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Latest Behavior Articles
Living with a Dog Who’s Going Deaf
Buddha, my black Labrador, has always had a sharp sense of hearing. Teaching him to respond to word cues was easy, and I also taught him several hand cues. Doing so probably saved his life on one occasion.
About eight years ago a solar panel system was installed on our barn roof. That ...
Phoenix Blog Competition: Working to Address Stress
By Jerri Colonna
I am a shelter volunteer on the behavior and enrichment team at Indianapolis Animal Care Services (IACS) and we have worked very hard as volunteers to develop some great enrichment for our dogs. We are a very large inner city, open intake shelter and many of our dogs only ...
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Seven Stages to a Bite
It’s sometimes good to remind ourselves of what our dogs are. Dogs are relatives of the modern day wolf, both having evolved from a common ancestor. Is it not fascinating that when we chose to domesticate an animal, we chose a predator and ...
What You Think Is One Dog’s Punishment May Be Another Dog’s Fun Game!
I was first introduced to a positive reinforcement instructor many years ago when I adopted my shelter dog, Freddie, an adolescent dog who was very enthused about EVERYTHING! As the instructor explained how to reinforce our dogs, and even as I ...
Do Cats Really Like Music?
By Jane Ehrlich
According to a study by Snowdon et al., ‘cats may ignore human music—but they are highly responsive to music written especially for them’ according to their study published in applied Animal Behavior Science. Professor ...
Accidental Punishment
I charged straight into a positive punishment scenario by accident recently.
I’ve been somewhat in the training doldrums lately, probably because I am putting so much energy into finishing my book. I have several training activities that I ...
The Importance of Socialization for the Young Animal
Humans take years to learn socialization skills. In the process of growing from infant to adulthood, the human takes more than 20 years for his or her brain to fully develop. Yet during this time there is much socialization that is taking ...
A Freddie Moment
Freddie passed away on October 4, 2014. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and all that he meant to me in his brief life. He changed my world significantly since our first meeting at the adoption fair, and without him, I never would ...
Is Fetching Really All That “Fetching” for Dogs?
As science sheds more light on the popular game of “fetch”, it is fascinating to learn that “fetch” may not always be that “fetching” after all for some dogs. Stressed dogs in particular may take longer to recover if they are playing fetch. ...
The Prodigal Dog
It is so hard not to be cross when Rex runs off. You call him, and without even a backward glance he keeps on running towards something he would rather be doing than keeping you company.
I think of the parable of the prodigal son where in ...