Portland Blog Competition: Canine Aggression – The Public Perception
By Hannah Blumenfeld “Not a nice dog,” says the woman on the sidewalk. Lucy and I had just walked past her, and although I was shoving treats in Lucy’s mouth, the woman locked eyes with my beautiful beast. This scares the bejeezus out of Lucy, so she barks. And, yes, sometimes lunges. I do not correct the woman; I don’t tell her that Lucy is, in fact, a very nice dog. A couple months earlier, we were walking past a family of four. First came the mom and older daughter.… Continued
November 20, 2018: New Video Reveals Secrets of the Feline Tongue
Researchers created 3D scans of cats’ tongues to create a video showing how “sharp, tiny cones on cats’ tongues give their coats and skin a deep clean, instead of merely spreading their spit around” and explaining how cats exploit the use of surface tension to keep themselves clean: “Slow-motion footage of several housecats grooming revealed the felines flared their tongues outward as if taking a big lick of an ice cream cone so the papillae stood perpendicular as they move through the fur.” Read article
When Day Care Is Bad for Your Dog
By Danette Johnston If your dog currently attends dog day care or you are thinking about starting, here is some food for thought… I have owned and operated a dog day care and training facility for over 18 years now. I have a lot of experience in this arena, have learned a ton (thank goodness) in the past 18 years and my opinions and recommendations on dog day care have changed. When I opened in 2000, dog day care facilities were a brand-new thing. I used to recommend day care… Continued
Portland Blog Competition: Aggression by Any Other Name
By Stephanie Peters “Help, my dog is aggressive!” This is often the first thing that I hear from potential clients when they contact me for a training or behavior consultation. They may be troubled by certain behaviors their dog is demonstrating, and are either panicked that they have somehow caused the behavior, or worried that their dog is inherently “flawed.” Our culture sometimes has a tendency to pathologize aggressive behaviors in our beloved pets—who are, let’s remember, animals—and there is something of a dearth of information available to pet guardians… Continued
October 30, 2018: Hungarian Study Aims to Better Understand Cat-Human Interactions
Behavior scientists in Hungary asked 157 cat owners about the cat-human relationship and their cat’s socio-cognitive abilities, and discovered that most owners “considered their cat as a family member, and they attributed well developed socio-cognitive skills to them.” Read study
Training the Wild Friends at Best Friends
By Vicki Ronchette [An] astonishing thing happened with a different tortoise who we were told was overweight and needed exercise. This tortoise started out happily taking food but then stopped eating. However, she continued to stay with the group of people. I asked the caretaker if this tortoise enjoyed being touched and he said that she did, so I asked him to show us how he touches her. He explained that she seemed to like being scratched on her legs close to her shell. We continued our stationing training, but… Continued
Great Expectations
By Susan McKeon Before retirement, most greyhounds will not have experienced many of the day-to-day sights, sounds and activities that companion dogs are accustomed to and that we take for granted. It is fair to say that, in most cases, early socialization of a racing greyhound is not a top priority within a racing environment. For most racing greyhounds, their exposure to the world is limited to their racing kennel, paddocks and the track. They have not generally seen or encountered microwave ovens, televisions, stairs, other breeds of dogs, small animals… Continued
Home Alone: The Painful Puzzle
By Terrie Hayward Separation anxiety in a dog is the “equivalent of a full-blown panic attack in a human being due to the anxiety and fear of being left alone. The severity of the panic attack and the way each dog manifests and displays it may be different, but the physiological basics are the same. Fear and anxiety are best friends, and the hormonal and neuro-chemical processes that happen when these emotions are triggered are not under simple mind control, certainly not by dogs (and generally not by humans, either).”… Continued
October 24, 2018: Study Looks to Identify Factors Associated with Long-Term Working Dog Success
Given that “a relatively high proportion of potential working dogs fail to make full operational status, or are later withdrawn from service,” this new study investigates traits such as energy, interest and responsiveness and finds that “the combination of these traits may be important for a long-term working life” of police and military detection dogs. Read study
An Alternative Perspective
By Sara Richter It is no surprise that horses perceive the world differently than humans do…Dr. Temple Grandin describes the vision of horses in her 1989 piece, Behavioral Principles of Livestock Handling: “The latest research on color vision in farm animals shows that they are dichromats with cones (color sensitive retina cells) most sensitive to yellowish-green (552-555 nm) and blue purple light (444-445 nm)2. Humans are trichromats and see the full color spectrum. Dichromatic vision may make the animal more sensitive to seeing sudden movement. It may explain why grazing animals… Continued
Breaking the Cycle
By Lara Joseph Molly is my nine-year-old Solomon Island eclectus parrot who lost her home a few years ago. What a beautiful little bird she is and I just could not understand why anyone would not want her any more. Well, I soon found out why she was surrendered. Before she lost her home she had developed this ear piercing “beep” sound that resembled that of a fire alarm when the battery needs to be replaced. Except Molly’s beeping sound was even louder than that! Read more.
Identifying Enrichment
By Lara Joseph In order to change a behavior, we must replace it with another behavior… In my role as an exotic animal trainer, several of the undesirable behaviors I encounter are lunging, screaming, kicking, grabbing, rushing enclosure doors as keepers try to enter, defensive posturing, abnormal repetitive behaviors, and self-mutilation, amongst many others. What, then, is our approach? Often, when approaching a behavior issue, I observe how an animal interacts with her environment when there are no humans in close proximity. I do this so I can begin identifying what items… Continued
Living in Fear
By Daniel Antolec After an assault, one farmer had to sell three draft horses because they were no longer safe when he used them to pull equipment as human activity behind them triggered the horses’ hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and dangerous flight responses. Another family could no longer use their $40,000 mare for breeding due to sexual abuse. Yet another lost their horse after it was so badly injured it had to be euthanized. Read more.
