Well, I've edited and compressed 31 separate videos for my 2 talks at APDT. Whew. They aren't perfect, but some of them are truly instructive and a few are just plain fun. It's been like being in a tunnel for the last 4 days working on these things, and still... I continue to be fascinated by all the issues related to play between people and other animals. One of the the things I'll be talking about at APDT is how often dogs intersperse PAUSING with active motor patterns. As I watched videos of dogs playing I was impressed by how many times dog would use some typically exaggerated motor activity, whether it was a bite or a hip slam, and then stop and either stand still, or stay still in a play bow position. If you think about it, play bows not only provide information to the receiver that Read More
Archives for 2008
The mystery of play
I'm deep in "speech preparation" tunnel, working sun up to sun down on my presentations about play at APDT next week. It's a lot of work, but gratifying. Play is such an interesting topic, I wish I could spend a few months doing nothing but learning, thinking and writing about it. One of the most interesting things about play is its reason for being is a bit of a mystery. Why do animals play? The answer seems like it should be obvious, but the more you think about it, the less you know. Is it for 'practice?' That makes sense, since play is seen mostly in young animals who are physically developing. However, some of the research suggests that practice is not the primary force driving play... (in some studies animals kept from playing are equally adept at predation and fighting.) Another Read More
Scientific American Mind and Your Dog
I just arrived in Atlanta, and am about to settle in, go over my seminar for tomorrow and then watch some foolish movie that does nothing but entertain me and put me to sleep. But I wanted to write about a magazine that I just can't get enough of--Scientific American Mind. If you are interested in behavior, both your own and your dog's, this is a fascinating magazine. It's true it helps to be fascinated by behavior and the brain (I guess that's obvious), and that to some it will be far afield from canine behavior.. but that's what I love about behavior... it is such an eclectic field. Here are just some of the pages I have marked for further review (and future blogs, articles or book sections....) in the Oct/Nov issue: p 10: Researchers at the Zhejiang University in China found that Read More
APDT, Tales of Two Species
Eeeeps, I was all set to settle in and enjoy writing more about our relationships with pets (and answers to your great questions) and then life got in the way. You know, in that "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans" kind of way. I like to say that "today didn't turn out to be the video tape I thought I rented." Nothing bad about today, except the feeling that we all have on occasion that there is simply not enough time in the next two weeks to do what absolutely has to be done. I do want to talk more about society, pets and animals though... sometime soon. (And thank you for your generous comments about Calling All Pets. They are very, very appreciated.) So I write with a bit of an apology... I'm overwhelmed with doing wonderful stuff (at least I sure hope it turns Read More
Are Pets Important 2, Wood work in Fall
I have read your excellent comments with great interest, thank you all so much for writing. I do agree that in many ways it is far too simplistic to sort the world into two groups as I did in my earlier post. I suspect that it's easy to oversimplify when you are frustrated, and truth be told, I was feeling a bit frustrated when I wrote last week. Part of that stemmed from recently hearing what I believe has been meant as a compliment to Calling All Pets. Several times I've heard people say that Calling All Pets is a good show for Wisconsin Public Radio because "it brings in people who wouldn't normally listen to pubic radio." This presupposes that the show's listeners are different than most listeners of public radio. Does that mean that most people who listen to public radio are not Read More
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