Supervising Pets and Children
At a recent professional meeting, Jennifer Shryock, CPDT and Ellen Mahurin, M.A., ACAAB described Jennifer’s parent education programs for dog owners expecting a new baby (Dogs and Storks™) and those for toddlers and dogs (Dog & Baby Connection). Elements of those programs are common to others, including Our own “Preparing Fido.” One of the critical elements of…
Are Dogs Ruled by Their Drives and Instincts?
It’s not uncommon to hear people talk about instincts and drives in animals. So you might hear statements like “Pit bulls are just instinctively aggressive” or “If you want a dog to really learn something well, you have to switch him out of prey drive and into pack drive.” The idea is that animals are…
“Resource Guarding?” Really?
“Resource guarding” seems to be the latest term used to describe dogs that are threatening or aggressive when their owners attempt to take something away from them. In the scientific behavior literature, this would likely be referred to as “possessive aggression” that in some sources is said to be part of “dominance aggression”. Typical scenarios…
Can Dog Owners Recognize Distress in Their Dog?
If you are a dog owner, how good do you think you are at spotting distress in their dog? Do you think you are fairly good at it – and better than anyone else, because you are more familiar with your dog’s behavior than anyone? A study recently published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior…
Relationship Building Among Cats
Our client Tom adopts older cats from animal shelters. This is not common, because most people want to adopt younger animals. For his devotion to older cats, he is to be commended. There are plenty of older cats that need homes but not many people willing to adopt them. Tom usually has two cats at…
Three “Must Dos” For Walking Your Puppy
While walking to the gym this morning I encountered a man walking his puppy on the other side of the street. The puppy was trailing behind him a bit, not quite to the end of the six foot leash. The puppy looked over at me in a friendly way, slowed down, and moved to the…
Overlooked Secrets to Successful Housetraining
When it comes to housetraining, most new dog or puppy owners, want this to happen fast! But any behavior professional and dog owner will tell you that when it comes to any sort of training, nothing ever seems to go as quickly as we want or expect. In this short article we give you three…
Why Labeling Behaviors as “Impulse Control” Problems is NOT a Good Idea
More and more often we are seeing diagnostic labels from human psychiatry being “borrowed” and applied to pets and pet behavior problems without any scientific or even rational reason for doing so. Applying a “fancy” label to a behavior doesn’t convey a greater and more in depth understanding of the behavior. It’s instead another example…
A Second Look at Oxytocin as the “Social Bonding” Chemical
Oxytocin received a lot of press a few years back regarding its relationship to social bonding between dogs and people. Dr. Patricia McConnell points to one such study in her blog article “Oxytocin Increases When Your Dog Looks at You”. It’s even been proposed as a treatment for separation anxiety in dogs. But an article shared…
Welcome to Science Based Dog Training!
Our site is under development. Look for articles and podcasts to appear here soon. In the meantime sign up for our Articles and Updates List and we’ll send you our analysis of the scientific article: “Effects of alpha-casozepine (Zylkene) versus selegiline hydrochloride (Selgian, Anipryl) on anxiety disorders” by Claude Beata, et al. You’ll discover whether this article…