Search Results: Dog Behavior

I first posted this article in 2011, but it seems wise to put it out in the universe again. Taking a dog to work can be wonderful, or, not so much… Friday June 26th has been designated “Take Your Dog to Work Day” by Pet Sitters International. Begun in 1999 with a goal of encouraging…

Today’s question was inspired by the comments of sheepdog trainer Patrick Shannahan, who argued at a recent sheep dog clinic that I needed to ask Maggie to “take responsibility” for her behavior. Eeeps! Isn’t that perspective one that trainers and behaviorists (me included) have been arguing against for decades? In most contexts, it is the…

  January is “Divorce Month.” Who knew. I got divorced from my two practice husbands in other months, but it does make sense that January, the month of darkness, sugar withdrawal, and dashed expectations of holiday cheer, would be a prime candidate for the dissolution of marriages. When I was seeing clients, some of my…

  A cosmetic surgeon once told me that he dreads Sunday night phone calls. They are, almost always, about kids who need their faces put back together after being bitten by a dog. He said it breaks his heart. It breaks my heart too, thinking of the hundreds of cases I saw where the owner…

Recently I watched someone walking his dog close to my office in Black Earth. Every ten feet or so the dog tried to stop to sniff the ground, and every time she did, the man at the other end of the leash pulled her forward so that he could continue walking. Ah, the canine-primate disconnect,…

I worked with a dog years ago, a little buff-colored foxy thing, who had been rescued from abominable conditions. She’d spent years tied up in a barn, expected to pump out puppies for a daily feeding of kibble and a bowl of nasty, green water. And yet, she sashayed into my office like she’d been…

Ignorance can be bliss. But it can also let bad things happen, and it grieves me to say that bad things might happen soon in my home state. In its wisdom, the legislature of the state of Wisconsin signed into law Act 169, which directs that dogs can be used to hunt wolves in our…

So many of you have asked what I feed my dogs that I feel compelled to answer. I sympathize, truly, nutrition is such a complicated and sometimes contentious issue. I’ll honor your requests if you’ll honor mine: Read the following carefully before getting to the menu! 1. I am not an expert on canine nutrition, …

I promised I’d write more about treating thunder phobia in dogs, beyond the earlier posting that it won’t make things worse if you try to comfort them. It’s such a serious problem for some dogs (and their humans), and everyone who has a dog who suffers from it deserves some help (or just support!). All…

I’m looking forward to giving a talk in Madison on April 5th about comparisons between dogs and wolves (alongside a much-anticipated talk about wolves in Wisconsin by expert Adrian Wydeven). The photograph above came to mind while I was thinking about what to say. That’s me and Ayla at Wolf Park in Indiana. It’s pretty clear…

How many times have you heard about a dog who behaved one way in one home, and substantially differently in another? My answer: Lots. Lots and lots and lots. I’m writing about this because the universe asked me to: On Saturday I went back to my post of June 22nd (2020), in which I asked…

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…

A friend and colleague (Toni Ziegler, an internationally known primatologist) sent me an article in a journal I usually never see, Hormones and Behavior, and I was sure you’d be as interested in it as I am. The authors, M. Nagasawa et. al., found a correlation between the level of an owner’s oxytocin and how…

I’m reposting “Take a Bow for Teaching a Play Bow” from September, 2019 (because, well, see “Meanwhile” below). But I’m glad I found it, because I would love to start a conversation along the lines of: “If you could only teach your dog one “trick,” what would it be? Of course, that brings up the…

VIDEOS ON DOG AGGRESSION AND REACTIVITY Example of “Watch” with Willie Willie loves a good game of tug as positive reinforcement for checking in with Trisha.   How to Stop an Approaching Dog in an Emergency Most of us have unfortunately been in a situation where an uncontrolled, off-leash dog is headed straight for us.…

A thorough answer to this question is too complicated for any one article, but it’s a common and important one. Actually, the question I am usually asked is this: “What breed of dog should we get?” The quick answer is simple: “It’s not about the breed.” Well, but, of course it is in some ways.…

Friend and colleague Chelse Wagner of Dog’s Best Friend and I were talking a few days ago about what life is like in the dog training world, and Chelse commented about her surprise that so few dogs were bothered by people wearing masks. She works with a lot of reactive dogs, and not only were…

