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 Dog Park is Bad Actually. The article points out problems that can be found in dog parks, problems that many of us are well aware of: They are lousy places to "socialize" young puppies, they may contain dogs who are not necessarily aggressive (although that too is possible), but are playground bullies who terrorize other dogs like some nasty kids on a playground, they have the potential of spreading disease, there is usually no separation between small and large dogs, which can cause Read More
Archives for February 2020
Out of Africa 2020
Just in case you were wondering why I've been a bit quiet... I was kidnapped, but rescued by a bloodhound, so everything is fine. No, that's not right, that's a friend's amusing title to this photo. It's actually me in rapture with the anti-poaching team at the Ole Pajeta Conservancy in Kenya, on an animal behavior focused safari. These brave men have had a significant effect on the poaching of endangered rhinos, thanks to this bloodhound, trained to track people, and an adorable springer spaniel (out of the photo), trained to find guns and ammunition. No poaching attempts in three months. These guys are my heroes, doing a dangerous and vital job! FYI, I had planned to do a lot more writing, but I sliced my thumb pretty badly last night and typing makes it worse. So, Read More
Why Dogs are More Afraid of Men, Revisited
Today I'm reposting an article I wrote almost ten years ago to the day, (January, 2010) with a few additions and revisions. I find it is as relevant today as it was then. I'll love hearing your comments now as much as I did then. Clients often tell me that their rescue dog must have been “beaten by a man” when the dog was younger, because the dog is afraid of men. However, almost all shy dogs are more afraid of men than women, even if men have been kind to them their entire lives. We’ve always speculated that it had something to do with the way men walked (more assertively?) or their bigger chests, larger jaws, and/or deeper voices. But we’ve never really known for sure what it was–perhaps it is related to scent: Obviously men smell different than woman, could be that just ‘maleness’ is Read More
Nothing to Yawn About–Yawning as a Sign of Empathy
This topic is making me yawn. Literally. I'm doing it as I type this. Not because it's boring, but because yawning is contagious in a large percentage of people (If one person yawned, then 45-60% of the people observing it yawned themselves, according to one study). You don't even have to see someone yawn to get the effect: Just reading or thinking about yawning can make some of us yawn involuntarily. (If you are as bad as I am about this, and just the letters "y,a,w..." can start you yawning, don't feel foolish. It turns out that being susceptible to "contagious yawning" correlates with all kinds of good things, including high levels of empathy, and higher scores on theory of mind. Well, cool, she said, yawning again.) But you no doubt know that this response isn't confined to our own Read More