by Joshua | Feb 15, 2019 | contents, contents
Dominance is a concept we frequently encounter in discussions of companion animal behavior. Many pet owners believe that the most important thing they can do to ensure their animal behaves appropriately is to establish themselves as “dominant,” “the alpha mare,” or...
by Joshua | Feb 14, 2019 | Shelter, Small Animals
Part II: The Foster Home Foster parents are the backbone of any rescue operation. In addition, they are the best opportunity for animals to learn how to be part of a family. Fosters often fill a variety of roles, from simply being a holding space to nursing a sick...
by Joshua | Feb 13, 2019 | Horse
How best to meet the behavioural and emotional needs of horses is the crux of a typical behavioural consultation. The job of the behaviour consultant is to tread the path of assessing and meeting the needs of the horse, whilst simultaneously managing the desires and...
by Joshua | Feb 13, 2019 | Shelter
Euthanasia in shelters is a frequently discussed topic among staff, volunteers, and increasingly on social media by people with little experience of the realities of the situation being discussed. Looking at these often highly emotional discussions, it would seem that...
by Joshua | Feb 13, 2019 | Shelter
Background Readers were introduced to Boo, a male grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), in the Winter 2018 issue of the IAABC Foundation Journal. Born in 2002, Boo weighs around 550-600 pounds in the spring, and up to 750-850 pounds in the winter before hibernation. We came...
by Joshua | Feb 13, 2019 | Dog
We are teacher and trainers. We are also learners. Our animal clients have lessons for us, it seems, each time we meet. When is it time to observe? When is it time to step back, adjust our plan? When do we push forward? We are familiar with these lessons, we trainers...
by Joshua | Feb 12, 2019 | Shelter
How the Shelter Playgroup Alliance (SPA) Started Toward the end of 2017, I was putting the final touches on a canine enrichment program for the open-admission, high-volume shelter at which I am a behavior and training consultant. I started to develop an inter-dog...
by Joshua | Feb 12, 2019 | Dog
On January 1, a research article titled “Highly Heritable and Functionally Relevant Breed Differences in Dog Behavior” became publicly available as a preprint. The authors were Evan MacLean (University of Arizona), Noah Snyder-Mackler (University of Washington),...
by Joshua | Feb 12, 2019 | Working Animals, Dog
A central tenet of service dog training is fostering non-reactivity to various stimuli to ensure a resilient and reliable service dog for the client. Service dogs should remain relatively unfazed by dogs passing by, people talking to them, and other types of...
by Joshua | Feb 12, 2019 | Cat, Shelter
Case 1: Oomie I finally had a moment to get some work done on my laptop, so I pulled a chair up to the desk and started typing away. Oomie joined me. The sleek black cat jumped on my lap and settled in comfortably, purring. After a minute or two, Oomie stretched his...
by Joshua | Feb 8, 2019 | Dog
Recently one of my scent class students, I’ll call her June, got me thinking a lot about pressure. This article on the application of spatial pressure, whether intentional or inadvertent, and how it affects dog behavior in the context of scent detection tasks is the...
by Joshua | Feb 7, 2019 | Parrot
Living with an intelligent exotic animal like a parrot can be an absolute joy. It can also be quite challenging trying to meet the complex needs of these marvelous sentient beings. The most effective and humane, and least intrusive, way to interact with your bird is...
by Joshua | Feb 7, 2019 | Horse
As highlighted in the previous article Environmental Enrichment for the Horse: the Need to Forage, environmental enrichment can be defined as the additions and/or alterations made to a domesticated animal’s environment with the goal of improving welfare.1 There are...
by Joshua | Feb 7, 2019 | Dog
Searching Google Scholar for “littermate syndrome” + “canines” yields no relevant results. If the scientific community is silent on the issue of “littermate syndrome,” why do behavior consultants keep preaching about it? I started to think more critically about...
by Joshua | Feb 7, 2019 | Cat
If you ask clients why they do not allow their cat outdoor access, you will hear a few common things: The client is fearful that harm will come to the cat, the client lacks knowledge on how to safely provide outdoor access, or the client simply doesn’t feel the...
by Joshua | Feb 7, 2019 | Cat, Horse, Dog
Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences. In this column, we highlight some useful behaviors to teach clients to facilitate cooperative care, and...
by Joshua | Feb 4, 2019 | Working Animals, Dog
Moses leaps into action, darting across the field and vaulting onto a platform located 25 yards away. Happily holding there, he waits for the next cue, then runs to the next target. A total stranger is directing him while I stand out of the picture. I spent two...
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