Let Dogs Be Dogs and Cats' Environmental Necessities

The latest in the 'better world' series on dogs and cats.

Let dogs be dogs. Two dogs play as part of the better world series for dogs and cats


For more information, you can read how to make the world better for dogs and how to make the world better for cats.

A cat pops its head up. A better understanding of environmental necessities would make the world better for cats

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, ...
Read more

Reasons to Be Positive About Being Positive in Dog Training

Image
Why debunking out-dated ideas can backfire, the importance of spreading quality information, and the best ways to counteract the misleading duds. Many dog trainers who rely on using reward-based methods feel passionately about the importance of using humane methods that don’t cause dogs to experience fear or pain. Thus, they feel it strongly when people use or share articles about methods that involve shock collars , dominance , pack ‘theory’ , or any form of positive punishment , because they know aversive methods have risks for dogs .  What are the best ways to counteract this kind of misleading information? This is a question that preoccupies me (and many of you, I know) because it is such an important one for animal welfare. I’ve written before about the many factors that influence people’s choice of dog training methods (Todd, 2018) and in this post I want to look at some of those factors in more detail. The importance of social norms in dog training A social psychol...
Read more

Which Dog Lives the Longest? Smaller Dogs Have Longer Lives

Image
Being mixed breed versus purebred, spay/neuter status, and regular dental cleanings at the vet, are also linked to lifespan. Body size is the most important variable in predicting life span, but mixed breed dogs live longer than purebreds. Photo: Lunja/Shutterstock A study of over 2 million dogs attending veterinary clinics in the US answers some recurring questions about lifespan and dogs. The research, by Dr. Silvan Urfer (University of Washington) et al., analysed data from over 169,000 dogs in this cohort that died or were euthanized within a three-year period. In all size groups (small, medium, large, and giant), mixed breed dogs live longer than purebred dogs, although the difference is not that large. The study found that, on average, a mixed-breed dog lives for 14.45 years compared to 14.14 years for a purebred dog. For purebred dogs there was some variability in lifespan according to the breed. For example, amongst the breeds the scientists classified as giant, Great Pyrenees...
Read more