Yup, this is the time of year when the rubber hits the road, and the leaping, crotch-sniffing, poop-eating dog that you just rescued from a puppy mill is about to meet Aunt Polly, the only member of the family who is terrified of dogs. Or maybe it’s the dog you’ve had for years, and the…

We’re happy to introduce Karen London, Ph.D. as a guest blogger for The Other End of the Leash this week!  Enjoy! If people go running by your home accompanied by their cats, geckos, ferrets, parrots, or rats, then you live in a very different neighborhood, perhaps even a different world, than I do. It’s just…

When IS it safe to let a dog off leash? I’ve been in several conversations lately with people who live in rural areas, and those who live in urban or suburban environments. What became clear was that, in their case at least, the dog owners in the country couldn’t imagine having their dogs restricted on…

Let me begin with full disclosure: I have my own answer to the question above. I don’t begin to treat Tootsie, my King Charles Cavalier, like I treat Willie the Border Collie. Not just because she was a mill dog, and not just because she is spaniel instead of a Border Collie. But simply because…

The commercial aspects of the holidays can be off-putting, but I still love the focus on family and friends. And gifting too — when it’s a thoughtful expression of love. That’s why there are at least 15 books sitting close by my desk, either already wrapped or awaiting decoration, to be sent to dear family…

Watching dogs play well together is one life’s greatest joys. One of my essential criteria when looking for a dog to replace Willie was whether he played well with Maggie. We tried two dogs out before we found Skip, neither of whom had any interest in playing with Maggie. Maggie ignored one, and hated the…

  A recent study in Current Biology by Emily Bray, et. al., Early-emerging and highly heritable sensitivity to human communication in dogs, caught my eye recently, because it brings up a variety of interesting issues to those of us interested in human-dog communication. One of those is the issue of whether dogs inherently understand a…

  Do dogs “tell” jokes? I ask because a friend sent me a thought-provoking interview on Substack with NY dog trainer Jess Erace. In it, she argues that dogs can indeed tell and “get” jokes. Here’s one of her examples: “We were at her house for dinner and everybody was sitting at the table. Her…

We all know that dogs are wolves in one sense (can reproduce and their young are reproductively viable) and, as importantly, that dogs aren’t wolves at all. Just try to teach a wolf “leave it” if you happen upon a dead rabbit. Here are two new studies that shed light on the social systems of…

How much autonomy does your dog have?  Willie’s work with sheep is  what motivates me to ask this question. As I mentioned earlier, Willie and I attended a sheepdog clinic 2 weeks ago with Patrick Shannahan, and the big take away for us was that, too often, Willie looks to me to tell him what…

Ever since I got Skip, three and a half years ago, he has turned preferentially toward me to his left, even if to the right is shorter. If I call him when I am at six o’clock, and he is facing three, he turns to his left and runs 3/4 of the way around the…

  Dr. Hal Herzog, a PhD psychologist specializing in behavior and human/animal relationships (see Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat), recently wrote an article for Psychology Today that got my attention. Before publication, he talked to me about it briefly, with the following question: Did I find that anxious owners tended to…

In 2006, Willie who came to us as an eight-week old puppy who behaved as if he’d served three tours in Afghanistan, and came back with the canine version of PTSD. The title of The Education of Will is in part based on his name. In the book I talk about how all mammals can…

As often happens, a study on human behavior got me wondering about how it might relate to our relationship with our dogs. The study in question asked if emotions could be conveyed through body odor. The researchers asked 12 men with pads in their arm pits to watch videos that designed to elicit fear, happiness…

I’m repeating a post from 2024, because I am 1) truly interested in whether things have improved, even a bit, related to the male/female ratio of dog trainers and dog training seminar in current times, and 2) I’m updating The Puppy Primer and spending pretty much all my waking hours on it. Just asked my…

A few years after winning the prestigious Allee Award for “Best Student Paper” at the 1988 Animal Behavior Society Annual Meeting, I was in a hallway chatting with friends at another ABS conference. The career path of past winners of the award came up, and someone, thank heavens I don’t remember who, said that winning…

  My first dog training class, in 1968, involved my adolescent Saint Bernard and an ex-marine instructor who hung a Basenji off a choke chain for not sitting when told. Me and my dog walked out. Years later, in the 80’s, I became interested in dog training and took a friend’s dog to classes for…

