Companion Animal Psychology

I have a new post over on my Psychology Today blog, Fellow Creatures.  Samson Katt/Pexels By Zazie Todd, PhD I have a new post over at my Psychology Today blog, Fellow Creatures . It looks at how we can use consent tests when we are petting dogs or cats to find out if they want more, or if they would prefer us to stop. Check it out here: Find out if your pet really wants you to pet them .

Celebrating ten years of inspiring people to have happier pets. Photo: Nadezhda V. Kulagina/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. Ten years ago today, I wrote the first post on this blog. At the time I didn’t really know how it would go, whether anyone would be interested to read it, or if this was a topic I would be interested in enough to keep blogging over time. Little did I know… Here I am, ten years and 709 posts later, still blogging, because I still feel passionately about helping people to use reward-based training methods and provide more enrichment for their dogs and cats. Along the way, I’ve written two books. Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy was published in 2020, and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy will be published in May of this year. Both are published by Greystone Books, and Purr is available for pre-order now from all good bookstores. (...

Get your paws on merch or the Post with these special anniversary discounts. By Zazie Todd  PhD Companion Animal Psychology is turning ten tomorrow, and to celebrate I’ve got some special discounts to share with you.  This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The Pawsitive Post The Pawsitive Post is my twice-monthly newsletter packed with the latest intel to help you understand dogs and cats better. A subscription includes your ticket to our insightful events. Here’s what people are saying about The Pawsitive Post : “Lots of behavioural information in an easy to read format” “I really appreciate the webinars. They help me take better care of my own animals and improve my practice as a force-free trainer.” “It helps reinforce things I know and gives me new ideas to research and then share with other dog owners” For a limited time, you can get 30% off the first 3 months subscription if you sign up via this ...

The Reading Cats and Dogs event is part of Companion Animal Psychology' s tenth anniversary celebrations. By Zazie Todd PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Earlier today, I hosted the online event, Reading Cats and Dogs: A Conversation With Lili Chin, Sassafras Lowrey, and Zazie Todd.  The event was emceed by Kristi Benson , Special Correspondent to Companion Animal Psychology . Over 400 people signed up for this event and it was wonderful to see so many people there. I talked about and read from my upcoming book, Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy .  Sassafras Lowrey talked about and read from her book, Chew This Journal: An Activity Book for You and Your Dog . Lili Chin talked about and read from her book, Doggie Language: A Dog Lover's Guide to Understanding Your Best Friend . I would like to thank Sassafras and Lili for taking part in this event, for such wonderful answers to the que...

The artist Lili Chin has created a new illustration about cats and it’s both adorable and useful. Photo: PILAIPHUN/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. Lili Chin is well known for her gorgeous and accurate illustrations of dogs, cats , and other animals. Her new illustration about cats shows six things that your cat needs.  The illustration is reproduced here under a Creative Commons licence. Isn’t it fabulous? I’m delighted to have provided some of the inspiration for this latest poster through my book, Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy .  You can browse this and Chin's other illustrations on her website, Doggie Drawings .   If, like me, you’re a big fan of Lili Chin then you’ll love her book Doggie Language . You can read my interview with Lili Chin about the book here .  And on March 28th at 10am PT/1pm ET/6pm UK time, you can listen to Lili Ch...

Your cat’s gentle headrubs are an important part of their social behaviour. Photo: Marie-Claude Lemay/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. Most people are flattered when their cat rubs their head on their legs when they come home from being out. After all, it shows the cat is paying attention to you. You should be delighted to see this behaviour which is essentially a sign of friendship and that your cat sees you as part of their social group.  When your cat headbutts you with their forehead, it’s called bunting. When your cat rubs their head and cheeks, and maybe continues to rub their side and even tail against you or another cat, this is called allorubbing.  Sometimes the word bunting is used to mean head rubbing on objects (as distinguished from allorubbing on cats, people, or other animals), but the more general use of the word seems to include rubbing on people to...

If you have a fearful or reactive dog, you need to get good at management. Here’s how it helps. A woman walks her dog along Britain's Jurassic Coast towards Portland Bill. Photo: AlonaK/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. Whenever a dog is fearful, our priority is to help them feel safe . This can often require management to ensure they aren’t put in situations that are too difficult for them.   What is management in dog training? Management means making changes to the environment that help to solve behaviour issues. Sometimes management is the solution in itself, such as when you put a lid on the trash can and stop leaving food on the kitchen counter to prevent your dog from foraging in those places.  Another example would be putting the dog behind a pet gate when there are visitors to the home to stop your dog from jumping on them. Or using a no-pull harness (o...

“Stories that both dazzle and edify… This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times Book Review. 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 Animal Book Club is reading Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive by Carl Zimmer. From the publisher, “We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world—from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses—the harder they find it is to locate life’s edge.  Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The ...

I have a new post over on my Psych Today blog Fellow Creatures . Anna Fusciello/Pexels By Zazie Todd PhD Even though it’s 2022, gender roles still shape stereotypes and behaviour. A recent paper by Dr. Dennis Turner set me thinking about how they influence people’s relationships with their pets. Turner has contributed immensely to our understanding of our feline friends and based on an overview of feline science he writes about unanswered research questions about cats. Read more here: Gender roles, dominance training, and caring for pets .