Companion Animal Psychology

Register for Culture Clash and Beyond with Jean Donaldson. By Zazie Todd PhD Culture Clash and Beyond: Jean Donaldson Bark! Fest gets off to a tail-wagging start with a conversation with one of the world’s top dog trainers. Jean Donaldson’s seminal book The   Culture Clash reframed how we think about dogs and has inspired generations of dog trainers to use (or switch to) reward-based methods. Join us to talk about all things dog training, including positive reinforcement, fearful dogs, and education for dog owners and trainers alike. Mon 9th September 2024 at 10am Pacific time (1pm Eastern / 6pm UK time). Register here.  The event is hosted by Zazie Todd and Kristi Benson .  A recording will be available to all those who register. It will be sent out 72 hours after the live event ends. This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you   Attendees at the live event will have the chance to win a copy of T...

Discover the amazing list of books about animals that will be celebrated at Bark! Fest in September 2024. 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 is just around the corner and we will be celebrating some amazing books about dogs, cats, and other animals. Get ready to cuddle on the couch with your pet while you listen to some of your favourite authors talk about their books. Plus, you’ll have the chance to win books and to ask questions of the authors. Bark! Fest takes place September 9th to 26th 2024 I’m delighted to unveil the list of books that will be featured at Bark! Fest. If you love animals and love reading, you are really going to love this event! You can see the full schedule of events at Bark! Fest here  and sign up for those you are interested in.  The books are available from all good bookstores including Bookshop (which supports independent bookstores), UK B...

There are new guidelines for advertisers and any organization that uses images of dogs in public communications. Here’s the infographic that explains them. The Welsh Corgi is one of the breeds that often has an extreme conformation, meaning care should be taken if choosing this breed to use in advertising, according to the new guidelines. Photo: Jus_Ol/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd, PhD The International Collaborative on Extreme Conformation in Dogs ( ICECDogs ) has put forward new guidelines which suggest never using any images of dogs with an extreme conformation (i.e., body shape) in advertising or other public communications. The concern is that the widespread use of such images only normalizes the extreme body shape, when that body shape actually causes suffering for dogs. I wrote a post about these new guidelines at my Psych Today blog Fellow Creatures . You can read it here: Only use images of healthy dogs in adverts, say experts .   ICECDogs have also put together an inf...

Love your pets and love to read about animals? This upcoming book festival is for you! By Zazie Todd PhD Nothing is better than relaxing on the couch with your dog or cat and reading a book by one of your favourite authors. Except maybe listening to your favourite author talk about that book… Well you and your dog or cat can now do that with Bark! Fest, the book festival for animal lovers. 23 authors of books about animals, from much-loved classics to exciting new titles, will be in conversation about their books in a series of online events in September 2024. The events are aimed squarely at people who love their pets, with both dogs and cats being feted. The authors’ books cover a range of topics, from dog training and cat behaviour, to enrichment and body language, to how pets influence our lives and the pain of losing them. There’s even a session with authors of crime and mystery books where a dog is central to the story. I came up with the idea for Bark! Fest while thinking abou...

Why it's so important to prepare your dog ahead of the baby's arrival, and what you can do to help your dog cope with the impending changes in routine etc. By Zazie Todd PhD Watch the latest episode of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation below or on Youtube , listen below or via your favourite podcast app , or read a transcript of the highlights below. Watch: Listen: Preparing a dog for the arrival of a baby Zazie and Kristi chat with Kate LaSala of Rescued By Training about the important steps to take to help dogs prepare for the arrival of a baby in the family. Kate takes a lot of fear and aggression cases and she tells us how she came to specialize in working with families with small children. She tells us about the issues people have with their dogs when they are expecting and the reasons why it's so important to start preparation early. The dog needs to get used to being flexible, to no longer getting all the attention, to changes in sleeping arrangements, a...

My next book will be out in a few months. Check out this beautiful cover! By Zazie Todd PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you   I am so excited to share the cover of my next book with you!  Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog will be out on 1st October 2024 in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and on 17th  October in the UK).  Just look at this gorgeous cover! I am so lucky to have the same designer for all three of my books’ covers, Belle Wuthrich, and I think she has excelled herself with this one. I love it sooooo much! Out of all of my books, Bark! is the one that is closest to my heart. I wanted to write something that would help the fearful and anxious dogs, that is full of practical tips, and that is evidence-based just as Wag and Purr are.  And, of course, that takes into account what it is like for the dog’s guardian too, because ...

And mixed breeds live longer, on average, than purebred cats. Photo: SeraphP/Shutterstock By Zazie Todd PhD Researchers have created new life tables for domestic cats that show how long they live on average, and how much longer their life is likely to be at any given age. The study, which is published in Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, uses data from cats in the UK that are in the VetCompass database which includes primary veterinary clinics across the country. The data covers almost 8,000 cats who passed in 2019, 2020, or the first 3 months of 2021. While the average cat lived 11.74 years from birth, the data also shows how much longer a cat is likely to live once they reach a particular age. The results show that a cat who is 9-10 years old is likely to live for another 6.08 years, while a cat who is 12-13 years old will likely live another 4.24 years.  For those with very senior cats, the good news is that a cat who is 15-16 likely has another 2.72 years, and if they are...