It’s not just us that sees our dogs as family; apparently, dogs see us as family too. This may not be shocking news to many of us, but it is always good to look at our beliefs objectively. An interesting study was recently published on Plos One about whether dogs are attached to their owners…

Dog Parks. No controversy there, right, about the good, the bad and the ugly of them? However, the pros and cons of dog parks are usually discussed inside the dog world, not in a national news outlet like the New York Times. But the Times jumped into the fray, with an article provocatively titled The…

Friday June 24th has been designated “Take Your Dog to Work Day” by Pet Sitters International. Begun in 1999 with a goal of encouraging adoptions, Pet Sitters Int’l suggests that we all take our dogs to work to emphasize the human/animal bond, and indirectly encourage people to adopt homeless dogs. This could be a great…

I may, (paws crossed), have a happy story to tell you about a “need-to-be-rescued dog,” but I’ll wait on that until I have more to report. (Please cross your paws; and no, we won’t be the ones taking it!) Meanwhile, I’m thinking a lot the last few days about house training a dog who has…

Justin was a six-year old boy who had spent five years, from age one to age six, in a kennel. His caretaker was not intentionally cruel, but was cognitively challenged, and had no idea how to raise a child. He felt it was best to care for him as he did his dogs. Justin and…

Pia Silvani’s, Director of Behavior and Training at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey, gave a talk at APDT that focused on play between adult dogs, and it was a fantastic presentation. The best part of the talk was her videos of dogs playing–both appropriately and inappropriately. My absolute favorite was a video…

Can Dogs Have ADHD? Many years ago, when I was in my early years as an applied behaviorist, a dog came to me that I couldn’t quite figure out. It was an adolescent Old English sheepdog, let’s call him “Bear,” who was driving his humans crazy by biting on the leash and increasingly, their legs…

Starting to travel again? As our country gradually opens up, the question of what to do with our pets if we don’t take them with us arises. I’m curious what choice you make, and what advice you have for others, about whether to kennel a dog or get a house sitter. Of course, both have…

  Tragically, Jim and I finished up the stuffing (aka “nature’s perfect food”) last night. Honestly, if I had stuffing in the house all the time I would . . . Well, let’s just say I would need a new wardrobe. I’m one of those people who has to watch what they eat to maintain…

Little Nell, a fox-faced Border Collie, came to visit the farm over twenty-five years ago, when I was just getting started as a behaviorist. A sweetheart of a dog, she melted when petted and came when I called, eyes shining, radiating joy and exuberance. However, one day she didn’t respond when I called her. Her…

Maggie loves dog poop. Eating it, that is. She is an obsessive coprophagic, especially in winter, when any poop not found and picked up becomes a poopsickle. It’s considered a normal behavior in dogs, and a disgusting behavior to us primates, whose only use the feces of others to throw it when angry, or fertilize…

  Continuing my ability to relate just about everything in the world to dog training, I offer you some thoughts about how good editing is like good dog training.  For example, here is a typical editing progression, starting with:              “I really think that dog is too hot to keep working.” Eeeps, delete the “really”:…

Book tours can be tiring, but there’s nothing like being inspired by the work of the people of The Penn Vet Working Dog Center in Philadelphia.  I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon there–basically an exercise in intellectual and emotional rapture. In general, here’s what they do: “Our goal is to increase collaborative research,…

Why do dogs roll in disgusting stuff? Ah, but of course, it’s not disgusting to them, right? But oh, the things with which dogs anoint themselves are usually awful to us humans, even with our lousy sense of smell. Here’s what I wrote about it in The Other End of the Leash: “If you haven’t…

I’ve always been fascinated by placebos and I never understood why the phrase “the placebo effect” was often spoken with such disdain. Here is a standard definition (from Wikipedia): “A placebo is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient.” Except, it’s not necessarily…

RELATED BLOGS FROM “THE OTHER END OF THE LEASH” Heat Stress in Dogs Revisited June 2025 Overheating in Dogs – The Concerns Increase  June 2024 Behavioral or Medical? Or both? March 2024 Unilateral Deafness in Dogs (and Skip?) November 2023 Stress, Dogs, and The Stress Factor December 2022 Autism in Dogs? August 2022 Oh Maggie,…