Here's an interesting question for you: What does a dog intend when it repeatedly licks the face of another? Muzzle licking has traditionally been interpreted as an appeasement behavior, usually done by a younger dog or a subordinate to the muzzle of another. Erik Zimen, one of the world's experts on wolf behavior, labeled face licking as "active submission," most often seen when puppies of both wolves and dogs lick the muzzles of their elders during greetings. (It's not important for this discussion whether you label the action as "appeasement" or "submission"... That's a different discussion. What's relevant here is that muzzle licking is often done by dogs who appear to be appeasing another, for whatever reason.) We know that muzzle licking, in wolves, stimulates the adult wolf to Read More
Archives for January 2014
You Were Saying…?
This week is an especially busy one (my University course begins on Tuesday), so I am taking advantage of the never ending stream of mis-translated and bogus comments that flow into the "comment pending" section like water pouring into a washing machine. At times, deleting them can be a tad tiresome. But then, some come along that turn out to be great treasures. I consider them "found art." Here are some of my favorites: I in addition to my pals have already been examining the best pointers from the blog and unexpectedly came up with a terrible suspicion I had not expressed respect to you for those techniques. All the boys happened to be absolutely thrilled to learn them and now have pretty much been using those things. I loved as much as you will receive carried out right here. Read More
How to Foster Dogs: New Book by P Miller
Fostering dogs from shelters, as a way to get them into a home setting while they wait for their forever family, used to be a rare occurrence. Many years ago I remember hearing about a shelter whose policies prevented workers and volunteers from taking dogs or cats home with them, even for brief periods. The most common exception in times past were pregnant bitches, who could be taken home to whelp in the comforts of someone's back room. Now, of course, fostering dogs is a common practice, and yeah for that. Even the best of shelters is not an ideal environment for many dogs, and is downright destructive to some. However, (there is always a however, isn't there?), the multitude of foster opportunities means there is a vast range of knowledge and ability of people and organizations doing Read More
Free Canine Communication Webinar Tuesday Jan 14th!
Just a quick announcement: I hope you can join me and Drs Suzanne Hetts and Michele Wan for the first "CAAB Chat" webinar, next Tuesday January 14th at 6 pm Eastern Time, 5 Central and 4 Mountain. (Alert: I posted the wrong times initially! Sorry!) This is the first in a series of free webinars that present several Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists discussing a specific issue related to behavior and training. Dr. Hetts brainstormed the idea (yeah!!!), and here's what she's written by way of introduction: Ever wished you could be a fly on the wall when behaviorists get together and talk shop? Wonder what they think of the latest research, the most current behavior modification or training protocol, or how they educate clients who've been exposed to too much behavior nonsense on the Read More
Mandatory Introductions at Shelters?
I'll be doing a Webinar for the ASPCA this Thursday (January 9th, 3 tp 4:30 PM Eastern) titled "Multi-Dog Households: From First Date to After the Honeymoon." One of the topics I'll be discussing is the "mandatory introduction" policy of many shelters and rescue groups, in which dogs can't be adopted unless the resident dog is brought into the shelter to meet the potential adoptee. This issue has received a lot of attention recently, especially after Dr. Emily Weiss's article suggesting that mandatory adoption policies should be dropped. I hope you can join us for the webinar, but either way, I'd love to hear if you've had an experience with a policy that required a mandatory introduction. Here is a summary of some of my thoughts about the issue: 1. PREDICTIVE? Most mandatory Read More