their puppy is experiencing separation anxiety or normal “puppy stuff”” Kate LaSala has some tips in puppies and separation anxiety.  

“It’s not a moral failure to realize that you’ve gotten yourself in over your head.” It’s okay to rehome your dog by Tim Steele. 

"The pandemic has turbo-charged our infatuation with dogs, but it has also put the health, wellbeing and best interests of our four-legged friends at risk." Dogs of woe: The pull of a pooch in Covid times by Sirin Kale.

There are 20 finalists in the comedy pet photo awards and there are some fun photos here.  

“It required every trick in the book: laser pointers, clockwork mice, spiders, doorbells, duck calls, birds on strings – even my son’s whoopee cushion.” Purrfect match: cats and their human doubles by Kathryn Bromwich with photos by Gerrard Gethings.


Animal Book Club

This month, the Animal Book Club is reading Canine Enrichment for the Real World: Making It a Part of Your Dog’s Daily Life by Allie Bender and Emily Strong. Ken  Ramirez says of the book, "...It focuses comprehensively on meeting your dog's needs and is written in a holistic, science-based, practical, straightforward, and easy-to-understand way. I love this book!"

You can find this and all the book club choices in my Amazon store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/animalbookclub


New Merch

I’m excited to unveil one of the new #CAPMerch designs. As dog trainers, one of the things we want to get across to people is the idea that they should reward the dog for behaviours we like.  That was the inspiration for this tee. As you can see, Melina likes the tee and thinks there should be a cat version as well! Check it out here

Reward the dog tee shirt, new Companion Animal Psychology merch, along with Melina the cat

A portion of all proceeds is donated to the BC SPCA Maple Ridge.


Support Me on Ko-Fi

A great big thank you to slidingsideways and two anonymous people for their support this past month. You are amazing and I really appreciate your support.

Ko-fi supporters help keep Companion Animal Psychology going! Your support helps me to keep bringing you posts. You can support me with a one-off or monthly donation on my Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/zazie.


Here at Companion Animal Psychology

This past month, I was thrilled to publish a guest post by veterinarian Dr. Gurpal Chahal on how to spot the signs of canine cognitive dysfunction and what can be done to help dogs with it.  

There have been two more instalments in The Writer’s Pet series about contemporary authors and their companion animals. Grant Hayter-Menzies told me about his biography of Woo, the Monkey Who Inspired Emily Carr, and his adorable little dog Freddie. And Eva Holland told me about her book, Nerve: Adventures in the Science of Fear, and her handsome rescued sled dog, Tacoma. Enjoy!

Still on a theme of books, I interviewed Lili Chin about her delightful and just-published book, Doggie Language. And I also spoke to Oluademi James-Daniel about the Inclusivity in Dog Training Facebook group that she co-founded, and what we can all do to increase diversity and inclusivity in the dog world.  

I put together an artisan Halloween gift guide with spooky crafts for pet lovers which is proving popular. 

And I wrote two posts on important topics in dog training and animal behaviour. One looks at the importance of kindness in how we deal with people with pets and with other professionals  The other looks at two common mistakes to avoid when training a fearful dog.  

As for me, I'm still working hard on my book about cats, which will be the sister book to Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. You can hear me talk about both dogs and cats as part of the Pet Professional Guild's Geek Week, which has an amazing line up of talks from 11-15 November. 


Animals in Art

This month’s animals in art is this oil painting on a panel. Birds nest and ferns is by American Fidelia Bridges and was painted in 1863. It’s in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago where it is currently on view as part of the Arts of  Americas exhibition.

This month's animals in art is this oil painting of a birds nest and ferns. Part of Companion Animal Psychology's October newsletter

Take care and stay safe!

Zazie


Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, writes The Pawsitive Post premium newsletter, and also has a column at Psychology Today. Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats. 

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