Companion Animal Psychology

People are better at recognizing fear in dogs if they have experience, study shows. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. In last week’s post about dogs’ responses to petting by familiar and unfamiliar people , we said dogs generally prefer to be petted in certain places, and people don’t always recognize the subtle signals that show when a dog is uncomfortable. This week, we’re looking at a study that investigates whether experience with dogs helps people to recognize canine emotions such as happiness and fear. Photo: jadimages / Shutterstock The internet survey was conducted by Michele Wan and colleagues at Columbia University, New York, and was completed by 2,163 participants. There were 16 short video clips of dogs , sometimes with people, in various situations. They were shown with no sound, so people could only use visual signals. Several different dog breeds and mixes were

How do dogs respond to affection from familiar and unfamiliar people? Photo: Ksenia Raykova/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. When my Siberian husky wants affection, he will come and stand near me. If I don’t respond immediately, he will lick his lips and move closer, possibly leaning on me, until I respond. Sometimes when I start to pet him, he will lick his lips again, but if I take this as a sign that he’d like me to stop, he licks his lips even more and moves closer or paws at me to ask me to start petting again. At some point he will sit, and then lay down and ask for chest rubs. From his perspective, chest rubs should last at least half an hour, and if I stop at any point before this there will be more licking of lips and pawing at me. I was interested to read a new paper by Franziska Kuhne and colleagues in Germany that investigates how  dogs respond to p

People's beliefs about what to do about free-roaming cats depend on whether they think they are stray or feral. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Recently, I wrote about a study of public perceptions of feral cats in the US . That study gave participants a definition of what they meant by feral, but as one of our readers pointed out, whether we describe cats as feral or stray could have consequences for how people feel about them. We promised to return to the topic and so this week we look at a study in New Zealand by Mark Farnworth et al. They wanted to investigate how perceptions differ for stray and feral cats, and the measures that should be taken to deal with them. The legal framework in New Zealand is different for stray and feral cats. Stray cats, that are lost or abandoned and rely on people for at least some help, should be taken to animal charities where they will be

A fascinating study by Franck Péron and colleagues looks at the question of whether or not grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) will share, with each other or with a human. Photo: Eric Isselee / 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. Two hand-reared parrots took part: Griffin, the dominant bird who is 14 years old, and Arthur, who is 11. The birds live in large individual cages in the same room as each other, and often take part in studies of parrot cognition. This means they were well placed to understand the task involved: choosing one of four coloured cups, each of which has a different meaning. For the purposes of this study, the cups were as follows:- Green cup – sharing. The bird and their partner both get a treat. Pink cup – selfish. The bird gets a treat but the partner does not. Orange cup – giving. The partner gets a treat, but they do not. Violet cup

Merry Christmas! Photo: Michael Pettigrew / Shutterstock Seasons Greetings to you and all your furry and feathered friends. These were our top stories of the year: Social Referencing in Dogs Now Where's My Treat? How to Help a Fat Cat Lose Weight Behavioural Problems in Rabbits, Rodents and Ferrets Homeless Pets: A UK Survey By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy . She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, writes The Pawsitive Post premium newsletter, and also has a column at Psychology Today . Todd lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, one dog, and two cats.  Useful links: Companion Animal Psychology merch   Companion Animal Psychology's Amazon store As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualif

How do dogs respond to other dogs' barks, played forwards or backwards? 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 recently looked at the amazing story of how two dogs had been taught to go into an fMRI scanner – the beginnings of canine neuroscience . Today’s blog is about a study that takes a different, less hi-tech, approach to understanding the canine brain. Siniscalchi et al were interested in how dogs process other dogs’ vocalizations, and whether they show lateralization of the hemispheres – in other words, whether the left half and right half of the dog’s brain have different functions. To begin with they needed to record some canine vocalizations. They took four dogs (two mixed-breed, one Border Collie, and one Rhodesian Ridgeback) and recorded the sounds they made during a disturbance, isolation, and play. To get the disturbance recording, they had the dog in a car with its

Simple steps to help your overweight or obese cat lose weight. Photo: Thy Le/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. If you have any concerns about your cat's weight or diet, or simply want to know if your cat is a healthy weight, speak to your veterinarian. Many cats are overweight or obese. A review by Kathryn Michel and Margie Scherk, published in the Journal of  Feline Medicine and Surgery , summarizes the problem and the steps that should be taken to help cats lose weight. Their paper begins by discussing the serious health concerns caused by overweight and obesity: an obese cat is almost four times as likely to get diabetes as a normal-weight cat, and more likely to suffer from other problems such as urinary tract disease and lameness. They point out that just ten extra pieces of kibble a day, over and above what the cat needs, will cause a 12% increase i