Home Sweet Home!! Florida was great is so many ways (thank you everyone!), but I have to admit I am sooo happy to be home. Willie and Tootsie are great, Sushi and the sheep too, the snow (finally!) didn't delay our planes and it is heaven to be back in Wisconsin. I'm planning on 2 blogs next week on 1) the results of our survey in Orlando about the emotional state of the dog in Michelle Wan's video and 2) what kind of dog is most qualified to do AAA and AAT work. And then there's so much I want to talk about from Kathy Sdao's seminar on Sunday on Orlando... And then there's talking about my BFF from graduate school, Disney World's Sr Conservation Biologist Anne Savage, who is doing kick ass research/economic enrichment in Columbia as well as other places... so many topics, so little Read More
It’s the Little Things (Beh’l Regressions Part 2)
Earlier I wrote about Willie's extreme and fearful reaction to a visiting man about a month ago, speculated about its causes and discussed how to respond. Here's an update, and a few things I that might be helpful for anyone dealing with a behavior problem. The good news (yeah good news) is that Willie is doing much, much better. He's responded well to the last 5 unfamiliar men he's met, running up to them immediately, getting close, asking for petting. There are no overt signs of fear anymore, (but keep reading), which makes me very happy. To quickly review, I've changed his diet back to avoid chicken and lamb, put his Hobbles back on when meeting strangers, gotten him acupuncture, and managed his interactions with unfamiliar men, such that he met them first outside or in the office Read More
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
So many books, so little time! Here are a few I'm enjoying: Magnificent Mind at Any Age by Daniel Amen. This is a fascinating book by a psychiatrist who began doing SPECT scans of his patients brains and discovered how many psychological/behavioral problems related to brain function. It's an inspiring book for anyone looking to improve their health and behavior, and besides being motivated to exercise more and stop drinking diet soda (I know, I know), I find myself thinking about dog behavior on every page. Daniel relates multiple cases of people with behavioral problems (fear, depression, anger, impulsivity) that are improved through diet, exercise, supplements and medications that specifically work on areas of the brain related to those problems. Anyone out there see any dogs who are Read More
Anger & Anger Management
CAN DOGS GET ANGRY? Yup, I'm here to say that they can. Do they get angry as often as humans? Nope, and thank heavens for that. If they did, I doubt we'd live with them, given that they have carpet knives in their mouths. Just like people, they vary tremendously in how often they experience or express anger. I've known some dogs who appeared not to have an angry moment their entire lives. More commonly, I've worked with dogs who, on occasion, are clearly frustrated at not getting what they wanted or expected. And rarely, I've worked with a small number of dogs who appeared to live in a state of 'road rage' for weeks, months or years on end. So even though I would never say that anger in dogs is an exact replica of anger in people, both in its frequency and how we experience it, it is a Read More
Your Dog Has a Brain in His Gut
No, seriously. And so do you. No kidding. I'm so interested this, a relatively new discovery about what's called the Enteric Nervous System, that I wanted to write about it today. I'll get back to emotions in dogs soon, but I'm in the Oh Wow phase of this information, and wanted to share it. (Granted, this is not new information to the researchers who have been studying what's called the ENS for decades, but the information does seem to be leaking out slowly. No pun on 'leaky gut syndrome' intended...) Here's the deal, and here's how it relates to our dogs and their behavior. It turns out that there is a vast network of neurons--that's right--neurons--in your intestines. 100 million of them. Of course, your brain has 100 BILLION, but still, that's impressive. Neurons were supposed to Read More
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