Companion Animal Psychology

The price of birds for sale in pet stores in Taiwan sheds light on legal (and illegal) trade, with consequences for native wildlife.  Photo: Tupungato/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. A new study by Su Shan ( Institute of Zoology ) et al investigates the birds for sale in pet shops in Taiwan, and the factors that affect their price.  Taiwan is an interesting place to study birds. Songbirds are kept for singing competitions, and there is a tradition of taking caged birds out for a walk (‘bird walking’). As in other Asian countries, birds and other animals are set free in order to make merit (prayer release), potentially adding significantly to the numbers of alien birds living wild. There is a lot of trade with other Asian countries, and some birds have been obtained illegally.  The price of the birds is a measure of the market, because easily-obtained bir

Failure to include pets in emergency planning puts human lives at risk. Photo: eAlisa/Shutterstock.com By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. “There is no other factor contributing as much to human evacuation failure in disasters that is under the control of emergency management when a threat is imminent as pet ownership.” So say Sebastian Heath ( FEMA ) and Robert Linnabary ( University of Tennessee ) in a review of the ways in which pets should be included in emergency planning.  Emergency management has five stages: planning, preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. It is important to include pets at all stages so that people with pets are more likely to evacuate if necessary. The human-animal bond can also encourage people to prepare for disasters, since they may be motivated to plan for their pet even if not for themselves. Strong emergency planning also en

By Zazie Todd, PhD Isn’t this the prettiest kitten? Ragdoll cats are said to be especially good with children, and it’s certainly the case that the Ragd olls of my acquaintance are friendly to people of all ages. I’m taking a short break from the blog but will be back next week. See you then. Photo: cath5 / Shutterstock.com

Can people be blamed for dog training mistakes when there is so much erroneous information out there? 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 saw a man walking a German Shepherd. Even from a distance it was clear the dog was nervous: his posture was low to the ground and the way he was walking made me wonder what kind of equipment he was on. As I waited at the traffic lights, I got a chance to see: a prong collar, tight, positioned high on his neck. There are easy alternatives, the simplest being a no-pull harness . I began to wonder: did the man not know there were other approaches? Did he not want to invest time in training loose-leash walking? Or did he think it looks good to have a big dog on a prong collar? While I don’t know his line of reasoning, we do know something about sources of training information. A recent survey of canine behavioural problems by P

Even indoor pets help us get to know other people, according to new research in four cities in the US and Australia. 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 easy to see how people who regularly walk their dog can get to know others. They might strike up friendly conversations about dogs, or learn to avoid certain people because of the way their off-leash dog charges up with unwanted “friendly” advances. It’s less obvious for people who don’t walk their dogs, or who have pets that are always indoors. But a new study by researchers at the University of Western Australia and Harvard University finds that pets are an important way of getting to know and make friends with other people. Lead author Lisa Wood told me in an email,  “ There is growing evidence that social isolation, loneliness and lack of social support are common issues in today's cities and suburbs, and thes