I re-read Seligman's Authentic Happiness this weekend. Ever read it? Seligman is one of the American Psychologists who decided to focus on mental health rather than mental illness, and yeah for him I say. I'm writing about it here because it got me thinking about our happiness and our dogs. In the book, Seligman asks us to determine our "signature strengths," and suggests that the road to happiness is to do what you are good at and what you love. (He has a questionnaire in the book to help you decide your strengths. Mine include Curiousity and Love of Learning. I'm not saying what my weaknesses are!) So here's my question related to dogs: Is that true of our dogs as well? Is their happiness, at least in part, related to having an opportunity to do what they love and what they are good Read More
Willie Learns to use his Nose; Sheep Shearing Fun
One of my favorite games with Willie is to put him on sit/stay and then hide one of his toys in another room. I release him and tell him to go find his toy. We both think it's a hoot and get all waggy from the shoulders back together. We've played it on and off for months, but I started doing it on a daily basis in preparation for his surgery and restricted exercise. Until recently, Willie always looked for the hidden toy. It was overwhelmingly clear that he was using his eyes, and if he couldn't see it, he couldn't find it. However, after about a week and a half of playing the game 4-5 times in a row every evening, Willie completely switched strategies and started using his nose. The switch was absolutely obvious: he'd trot out of the room he'd been in with his nose in the air, sniffing Read More
Dog Fighting Culture, Midwest Vet Med Conference
I'm between speaking at Midwest Vet Med Conference in Ohio and speaking at the Interdisciplinary Forum on Applied Animal Behavior in Tucson. I only had time to fly in and out at the Vet Conference, wish I would have had more time to go to some of the other behavior talks. Happily, in Tucson I get two full days of listening to others, with only an hour to speak on my own. I can't wait... I'll fill you as I can. There are talks scheduled on genetics and behavior, the use of aversives in training, operant treatment of aggression, predicting separation anxiety in shelter dogs, screaming in parrots and urine marking n the domestic dog. And that's not the full list. I am more than ready to get a break from the cold, looking forward to the intellectual stimulation, not to mention some great Read More
Karen Pryor’s New Book; Valentine’s Day
I just finished reading a review copy of Karen Pryor's new book, Reaching the Animal Mind (Scribner). I don't know when it's coming out, I'll let you know as soon as I hear (but you can pre-order it on Amazon now). It's an inspiring book, especially for those that haven't yet used clicker training on any of their animals. I don't use clickers for everything I have to admit, I tend to use them most for tricks, or any behavior that is not in a dog's normal repertoire. One of the interesting parts of her book is a report of research by Lindsay Wood that found clicker training significantly faster than a verbal marker at training new behaviors. This makes a lot of sense, given what we know about sound and the way it is received. I did my dissertation work on sound, and learned that sounds Read More
Farm Update
Got late today, need to get to campus to lecture (on ethology of agricultural animals, love this topic; showing segments from an amazing video by Ginger Kathrens, Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies--four years of phenomenal cinematography of a pale, white stallion born in the American Rockies through his maturity into a herd stallion). So much I want to write, will write soon about Darwin Day at UW last Saturday and a great new book on the adventures of Darwin, Wallace and Bates... will do tomorrow or Saturday. Meanwhile, life is pretty, uh, biological at the farm. The twin lambs have sore mouth, a yucky disease that causes cold sore like lesions on their mouths. Once you get it in the flock it's hard to get rid of, can't vaccinate to prevent it, is catching and serious in humans. Read More
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