Here's an authentic question for you all, and I would love to hear your answers. The question in the title is based on a phenomenon that seems to be consistent across many years and in many contexts. The 'word' in the publishing industry is that, compared to dog lovers, cat lovers buy very few cat related books. I remember when Dogwise (Direct Books) started out they sold both cat and dog books, until they dropped the cat-related items because they didn't sell well and weren't worth the trouble. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's smash best seller The Hidden Life of Dogs was followed by a book, Tribe of the Tiger, that didn't sell particularly well. I get 100 (1,000?) requests to do dog behavior-related seminars for every one cat behavior seminar I'm asked to do (I LOVE doing cat behavior Read More
Fear in Dogs and In-Utero Experience
I'm working on a column for Bark right now about the ontogeny of fear in dogs. The editors, Claudia and Cameron (the editors of Bark), adopted two sisters from a rescue organization down south. The girls are litter mates who might be BC/terrier X beagle crosses. Both came under socialized and shy, but one (Kit) has rapidly come out of her shell, while the other (Holly) is still profoundly fearful of any kind of novel event. Leaving the house is a trauma for her, as is the appearance of any object that she's not expecting. (Claudia's purse fell off a chair and Holly refused to go anywhere near it, even though it blocked her access to her favorite area of the house. Meanwhile, Kit jumped over it and continued on her way.) Claudia's question to me, and the motivation for the column, is "What Read More
Help with Podcast!
Work on the podcast is progressing. I'm waiting to hear the first version of the pilot that we recorded last week, and am on pins and needles about it. How will it sound? Are my answers (to some of your GREAT questions!) helpful? Interesting? How about the format? By the way, we decided to go with another voice, that of my new partner in crime, Buzz Kemper. He's the co-owner of Audio for the Arts, and sole owner of a great voice, lots of recording and podcast experience and a terrific sense of humor. He's not a behavior or training expert, but that's part of why I think he'll be a great presence on the show... keeping me honest and adding a fresh voice to the mix. (And yes, to loyal Calling All Pets listeners, I do miss Larry, and I will continue to miss him, but he's full to the brim with Read More
Willie Rocks, Lassie Gives Me a Scare
I took Will to a friend's to work him on different sheep in a new environment. I'm getting to the point where he and I don't have too much more we can do at home. My small flock is so tame that Will has to be within a few feet of them to move them, unless I split out a few and force them away from the main flock. Then they are flightier (and more challenging), and I'll do that more and more, but don't like to stress the ewes and lambs too much when the lambs are young. Either way, it's still the same sheep in the same place, and Will needs to learn how to work lots of different types of sheep in different places. (So do I!) We are used to working in first gear, when most sheep work in done in 4th. I wish I could show you a video of how he did. We were at a gorgeous farm where Will has Read More
Reinforcing Fear II, Thunder Phobia III
Earlier I wrote that you "can't reinforce fear" and used a dog who is afraid of thunder as an example. For so long we have been told that we'll just make our dogs worse if we try to comfort them when they run to us in fear when the skies rumble and the rain falls. In this context, it really is doubtful that comforting your dog is going to make him worse. As I said previously, fear is designed to be aversive, and dogs who are terrified of thunder aren't going to get worse because you stroked their belly. Indeed, there is research that some interpret to mean that our petting has little effect at all: As I mentioned in a 2008 Bark column (and an alert reader posted), Dreschel & Granger (Applied Animal Beh Science, 2005) found that cortisol levels, a measure of stress, did not decrease Read More
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