Here's the post I thought I'd lost! (Will my viral-hazed brain ever come back to normal?) Hey, I am back among the living. Not much energy, pretty slow in the head, but actually eating real food again (well, still can't eat chocolate, which along with fresh spinach and warm bread is the only real food there is). Willie is back to dropping toys in my lap (even when I'm lying flat on my back on the couch, so I think it was much more than lack of movement that changed his behavior. I'll write more in the comments under the last blog.) I wanted to say a few words about Des Moines, and the Animal Rescue League of Iowa who sponsored it. First off, Paula Sunday and all her staff were wonderfully accommodating, even changing the plan and letting in over 200 people in by the time 9:00 rolled Read More
Alex and Me; Animal Intelligence and “Thinking” in Animals
I read Alex and Me over the weekend, and highly recommend it. The book is about author Irene Pepperberg's life, both as a scientist and as a parrot owner, with Alex, the African Grey Parrot. I've known of her research for years, and (full disclosure here), consider her a friend, so I can't pretend that I'm completely objective. But if you are interested in animal intelligence, animal communication and/or what parrots have to teach us about the minds of non-human animals, this book is for you. Irene, whose first real friend was a parakeet, left a promising career in chemistry to jump into the controversial field of "language" in non-human animals. No field better illustrates that, although the process of science is objective, scientists aren't. That is often a good thing: scientists are Read More
The Human/Animal Bond, Can Dogs Get Angry?
I'm just back from the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I was one of several speakers discussing the Human/Animal Bond at NIH's STEP Forum, a monthly meeting for all NIH staff designed to educate staff about issues relating to science in the public health. It was very much worth the travel; the talks given by zoo-anthropologist Dr. James Serpell, Dr. Sandra Barker and Dr. Joan Esnayra were each worth the trip alone. Dr. Serpell discussed historical and cross-cultural aspects of the human-animal bond, and dispelled the myths that "pets" are only luxuries indulged in by industrial societies and that people who love animals do so from some social pathology that prevents them from "normal" relationships with other people. His books In the Company of Animals and The Domestic Read More
Alex and Me, Animal Communication
I'm on way to Bethesda MD to speak at NIH at a forum about the Human-Animal Bond, I'll write about the other speaker's talks when I get back later in the week. The talks promise to be very, very interesting. But today I wanted to alert those of you who are interested in animal behavior and animal cognition in general to a new book that has just come out: Alex and Me. It is written by Irene Pepperberg, and is about her relationship with the African Grey Parrot, Alex. Alex is the internationally famous parrot who Dr. Pepperberg taught to use words, not just to describe objects or actions, but to label concepts, like bigger or different. Many had argued that non-human animals were unable, cognitively, to understand something as abstract as a concept (you can't pick up a "bigger," now can Read More
Are Males and Females different to train?
This is an honest question! I'm truly curious what you think. The editor of the Bark Magazine asked me to write my next column on whether male and female dogs need to be trained differently, and whether they perform differently. I have some thoughts about it, but I am primarily interested in what YOU think! I'd especially love to hear from trainers or people who have had a good number of dogs, so that they have seen a good 'sample size' to use to compare the sexes. I must say, I take this on with trepidation! Would it be less potentially controversial to talk about the Iraq war or the recent election?! I'll tell you what my experience has been (and what I've heard others say so far) after I've gotten a good number of comments... The face of Mike, shown below, is suggesting he'd love to Read More
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