Summer Vacation Road Trip! Road trips with dogs can be delightful if you’re prepared. We drove through several states, sleeping in hotels in some of them, to reach North Carolina where I spoke at a national conference for animal shelters. We had fun, shared behavior science with people who need Read more…
Cassandra Seale consulted me before writing this mic.com article about how your dog could be happier. I provided a few tips about how to set up a dog’s life to ensure he or she gets everything necessary for a happy life. Dogs need food, water, and shelter for survival, but Read more…
In which areas of life does your pet have “agency”? In social science, agency is defined as “the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.” Of course, it would be irresponsible to have dogs and cats living in a human world and give them Read more…
PLAN AHEAD Is your dog happy? Probably. But you can probably increase his satisfaction with his life. Dogs respond well to being able to predict what’s going to happen next. This starts with you doing things the same way every time. If your dog has a history of trying to Read more…
Verbal cues have a different meaning to dogs than to humans. Humans tend to think dogs are actually understanding the language, but dogs are simply listening for an indication of what they can do to make things work, to get things they want. “When I see my human pick up Read more…
Your dog is an individual but he or she learns in the same two ways as any other animal. Dogs learn through association and consequences. Association is how animals learn reflexive, involuntary responses; things they do automatically, without thinking. Emotional responses like fear and excited, joyful but over-aroused anticipation are Read more…
(The Process Works for Cats, Too!) As I write this, my mentor, Dr. Bob Bailey, is teaching keepers at the Copenhagen Zoo how behavior science can help provide better husbandry for the animals there. Husbandry refers to the management and control of domestic and kept wild animals, most commonly to Read more…
Balanced training for dogs: is just a little punishment helpful? “Balanced training” seems to be a popular approach to dog training. Those who don’t understand behavior science think it’s a good approach, but it has zero support from science. A little scrutiny of balanced training for dogs reveals severe conflict Read more…