Companion Animal Psychology

Watch or listen to the recording of Pilley Bianchi talking about her book For The Love of Dog (illustrated by Calum Heath), Wendy Lyons Sunshine on her book Tender Paws, and Prof. Carri Westgarth on The Happy Dog Owner. Clockwise from top left: Zazie Todd, Pilley Bianchi, Kristi Benson and Apricat, Carri Westgarth, PhD, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine. Zazie, Pilley, Carri and Wendy are holding up copies of their books. 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 Pilley Bianchi, Wendy Lyons Sunshine, and Carri Westgarth, PhD Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers, took place in September 2024 with 11 author panels (and one tricks class from the amazing Erica Beckwith of A Matter of Manners Dog Training) . It was organized 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 book...

Zazie chatted with Victoria Stilwell about how to understand and help fearful dogs. By Zazie Todd, PhD I'm a huge fan of Victoria Stilwell and recently I had the pleasure of chatting with her on her podcast, Positively Dog Training. You can listen to the episode here ( Apple , Spotify ). Here's the podcast description: "Victoria Stilwell welcomes Zazie Todd, PhD, an award-winning author, animal behavior expert, and founder of Companion Animal Psychology on the podcast to discuss the science of stress in dogs, how to identify signs of anxiety, and the role of medications in behavior modification. The conversation touches on cognitive bias in dogs, optimism vs. pessimism, and how early positive experiences shape a dog’s outlook.  Zazie shares insights on why fear and anxiety in dogs are on the rise, how counter-conditioning works, and why first-time experiences matter so much for a dog’s learning. Zazie also highlights the importance of finding properly qualified trainers w...

My book, Bark! , is featured in a reel from the Columbus Library. By Zazie Todd, PhD The Columbus Metropolitan Library has a history of making fun reels for their social media that encourage people to use the library. Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog was featured in a recent reel and you can watch it here  on their Facebook page (it's also on Instagram ).  They say, "Every 2 seconds, a book is rescued from captivity. Will you be a hero for a library item in need?" I was delighted to see my book included in the reel. There's actually a dog and cat theme going on throughout the video.  Did you know that borrowing books from libraries is a great way to support authors? If your library doesn't have a copy of Bark! , you can always ask them to order it in--libraries are very open to requests from their members.  Take a look at the video, and let me know what you think!