Until recently, it was believed that animals didn’t feel pain or that they felt it differently than we do. In the past decade, research has shown that this simply isn’t true. Our pets definitely feel pain! We have stress when…
Blog Archives
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…
Tagged with: cute, Dog, dog cognition, Ethology, Jennifer Cattet, Konrad Lorenz, puppies, puppy, Smart Animal
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Resource, science
The joy of shaping
There are few things more exciting for a trainer than working with a dog on shaping a new behavior through clicker training. From teaching the dog to lie down on his bed, to retrieving objects, or flipping a light switch…
Tagged with: Animal training, classical conditioning, clicker training, Dog, dogs, Jennifer Cattet, operant conditioning, reward based training, shaping
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Fun, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Easy Potty-Training Instead of Housebreaking.
Teaching a dog good potty habits as well as house manners in general, is about making sure he’ll develop the habits of behavior that we’re looking for(the opposite approach of ‘housebreaking’ uses punishment). Building strong habits is no different than…
Tagged with: Animal training, Dog, human dog bond, Jennifer Cattet, Potty-training, reward based training, Stanley Coren
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Smart breeding – increasing the dog’s chances to a good life
Behavior issues are the primary reason why owners give up their pets. We’re all talking about the latest behavior modification technique, and often blame poor handling or inexperience, but at the core of many behavior problems lies a basic genetic…
Tagged with: Animal training, Behavior, behavior genetics, Dog, dog breeding, dog cognition, dogs, human dog bond, Jennifer Cattet
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, science
E-collars – why I never want to use them again
No matter where we stand on the training spectrum, from purely positive, to balanced or traditional, we all want the same thing: enhancing the behaviors that we want and decreasing those that we deem problematic, for the benefit of both…
Tagged with: Animal training, Dog, e-collar, Jennifer Cattet, relationship, reward based training, shock collar, Technology, Training
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, 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…
Tagged with: Brian Hare, dog cognition, dogs, Ethology, Jennifer Cattet, path intergration, spatial navigation, The Genius of Dogs, University of Geneva
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Resource, science
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, News, Resource, science
Dog psychology trumps intuition and myth
So you’ve just come back from work, walked through your front door, and immediately notice the smell; this awful, yet familiar smell that unequivocally informs you that a dirty deed has been committed. Buster has relieved himself on the new…
Tagged with: Dog, dog cognition, dog shame, guilty dog, Jennifer Cattet, Pet, Pets, puppy, Smart Animal
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, Technology
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource, Technology
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…
Tagged with: Animal training, Behaviorism, Brian Hare, dog cognition, Ethology, Jennifer Cattet, reward based training, The Genius of Dogs
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational, Positive Animal Training, Resource
Our Dogs Need Trainers and Vets Collaborating
According to Fatzò & al. (2006), when faced with behavior issues with Rex or Fido, most owners will first and above all, talk to their veterinarian during routine visits. Veterinarians are often the first pet professional to hear about the…
Tagged with: Animal training, Behaviorism, Jennifer Cattet, Smart Animal, veterinarian
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational
Posted in Dog behavior, Dog training, Educational