Bewilderbeast, My Favorite New Podcast
Croatian Bomb Sniffing Bees? (Note the logo!) Bovine Booties? Hilarious penguin poop? How about the cow who gave us public libraries? Interested? I am. No surprise to anyone, I'm an animal lover who is fascinated by animal behavior. I've learned that most dog lovers are too--I used to include videos and stories about a range of species in my seminars on dog behavior, and was gratified to learn that people loved it. The all time favorite might have been my video comparing human and chimpanzee behavior. (The comparison being part of my motivation for writing The Other End of the Leash.) It occurred to me, right before walking out to a huge crowd at an early APDT conference, that the scenes Read More
Maggie! Chester! Princess! (Now That We Have Your Attention, Please Read Our Minds)
How many times have you said your dog's name, and nothing else, when you wanted her to come, or sit, or stop jumping up, or . . . ? It seems to be universal, this tendency to say a dog's name, and then assume they know what we want them to do without any more information. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say "Butch!" or "Blackie!" and then wait for the dog to do something, I'd be a wealthy woman today. Literally. Ah but, I've done it too. Not very often, quite rarely actually now, but on occasion it still happens. But I hear it all the time, because it seems to be something we humans do around our dogs, until we learn not to. We don't do it with our human Read More
Different place, different dog?
How many times have you heard about a dog who behaved one way in one home, and substantially differently in another? My answer: Lots. Lots and lots and lots. I'm writing about this because the universe asked me to: On Saturday I went back to my post of June 22nd (2020), in which I asked readers what they'd like to talk about. Nan Kujolic made a comment that she'd had a dog who was dog-dog aggressive, seriously so, until she rehomed him into a place in which he would not be a danger to others. Where he became a model dog who got along with everyone. She was surprised, and also a bit ashamed. What did she miss? Did she do something wrong? I think all of us can relate to those Read More