Well, what a wonderful response to this blog!! It’s so nice to know someone is reading these!! Let me respond to several of these comments in one response here: FAP’s or MAP’s: the terms are being misused in either case, in the example provided by LC. In either case, as pointed out O’Heare, these… Read More
I have been blogging on the general topic of companion animal behavior for about 6 years now. The earlier (pre-2013) writings appeared as part of the “Behind the Behavior” blog at my former clinical practice home at Companion Animal Solution, LLC. While many of these earlier blogs still appear there, I have moved all of my blogs to this site. My new blogs will only appear here. And the new home for my clinical practice is AdaptiveAnimals.com: check them out! Link to the right.
My applied animal behavior blogs fall (so far) into two broad categories: the general science of behavior and more direct application to dogs and cats. I divide these entries into the two categories you can find to the right of this text. Enjoy! And if you would like to recommend topics, please contact me.
A Reading List in Animal Behavior, Part 2
Back in the fall of 2008, I presented a blog which started like this, “I am frequently asked about readings in animal behavior. One of the nice things about practicing in a region like Seattle is that our audience is so well educated. So not infrequently I have clients who want to learn more, want… Read More
What a Blockhead! Head Shape and Trainability in Dogs
An interesting paper appeared in a recent issue of Behavioural Processes (2009, vol. 82, pp. 355). The author, William Helton from New Zealand, examined results from three published studies in which breed and head shape were reported, to answer the question of whether morphology (head shape, in this case) reflected intelligence in dogs. Now, a… Read More
What Do I Do Now: Conflict Behavior in Dogs and Cats
Some time ago, I wrote a [blog about redirected behavior], and started it like this: “Most pet owners are familiar with the situation: your dog or cat is upset about something, perhaps has been challenged or even attacked. But rather than an understandable response in which the animal lashes out at the challenger, or turns… Read More
Confrontational Behavior Modification Techniques and the Risk to Owners
I have expressed my concern about confrontational behavior modification techniques in earlier blogs: the use of “positive punishment” or dominance and pack theory-based techniques, especially in the hands of untrained users, has been shown to be ineffective and to produce negative side effects. Hiby and colleagues demonstrated that positive reinforcement techniques produced a significantly better… Read More
Dr Jim Ha 