Blog Archives

Calming signals- Are they truly signals or calming?

Calming signals is a term brought forth by Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas (2005) to describe behaviors that dogs display when trying to calm down a situation. In animals living in groups, it’s important to have ways of communication that

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Posted in Dog behavior, Educational, Fear, Misc, Psychology, science

Wolf Park: For the Love of Wolves

Wolves have always triggered strong emotional reactions in people. Some fear them, others love them, but rare are those indifferent to this intelligent, powerful and mysterious animal. Wolves have fascinated mankind for millennia, which is one reason why so many

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Posted in Dog/human relationship, Misc, Wolves

When science and dog training come together – SPARCS 2014

Dog lovers from all walks of life are often convinced that they have a fairly strong understanding of dog behavior. From the dog guardians to the dog professionals, most feel confident about interpreting canine behavior and are quick at dispensing

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, Educational, Misc, science

Is your body language helping or confusing your animal?

Humans and their pets understand one another on many basic levels. We can even extend this statement and recognize that we are capable of a certain level of interpretation of the intentions of wild species. We can identify most expressions

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Dog/human relationship, emotions, Horse, Misc, science

Animal training, craft or applied science?

‘Let me start by saying that you’re looking at one lucky SOB! Said Bob Bailey in front of a crowd of dog professionals eager to learn from one of the most accomplished animal trainers in the world. A mind always

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Posted in Bob Bailey, Dog behavior, Dog training, Positive Animal Training, Psychology, science, Technology

Blah, blah, blah… Do dogs understand anything we say?

‘Do you want to go out for a walk?’ ‘Sit, sit, sit, I know you know how to do this, SIT, good boy, good doggy’. ‘Did you take my shoe? Rover, fess up! I know you did it!’ ‘Stop jumping

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science, Technology

We just can’t resist puppies! Why?

Puppies are like gremlins. They bite everything in sight, including our hands, pant legs and favorite shoes. They pee all the time, chase after every moving object, and just like human toddlers are a ton of work! Yet, for some

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science

Spatial navigation – how dogs find their way

  Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare surprised me the other day with the drawing they had published in their book ‘The Genius of Dogs’, about one of the experiments I had worked on with the Geneva University in Switzerland (fig.1). I wanted to write about those experiments for

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Resource, science

The Genius of Dogs: Heralds New Era in Dog Cognition Research

I just finished reading Brian Hare’s and Vanessa Woods’ book, The Genius of Dogs. I was anxious to get my hands on this book and was looking forward to learning about the latest studies on dog cognition. I had also

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource

Can your dog recognize you from a picture?

Have you ever considered sending a picture of yourself to your beloved dog while he’s waiting for your return from vacation? Most of us would probably not think of this as anything meaningful to the dog. Yet, research is now

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Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Misc, Positive Animal Training
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