Every day, we are bombarded with new information about dogs that arises from a variety of sources - via the internet, through our smart (or not so smart) phones, from our colleagues, friends and family, and of course from our neighbor Joe next door (who happens to know a lot about dogs). In this day and age of information overload, it should … Continue reading Thyroid on Trial
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The Kids are Alright
A SAMPLE OF "KIDS WITH DOGS" PHOTOS TAKEN FROM A 30-SECOND GOOGLE SEARCH Disclaimer: If you are not horrified by these photographs (even worse....if you think they are cute), you are probably not going to like what follows. A few statistics: According to the CDC, approximately 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each … Continue reading The Kids are Alright
Dog Food Logic
"Dog Food Logic: Making smart decisions for your dog in an age of too many choices" is now available! Click on the images for more information and to order. (Note: E-versions are already available from Dogwise, and will be included on Amazon soon). ORDER FROM AMAZON ORDER FROM DOGWISE REVIEWS OF "DOG FOOD LOGIC" … Continue reading Dog Food Logic
Dog Park People
Dog Parks are a relatively new cultural phenomenon, and have increased in both number and popularity over the last 15 years. It is an understatement to say that people are rather polarized in their views of dog parks. Advocates maintain that these designated areas provide invaluable opportunities for dogs to enjoy off-lead exercise, socialization and play with other … Continue reading Dog Park People
The Consequences of Consequences
Operant learning is all about consequences. Most trainers and behaviorists are well-versed in the uses of pleasant and aversive stimuli as dog training consequences. These can be constructed into a 2 x 2 matrix that includes the type of stimulus (desirable/pleasant or aversive/unpleasant) as one factor and the intended behavioral change (increase or decrease response frequency) as the second factor … Continue reading The Consequences of Consequences
The Ben Franklin Effect
Benjamin Franklin was a pretty amazing guy. The quintessential Renaissance Man, he was a scientist, inventor, author, musician, scholar, business man and politician. There are many popular stories and quotes from Franklin's life, but one in particular demonstrates his astute understanding of human behavior. In fact, this story became so well-known that it eventually led to what is now … Continue reading The Ben Franklin Effect
Deconstructing the Click
I am a clicker trainer. All of my own dogs are clicker trained and many of the classes that we teach at my training school, AutumnGold are "clicker-centric". Clicker training is not only a scientifically sound approach to teaching dogs new things, but is also a kind, enjoyable, and bond-strengthening method of training - something that benefits both dogs and their people. 7-MONTH-OLD SIMON LEARNS EYE … Continue reading Deconstructing the Click
The Quiz
Imagine that you have enrolled in a college math course. You have been attending lectures for several weeks and although the material is quite difficult, you feel that the instructor has been explaining the concepts very clearly and that you have been able to learn a great deal from his lectures. You have completed and … Continue reading The Quiz
New Book Announcement – “Dog Food Logic”
"Dog Food Logic: Making smart decisions for your dog in an age of too many choices" is now available from Dogwise Publishing and Amazon. Click on the image for ordering information. Below are several recent reviews. ORDER AT DOGWISE ORDER AT AMAZON ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ REVIEWS OF "DOG FOOD LOGIC" ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Reviewer: … Continue reading New Book Announcement – “Dog Food Logic”
Beware the Straw Man
Many animal shelters regularly use standardized tests to assess the behavior of dogs and to determine adoption suitability. However, while the use of these tests has become ubiquitous, there is a distinct lack of research demonstrating their reliability or validity. In other words, while testing a dog's degree of friendliness, aggression and fear prior to adoption makes intuitive sense and feels like a good idea, we do not … Continue reading Beware the Straw Man
This test that you keep using……
The availability heuristic is a common cognitive error that influences our ability to make accurate decisions. It is operating full-force whenever we base a decision upon evidence that is easily available (i.e. dramatic, obvious, easily measured) but that may not actually reflect reality. In practice, this means that we pay more attention to evidence that is salient (obvious and … Continue reading This test that you keep using……
Love me, love my dog……New twist on an old belief
Everyone is familiar with that old saw about dogs looking like their owners......certainly, there are plenty of photos in this genre floating around the internet......... However, appearances aside, this common belief leads one to ask - Do dogs often behave similarly to their owners? Or more precisely, do dogs and their owners share personality traits? Recently, a group of collaborating … Continue reading Love me, love my dog……New twist on an old belief
Yogi Bear Dogs
Do you live with a Yogi Bear dog? You know what I mean - one of those smarter than the average bear dogs? I am quite certain that I live with several. For example, Chippy my Toller, excels at retrieving rings and carefully placing them over a pylon, riding a skateboard (sometimes recklessly, in my opinion), and playing … Continue reading Yogi Bear Dogs
Speaking of treats…..
Like kids with their Halloween candy, do dogs rank the treats that we provide to them? Many trainers selectively use what we call "high-value treats" for some behaviors and "low-value treats" for others. However, other than subjectively observing the level of our dog's pleasure at receiving different types of treats, do we have actual evidence that treats vary in their influence upon … Continue reading Speaking of treats…..
Treat Please!
One of the things that I love best about training dogs (and there are many, many things to love about training dogs) is that they respond well to so many different types of positive reinforcement. We have a wide variety of "fun stuff" from which to choose that communicates "Yes!!! That is it!! You are SO … Continue reading Treat Please!
The Science Dog 