Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your families good health, happiness and peace in 2018!

This terrier in the snow wishes you a Happy New Year 2018 from Companion Animal Psychology


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finding Hidden Food in Nosework Increases Dogs' Optimism

Image
Opportunities to use the nose and make choices in nosework are good for dogs’ welfare. Photo: KM-Photography/Shutterstock We all know that dogs like to sniff. Is it possible that providing opportunities to find food in nosework can improve dogs’ wellbeing? New scientific research by Dr. Charlotte Duranton  (Ethodog) and Dr. Alexandra Horowitz  (Barnard College) finds that dogs who participate in nose work have increased optimism compared to dogs that took part in heelwork instead. Importantly, both activities involved perambulation, as well as food rewards as positive reinforcement . The difference is that in nosework the dog has the opportunity to use their nose and to exercise choice in what they are doing. The study used a test of optimism – also known as cognitive bias – in which dogs were first trained that a bowl in one location would always contain food, whereas a bowl in another location never did. Then the test involved an empty bowl placed in an ambiguous location, equidista
Read more

Companion Animal Psychology Turns Seven

Image
Celebrating seven years of blogging about science and pets here at Companion Animal Psychology. Today is exactly seven years since I started Companion Animal Psychology with the aim of finding out what science tells us about how to have happy dogs and cats. In this time, I’ve been writing evidence-based articles about how best to care for our cats and dogs, and about new scientific research papers that are relevant to the everyday lives of people and their pets. It’s wonderful to see how much the general public wants to know about science and our pets. Over the years I’ve been honoured to speak to many scientists, veterinarians, dogs trainers, and others about their work with animals. As well, I’ve been lucky to publish some wonderful guest posts. A seventh anniversary is a wool anniversary. Photo: dezy/Shutterstock One thing that keeps me cheerful is to see just how many amazing people are working so hard to make the world a better place for both pets and their people. This is my 445t
Read more

Animal Lovers on the Books that Changed Their Lives

Image
The books about animals that had a profound effect and even caused a change of direction. Sometimes books can have a surprising effect on us.  The words mingle in our brain and make some kind of magic that percolates out into the real world. I was curious to know which books about animals have affected people, and so I put out a call asking people about the animal book that changed their life. These are their answers. Dog Sense by John Bradshaw Emily Tronetti, MS, CPDT-KA, of Heal to Howl told me, “In 2014, I was working as a veterinary receptionist and had my own pet sitting and canine massage business. One day, at a bookstore, I found the book Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet  by Dr. John Bradshaw. This book changed everything I thought I knew about dogs. I was amazed by the long and interconnected evolutionary history between humans and dogs. I was fascinated by how dogs perceive the world, their emotional lives and how these f
Read more