Recently I've had a couple of questions from friends about introducing cats to each other. Their questions reminded of this post from August 2013, and I thought it a good topic to discuss again. We were lucky at the farm--Polly is Nellie's daughter, so no introductions were necessary. They get along beautifully, but we all know that's not always the case. I can't tell you how many clients I've seen who forced two cats onto each other and then... well, ever been out with the guy your mother insisted you go on a blind date with? How'd that work out? Here's from August 2013: Bringing home a dog when you have another one at home (or two or three or more) is one thing, but bringing a cat into a resident cat’s territory is another thing altogether. Besides litter box problems, most of Read More
Archives for 2018
Let The Fetch Games Begin. Or Not?
Willie and Maggie usually play tug games every morning before I begin working, but Willie had a tooth removed, so he is working on some new tricks. Maggie needs to stay in good condition and needs to run hard, at least twice a day, so we are playing fetch together in the morning. After just a few morning of this, I noticed that Maggie began jaw chattering as I got my boots on to go outside. It's relatively subtle, but it's new. What's not subtle is her overall level of arousal while fetching. She ADORES doing it (that is her talking in caps) and when she brings the disc back she is so excited that she seems electrified. She squeak-barks, jaw chatters, and shoves the disc into my leg if I don't pick it up fast enough. There's nothing else that we do that gets her so excited. Read More
It’s How You Say It
For those of you without grey hair, the index cards on the right are how we organized information back in the dark ages. (Also known as The 80's.) I found hundreds of them this weekend while cleaning out a closet, kept from the research I did for my dissertation on the effect of acoustic structure on receiver response. I have to admit that I was amazed at how much work I had done researching the central question--does the structure of a sound influence how an animal responds to it? I'm sure you know that feeling--"Did I really write that?" or "Did I really climb that mountain?"or "Was I ever that young/pretty/strong/athletic?"--insert appropriate adjective here. Besides being blown away by the effort involved in doing research and keeping track of information in years past, I was Read More
Winter: Black, White and Carmen Red
It's all back on the farm today--I've got to start working on getting the word out about my memoir and working on my talks in Mexico City and Philadelphia. Maybe I'll see you there? MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Winter comes and goes, like a hummingbird flitting in, darting out. One day it's snowy and cold, the next it's sunny and in the high 40's. Saturday was balmy--we took the dogs on a long walk in a friend's woods and they came home sopping with black mud. On Sunday the ground was frozen, but not too slippery, so their friend Remus was able to come play. He belongs to Janna Light, a Karen Pryor Academy graduate and owner of Paws and Effect pet sitting business, and Remus instantly became one of Willie and Maggie's best friends. Is there anything more joyful than watching dogs Read More
Rub A Dub Dub, Willie’s in the Tub
One of my current goals is to put more videos on the blog and in Facebook. I'm working on iMovie, which I have to admit seems anti-intuitive to me. But while I do that, here's a quick YouTube video of Willie and the bath tub. I took a simple video on my iPhone and although he doesn't actually get a bath, it does show how easy it is to bathe a dog using positive reinforcement. Notice that he is staying in the tub of his own choice (although I do say "stay there babe" at one point). What I want to illustrate is how important it is to go step by step. Here are the steps I used to teach Willie to voluntarily jump into the tub and get a bath: 1. Armed with lots of small, great treats, I first palced them on the edge of the bathtub, perhaps 2-3 times, and let Willie eat them up. Then I put Read More