Companion Animal Psychology

We discuss the differences in training a dog vs training a cat, the needs for exercise, enrichment, and other aspects of caring for dogs and cats. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Listen to episode 50 of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation wherever you get your podcasts ( Apple , Spotify ) or below, watch on Youtube or below, or scroll down for the show notes. Caring for dogs vs caring for cats How is caring for a dog different than caring for a cat, and what is the same? We talk about what dogs and cats need for a happy life with us. We talk about:     Training dogs and training cats (and why you should train your cat)     The importance of enrichment     Their sense of smell     Going places with your dog, but not your cat     House training     Vet care and husbandry     And the books we've been reading. Also...

The popular philosophy of memes, especially those dismantling the patriarchy, can be a useful window into thinking about dogs.  By Kristi Benson, PCBC-A, CTC, Special Correspondent I recently saw a meme that made me sit back in that delighted flavour of surprise that strikes upon the tidy resolution of something I’ve struggled, previously, to sketch the shape of in my mind. The meme, a screen shot of a Tumblr, said : “All women are beautiful” is a cute sentiment and all, but it’s ultimately the wrong one. All women are valuable, all women are people, whether you can be generous enough to find unconventional beauty in their appearance or not.  To this, someone had added—and I’ll paraphrase somewhat for propriety’s sake— “All women are forced to live under an arbitrary and unfair system which sorts us into the categories of ‘Bangable’ and ‘Worthless’. The solution to this is NOT to expand the definition of ‘Bangable’.” It is hard to exist comfortably in our world as a woman. We ...

We chat with separation anxiety expert Malena DeMartini to find out what it takes to help dogs and their guardians with this issue. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Listen to episode 49 of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation wherever you get your podcasts ( Apple , Spotify ) or below, watch on Youtube or below, or scroll down to read the show notes and highlights. How to help dogs with separation anxiety If your dog has separation anxiety, what can you do to help them, how can you cope with not leaving your dog alone for longer than they can handle, and why is it so important? We're joined by separation anxiety expert Malena DeMartini to talk about how you can help your dog with their separation-related issues. We talk about: what separation anxiety is and whether other labels like separation-related distress are useful to dog trainers and dog guardians what it means to su...