Companion Animal Psychology

Do you use rewards to train your dog or cat (or other pet)? Show your support for reward-based training by posting a photo of your pet to the pet-ition here. By Zazie Todd, PhD By popular request, this post is part of the Train for Rewards blog party hosted here at Companion Animal Psychology. Add your pet’s photo, then share on social media with the hashtag #Train4Rewards. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter The photo link-up is open until 4pm Pacific time on Thursday 20th June, when the full list of Train for Rewards posts is available. How to add the photo Click where it says 'add your link' and follow the instructions to add your photo (no link is required). You will have up to 50 characters for your pet’s name. The link-up only allows 3 photos per person. If you make a mistake, you can delete the entry and start again. You have to give your email address, but it will not be used except if needed to communicate abou

Calling a dog a "bad dog" very often displays a lack of knowledge about dog behavior, says Marc Bekoff in this essay on the importance of positive reinforcement in dog training. This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. This guest post by Marc Bekoff is part of the Train for Rewards blog party . Photo: Daniel Brachlow/Pixabay "Eugene, you're a bad dog. Why did you try to fight with Melvin?" "Monica, why did you attack Rosie? Bad dog!" "Bad dog, bad dog, bad dog! Good dogs don't do that." "My dog Joey was badly abused by other dogs and humans when he was young and learned that he had to fight back. He was doing what came naturally. Now that I've worked hard to socialize him to other dogs and to humans and to praise him when he doesn't fight back, he's learned that fighting fire with fire doesn't work. I always told him he's a &

The 2019 Train for Rewards blog party celebrates reward-based training of dogs, cats, and other pets.  Join in the fun, find new bloggers to read, and share a photo of your pet on social media with the hashtag #Train4Rewards. By Zazie Todd, PhD Take Part in Train for Rewards Read the blog posts, comment on them, and share your favourite posts with the hashtag #Train4Rewards Add your pet's photo to the photo post Afterwards, reward yourself for participating with a piece of cake, some chocolate, a glass of wine, a walk on the beach, or whatever makes you happy.  You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Confidence in being able to use the technique, perceptions of the effectiveness of positive reinforcement, and the emotional toll of having a reactive dog all influence people’s choice of dog training method, a new study shows. Photo: Balakate/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. Get Companion Animal Psychology in your inbox. If you’ve never had a reactive dog, then you’ve not experienced those grim moments of hanging on to the leash while your dog lunges and growls at other people or dogs . Feelings of anxiety and embarrassment are often compounded by negative reactions and comments from other people. But while reward-based training methods are the best way to resolve behaviour issues, they aren’t always what people use. New research from Dr. Emma Williams and Dr. Emily Blackwell (University of Bristol) looks at the factors that affect people’s decisions about the

“How did wolves evolve into dogs? Persuasively."--Kirkus Reviews. By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. This month the Companion Animal Psychology Book Club is reading Once a Wolf: The Science Behind our Dogs Astonishing Genetic Evolution by Bryan Sykes. From the back cover, "The author of Seven Daughters of Eve returns with a lively account of how all dogs are descended from a mere handful of wolves.  How did wolves evolve into dogs? When did this happen, and what role did humans play? Oxford geneticist Bryan Sykes used the full array of modern technology to explore the canine genetic journey that likely began when a human child decided to adopt a wolf cub thousands of years ago. In the process, he discovered that only a handful of genes have created the huge range of shapes, sizes, and colors in modern dogs. Providing scientific insight into these adaptive stages,

New research investigates how Hungarian dog owners with two or more dogs describe “dominance” in the dogs’ relationship, and which pairings are most likely to involve conflict. Photo: Gerard Koudenburg/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. “Dominance” is a loaded word in dog training. A new scientific paper by Enikő Kubinyi and Lisa Wallis ( Family Dog Project , Eötvös Lorand University) begins by noting how contested the term is in ethology and psychology, before reporting on an investigation into the factors that influence Hungarian dog owners’ use of the term to describe the relationship between two of their dogs . They say the results show the Hungarian public’s use is broadly in line with that of ethologists. They also found that when two dogs in the same household are male and female, a spayed female dog is more likely to be considered dominant and to behave in wa

Join the pet blogging community in supporting reward-based training of dogs, cats, and other companion animals. #Train4Rewards By Zazie Todd, PhD This page contains affiliate links which means I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Are you a blogger? Do you support reward-based training for dogs and other animals? Would you like to take part in the fourth annual #Train4Rewards blog party? You are invited to write a blog post about reward-based training of dogs or other companion animals, post it on your own blog on the set date, then come and share a link to it here. Bloggers from anywhere in the world are invited to take part. In the past, posts have covered the training of dogs, cats and horses. Posts on the training of rats, mice, ferrets, rabbits, and fish are all welcome too. Read on to find out more. On Friday 14th or Saturday 15th June: 1. Publish a post on your blog in support of the #Train4Rewards blog party. It can be words, phot