Companion Animal Psychology

There’s a lot more to your cat’s nose than you think. The importance of pheromones and scent for cats and kittens - and the implications for cat owners. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Do you ever pay much attention to that cute little nose your cat has? We’re used to thinking of dogs as being all about smells – but it turns out cats are very much into scent too. A literature review by Kristyn Vitale Shreve and Monique Udell (Oregon State University) explains what we know about the importance of olfaction and chemical detection to cats, from what it means for indoor cats to the possibility of trained scent detection cats. Vitale Shreve and Udell say, “Importantly, a better understanding of cat chemical signals has critical applied implications, as scent (and marking) plays an important role in many species-typical cat behaviors, problem behaviors, and can also serve as enr

Taking the animal’s perspective, and other highlights from the Train for Rewards blog party. 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, 28 other blogs joined me in the Train for Rewards blog party to celebrate what we can do with reward-based training of our companion animals, and to encourage people to give it a try. There were some truly brilliant posts. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped to make it such a success for the second year in a row. It’s no surprise that most posts were about dog training, but cat training and the training of a pet pig also featured this year. And there were some common themes. Animal welfare The benefits to animal welfare when we use reward-based training methods instead of aversive techniques was a common theme. Changes in how we think about animal welfare – to include positive experiences instead of just trying to reduce t

A photo-essay of dogs and cats to celebrate Canada's 150 years. Happy Birthday, Canada! 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 dogs playing at Lake Louise. Photo: Ravensfoot (Shutterstock). Beautiful dog and red maple leaves in BC. Photo: Bad Monkey Photography . A border collie and expansive skies in Alberta. Photo: Hai Diec (Shutterstock). A cat enjoys the sunshine and views of Vancouver. Photo: Marianne Catafesta (Shutterstock) A dog looks out at the sea and a lighthouse in Nova Scotia. Photo: Greg and Jan Ritchie (Shutterstock) A Wire Fox Terrier on the Trans Canada Trail, PEI. Photo: VJ Matthew (Shutterstock) A woman and her dogs in David Balfour park, Toronto. Photo: Danilo Silveira (Shutterstock). A fluffy cat sits on a picnic table near a Canadian flag. Photo: Panksvatouny (Shutterstock). Zazie Todd, PhD, is

Is part of the reason dogs manage to wrap their paws around our hearts because we're predisposed to love them? Guest post by Kristi Benson CTC Special Correspondent "...a tendency in people to seek relationships with the natural world." Photo: Paddlepooch (Shutterstock). This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Biophilia means, simply put, a focus on life and living things. Some researchers would even say it’s a love of living things. It has been used to refer to a tendency in people to seek relationships with the natural world: our love of greenspace, of potted plants, of well-tended trees on city boulevards, and maybe even (did you guess where this was going?), our love of animals, wild and domestic alike. Considering you are reading a blog dedicated to spreading welfare-boosting, scientifically valid information about companion animals, it will not come as a surprise to you that many

Favourite posts, photos and podcasts of the last month. By Zazie Todd, PhD Some of my favourites from around the web This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. “None of us see animals clearly.  They’re too full of the stories we’ve given them.” What animals taught me about being human by Helen MacDonald Can dogs help solve our childhood obesity problem? Hal Herzog PhD on childhood obesity and dog ownership. Sniffing kitten butts for science   to find out how mother cats recognize their kittens, by Mikel Delgado PhD . Should we call these canine behaviours calming signals? By Karen London PhD at The Bark. Be sure to also read the comment from Dr. Chiara Mariti, and this piece by Marc Bekoff  PhD that has been updated to include Dr. Mariti's comments. "Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: My dog used to love to play with other dogs, and then one day she didn’t." Tracy Krulik o

A new literature review looks at how shelters can increase adoptions and reduce animal relinquishment. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. The review, by Dr. Alexandra Protopopova (Texas Tech University) and Lisa Gunter , looks at the factors that affect adoption rates, the effects of interventions, and how to decrease the numbers of people giving their dogs to shelters (or returning dogs after adoption). The review is important because it will help shelters to know about evidence-based ways to reduce the number of dogs in shelters. Although some factors vary from one country to another, some things are consistent: people spend very little time looking at a shelter dog before deciding to adopt, and they pay attention to the dog’s size, breed, and colour. Dogs can arrive at shelters as strays (the most common route in the US), by being surrendered by their owner (about 30% of do

Welcome to the Train for Rewards blog party! The party aims to encourage people to use rewards when training their dogs or other companion animals. By Zazie Todd, PhD Check out all the wonderful blog posts from some amazing trainers. As well as lots of great posts, you will find new bloggers to follow. The blog party celebrates what we can do with reward-based dog training, encourages people to use rewards in training their pets, and inspires people to improve their technical skills and understanding of how reward-based dog training (and cat training etc) works. ( See the invitation and rules ). Take Part in Train for Rewards on 16th June Read the blog posts, comment on them, and share your favourite posts using the hashtag #Train4Rewards If you train your dog, cat, ferret, rabbit, horse, pig, etc. with rewards, share a photo of your pet on social media with the hashtag #Train4Rewards Afterwards, reward yourself for participating with a piece of cake, some chocolate, a gl