For The Curious – Your Questions on Deaf, Blind Dogs Answered
By Debbie Bauer Thank you to everyone who contributed questions and wonderings for this blog post, and for what will probably be several more to come! (I received a lot of questions!) Here are a few to get you started: What kind of cues can you teach a dog that cannot see or hear? How do you communicate with a deaf and blind dog? How does your dog (blind and deaf) know what you want him to do? Dogs that cannot see or hear can be taught tactile cues. … Continued
October 19, 2018: Kennel Club, Scottish Kennel Club Welcome Scottish Government’s Effective Ban on Shock Training Devices
The Kennel Club and Scottish Kennel Club report that “strict guidance has been published which provides advice on training methods and training aids for dogs, with particular focus on the welfare issues that may arise from the use of aversive methods including e-collars.” “We are of the view that training with shock stimulus is unnecessary, outdated and simply masks behavioural problems as opposed to solving them, by inflicting painful electric shocks. This can often lead to further behavioural problems. We are relieved that a year later, such devices have been… Continued
October 18, 2018: Study Suggests Dogs Accompanied Humans during Neolithic Expansion into Europe
New study assesses whether “early Near Eastern dogs possessed a unique mitochondrial lineage that differentiated them from Mesolithic European populations” and presents evidence suggesting that “mtDNA dog lineages indigenous to Near East were brought to Europe during the Neolithic from the beginning of the ninth millennium BP before later spreading west and north.” Read study
Portland Blog Competition: Lessons from Bogie
By Shannon Finch I want to warn you at the outset, Bogie’s story doesn’t have a happy ending. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for this dog, with mistakes compounded by more mistakes. It’s been over 15 years since I worked with Bogie, but I clearly remember every detail about him. He was a 7-month-old German shepherd with severe fear issues that started when he was attacked in the car by his family’s other dog. The owners came back from dinner to a horrific sight of blood all… Continued
October 15, 2018: Study Investigates Blue Eye Coloring in Dogs
Author summary: “The genetic underpinnings of many phenotypic traits in domestic dogs remain undiscovered. Although two genetic loci are known to underlie blue eye color in dogs, these do not explain all cases of blue eyes. By examining > 3,000 dogs…we have shown that a region of canine chromosome 18 carrying a tandem duplication near the ALX4 gene is strongly associated with blue eye color variation, primarily in Siberian Huskies. We also provide evidence that this duplication is associated with blue eye color in non-merle Australian Shepherds.” Read study.
The Effects of Declawing
By Bridget Lehet It is estimated that “the vast majority (80 percent) of declawed cats have at least one complication resulting from surgery, and over a third develop behavior problems after undergoing the procedure.” (Becker, 2014). According to Becker (2014), after declawing, “behaviors such as biting and urinating outside the litter box are often pain related.” Dr. Craig Tebeau, a 1996 graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, director of the Washington Paw Project, and owner of The Cat Doctor Veterinary Clinic in Federal Way, Washington, states:… Continued
A Lesson in Compassion
By Angelica Steinker As the consult progressed, I made a casual remark about the importance of avoiding aversive stimulation. I was specific about what this means, given that such stimulation functions to suppress body language and can create a more dangerous dog that no longer gives any warning signals. The client hesitates and then says, “So I can’t use the shock collar anymore?” For a split second I held my breath, then responded, “Exactly! Let’s plan for what you will do instead.” Read more.
A Lure By Any Name is Still a Lure
By Yvette Van Veen Luring a dog towards something he fears is a problematic practice most recognize. Regardless of whether you use aversives in training or not, it’s an issue because it can create a slew of problems. From the dog’s perspective, luring into scary is a ‘gotcha.’ The first few times, they happily follow the food only to face something nasty. Animals aren’t stupid. Fool them once…they learn. After a couple repetitions, they realize that food can lead to nasty things. Food motivation may decline. Food snubbing may start… Continued
The Challenge of Breed Discrimination
By Kim Iffert It was finally a beautiful day in Chicago so I grabbed my bag, my leash, a pocket full of treats and tennis ball and set out for a walk. The neighbors were out and it was the perfect opportunity for a social outing – but not for me and my dog. As we walked down the sidewalk, others may have looked, some would wave, a few may have offered a smile… and then crossed the street. Social pariah? No, just me and my Rottweiler out for a… Continued
Pet Tutor…My Hero
By Smart Animal Training (A letter from Malena DeMartini-Price CTC CDBC) Dear Wes & Amanda at Smart Animal Training, I wanted to tell you about a client that I have been working with for a little while now that has been absolutely wonderful and of course, the Pet Tutor was my hero in this case! The client contacted me about separation anxiety however upon further investigation it really wasn’t quite separation anxiety, but more anxiety surrounding the guardians leaving the house, particularly Mom. Once gone, the dog in question was a… Continued
October 4, 2018: New Study Reveals Verbal Cues May Not Be Most Effective Way to Train Dogs
A new study involving the examination the brains of 19 awake dogs via fMRI to measure reward-related learning via visual, olfactory, and verbal stimuli revealed that: “Visual and olfactory modalities resulted in the fastest learning, while verbal stimuli were least effective, suggesting that verbal commands may be the least efficient way to train dogs.” Read study.
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