Companion Animal Psychology

Understanding our pets’ individual needs can help to make them happier. Photo: New Africa/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. On Monday, my cat Melina had an important specialist vet appointment. Some of you will know that she has been having chemotherapy for the past year. It’s meant daily meds at home and regular bloodwork and vet appointments. And the good news is that she is doing great thanks to our wonderful veterinary team. But what I want to tell you is that after she was home, Melina was very, very chatty. “Meow, meow,” she kept saying. It felt like she had come home from a hard day (which she had) and badly needed to tell me all about it. As if she had a lot to get off her chest. “Meow, meow!” “I know… I’m sorry…” She is the only cat I’ve had who I feel is telling me about her day like this. Obviously, previous cats have meowed at me, often (and sometimes loudly and i...

How to raise a happy and resilient dog from puppyhood with Kerry Nichols in the latest episode of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation .  By Zazie Todd, PhD Watch episode 30 of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation below or on Youtube , listen below or wherever you get your podcasts ( Apple , Spotify ), or scroll down to read a transcript of the highlights. About this episode with Kerry Nichols This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Zazie chats with Kerry Nichols, bestselling author of Puppy Brain: How Our Dogs Learn, Think, and Love . We talk about: How Kerry got into breeding dogs Why we both love Golden Retrievers How the book, Puppy Brain, came about What puppies are like when they are born Examples of the socialization that Kerry does with puppies Her favourite part of the first 8 weeks of a puppy's life Advice on finding a responsible breeder (for any breed) And Kerry reads from Puppy Brain for us! Pupp...

Cats don’t like change, so a gradual approach to a new litter or litter box location is important. Here's what to do. Photo: KrakenImages.com/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’s not often that geopolitics collides with the everyday lives of our pets, but for many Canadians that’s the case right now. Trump’s tariff tantrums mean that Canadians are looking to buy local products, rather than American ones. That led me to think about how we make changes for cats without upsetting them, such as changes to their litter box arrangements or switching to a locally-made brand of cat litter. There are many reasons people might want to make changes to their cat's litter or litter box location, from switching to a different brand, getting a new cat, or remodeling their home. The thing about cats is that they really hate change. They like everything to be predictable, and that m...

Kennel clubs have lost control, dogs are suffering, and here’s what needs to happen according to the authors of the research. Photo: 0tsphoto/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at not cost to you. When most people get a puppy, they spend a long time thinking about breed. Hopefully they ask the breeder about health checks and insist on seeing the puppy with the mom, two steps that help to ensure the puppy will have better outcomes as an adult dog. But the whole dog breeding situation is a big hot mess, according to scientists, and something needs to be done. The study, titled A New Future for Dog Breeding , is published in Animal Welfare and is by an international team of scientists from Denmark, Canada, the UK, and the US (Proschowsky et al 2025). It argues that we need to reduce inbreeding in pedigree and designer dogs in order to improve their welfare. Dogs have lived alongside us since evo...

My latest post at Psychology Today looks at the story of a valiant dog who is missing on an Australian island. Stokes Bay, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Photo: Vlad Kutepov/Pexels By Zazie Todd, PhD News that a 4kg miniature Dachshund is still alive after going missing on Kangaroo Island, Australia , more than a year ago, set me thinking about how dogs can survive without people.  Valerie, the miniature Dachshund, was recently sighted 16 months after she first went missing, and now a local rescue has set cameras and traps to catch her. It’s not known how Valerie has survived this long and whether local people have helped her—although, given that she is wearing a pink collar, you would think that anyone who saw her would mention it, just like the person who spotted her and told the rescue. So it seems most likely that she has survived on her own. Read more on my Fellow Creatures blog: Valerie the daring Dachshund and how dogs survive when lost

Today I’m celebrating 13 years of writing about how to have happy dogs and cats, aided by science. Photo: Havoc/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD The symbol of a thirteenth anniversary is lace, so that’s why I chose this photo of a beautiful cat in a window.  I feel very lucky to still be able to write this blog, and to have such a special community around it of people who care so passionately about the welfare of dogs and cats. To be honest, I find it a little hard to look back on the last year, because it’s six months since I lost my dad. Of course, I still miss him terribly. But there were some real highlights. I was so happy to celebrate the publication of my third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog , in October. As it happens, this book is dedicated to my parents, and it means a lot that my dad was able to see this before he passed. People tell me they love the stories about Pepper in the book And, of course, there was Bark! Fest, the book...

A new post on my Psychology Today blog looks at the role of social media in helping shelter pets find new homes. Photo: mh-grafik/Pixabay By Zazie Todd, PhD From the piece: "Every year, millions of dogs and cats find their new homes via shelters and rescues. Increasingly, shelters and rescues rely on social media to post adverts for the animals in their care. New research published in Animals looks at the role of Facebook in animal adoptions in the US and whether or not features of the Facebook post, photo, and/or video influence the animal’s likelihood of adoption. "The study aimed to look specifically at which posts got the most likes and shares on Facebook and whether or not those animals were adopted during the study’s time frame. It turns out that you can help adoptable dogs and cats the most by sharing posts about them, but "likes" simply don’t help as much." Read more here: Social media shares (but not likes) help pets get adopted .

We've added a red maple leaf to our artwork and joined the Look for the Leaf campaign for Canadian podcasts. By Zazie Todd, PhD Here at The Pawsitive Post in Conversation , Kristi and I are proudly Canadian. And we're very proud of our podcast which aims to help people have a better relationship with their pet dogs and cats. This is a time when Canadians are looking for things that are made in Canada. So we've joined the Look for the Leaf campaign to help people identify Canadian podcasts. You can see the red maple leaf added to our artwork, above. The campaign was started by Terry O'Reilly of Under the Influence  and Apostrophe Pod . You can learn more in this post by Kattie Laur at Pod the North . O'Reilly told Laur, “Grocery stores now mark Canadian products. Ads and commercials now say, ‘Made in Canada for Canadians, by Canadians.’ And that should extend to podcasts, too,” says Terry. “There are so many great Canadian shows to listen to - and we can help Canadia...

Zazie chatted with Shannon Riley about what science tells us about the puppy blues, positive reinforcement training, and more! By Zazie Todd, PhD I was delighted to be a guest on the Backyard Pet Talk podcast with Shannon Riley.  You can listen to the episode here (and on  Apple ) or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can also watch on Youtube .  Here's the official podcast description: "Studies on Force-Free Positive Reinforcement Dog Training with Zazie Todd, PhD, award-winning author of WAG, PURR, and now BARK!  The Science Behind Positive Reinforcement: Why Force-Free Dog Training Works In today's special episode, we talk with Zazie Todd, PHD, about some scientific studies; some dogs are harder to train than others, adolescent dogs have more issues than puppies, the puppy blues thing!" This episode is part of the podcastathon  2025 which raises funds for charity. The aim with this episode is to raise money for the Ripple Effect Animal project . If you ...

Watch or listen to the recording of Antony Johnston talking about his book The Dog Sitter Detective Takes the Lead , Louisa Scarr talking about Gallows Wood , and Philipp Schott on Eleven Huskies . Clockwise from top left: Zazie Todd, Philipp Schott, Louisa Scarr, Kristi Benson, and Antony Johnston hold up their books at Bark! Fest (or in Kristi's case, her cat, Apricat). By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you.  Bark! Fest with Antony Johnston, Louisa Scarr, and Philipp Schott, DVM Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers, took place in September 2024. I organized it to celebrate the launch of my new book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog , which is out now and available wherever books are sold. We heard from some incredible authors of books about animals. This is the recording of the panel Canine Crime and Mystery with Antony Johnston, Louis...