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Latest Behavior Articles

A Safe Escape

A Safe Escape

By Dr. Lisel O’Dwyer The Adelaide Hills, South Australia have recently faced severe brushfires, an unfortunate situation that has prompted the discussion of the logistical differences between evacuating and housing horses versus dogs and other small domestic pets in the face of natural ...
The Itch to Scratch

The Itch to Scratch

By Andrea Carne  Regardless of whichever behavior issue I have been called upon to assist a cat guardian with – whether it be inappropriate toileting, aggression towards humans, or aggression between cats in a multicat household – I can almost guarantee that when I ask at the end of a ...

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How Big Should a Cat’s Litter Box Be?

By Jennifer Mauger I was recently in a home where the resident cat was eliminating outside the litter box on a regular basis. He was a large Maine Coon mix weighing over 20 pounds. When I went to look at the litter boxes, they were well ...

“Did You Know Your Dog Barks All Day?”

By Julie Naismith “Did you know that your dog barks all day?” my neighbour asked me one day. The simple answer was: no, I didn’t. It was this conversation that led me on the path to discovering my dog-ownership bombshell: that my dog Percy ...

Scents Can Help Dogs Relax

A small study published in May looked at the effects of four scents on dogs in a shelter kennel. The focus was whether the aromatherapy would help the dogs relax. Though it's a small study and, oddly the only one of its kind, it points to ...

YOUR Dog, No Comparison

This is a subject I've always meant to write about and somehow it always slips my mind until the topic crops ups with another client of mine - that of comparisons. What I mean is those comparisons we make between our own dogs and other ...

The Unintended Consequences of Shock

(Confidentiality Notice: Names in this blog have been changed to protect privacy, but the facts remain unchanged. Photographs have been used with written consent.) Betsy is a kind person who contacted a shelter in June of 2016 to help find a ...

Scheduling Your Rewards

So...there we are teaching our dogs lots of new things and he's responding beautifully - treat, treat, treat (yummy!) At what point though, do we stop dishing out all these lovely delicacies? This is a question I'm asked multiple times per ...

Clicker Training for Cats (6/6)

By Paula Garber and Francine Miller Inter-Cat Aggression Living with cats who do not get along is stressful for everyone. Sometimes the cats need to be completely separated and then formally re-introduced. In many cases, the best outcome we ...

You know you own a separation anxiety dog when…

By Julie Naismith Life with a separation anxiety dog differs from the ideal of dog ownership many of us have. “Lassie Come Home” it isn’t.  Here are 5 ways this debilitating condition will affect your life as a dog owner, plus a few tips ...