Wow! How’s that for a morose title for a dead-of-winter commentary? I could blame it on a fascinating article by Paul Tullis in the November-December 2011 Scientific American Mind entitled “The Death of Pre-School.” But all that article did was cause me to organize my thoughts regarding similar changes in young animal education/training that I’ve been pondering for years. Ironically just as the amount of research into the positive physical, mental, and emotional benefits of play for kids and animals of all species increases, there’s been a tendency to impose structured training on kids and domestic animals at a younger age.

Why does all work and no play make Jack and Jill dull academically as well as socially and undermine their chance for future success and happiness? And what does this have to do with animals anyhow?

To find out the answers to those questions, click here.

There are many sayings and phenomena in human behavior that remind us that connections between fact and fiction, art and life, and perception exist even if we don’t notice them. Sometimes we may go for years and never notice them. Then one day something happens that suddenly catapults the connection into our awareness. At such times I, at least, feel torn between berating myself for missing it for so long and being fascinated by the existence of such a process.

That’s what happened to me recently…

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Would it surprise you to learn that I was once an angel? For those considering renouncing your faith if the likes of me can achieve such status, permit to add that this occurred when I was in the second grade. And I’m sure it only happened because I happened to have access to a kick-butt angel costume.

It happened like this…

I don’t recall that anyone ever taught me that some places possess a spirit, a genius loci. If someone did, it must have been when I was very young because I don’t remember ever not noticing how a place felt, its spirit, as well as how it looks. Over the years I’ve encountered some picture-perfect locations that struck me as sterile and others the conventional wisdom would slap a condemned notice on that possessed more spirit than the greatest cathedral. When I first visited New Hampshire as a child, I intuitively recognized that I was as close to being home as I could ever be on this earth. Decades later when I learned that this place met the ancient spiritual criteria of a dragon’s or tiger’s lair, I understood why the realtor’s fuzzy faxed picture of the nondescript little structure and its property made my heart flip when I first saw it.

Unlike Tom Ryan’s genius loci, which resides in the breath-taking White Mountains of New Hampshire, mine resides in the pre-foothills or footlets of the Whites, the tippy-toe hills that channel the Little Sugar into the Connecticut River.

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I’m one of those people—and I dearly hope I’m not the only one—who sometimes thinks in headlines. Especially when I do stupid things. Whereas others might think, “Oh, s__t!” or other profane thoughts as such times, the headline “Bureau pins local resident at bottom of stairs” occurred to me when I foolishly thought I could prevent a very heavy piece of furniture from descending a steep staircase much faster that I could prevent it from doing so by holding it from below. Or how about “Local woman picking berries in nightgown gets surprised by bear”?

In retrospect, I think this predilection may have played a role in my fascination with plant and animal behavior with their seemingly infinite ability to amaze. Let’s face it, a headline such as “Giant rat kills predators with poisonous hair” does smack of sensationalism, doesn’t it?

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I came up with the title of this commentary after an unsuccessful attempt to describe the concept of companion animals and their owners engaging in mutually rewarding exercise together. This was to differentiate such a relationship from those skewed in one direction or another. You know, the owner who takes the dog for the obligatory excursions whose expression suggests this ranks right up there with watching glaciers move on the list of exciting things to do. Or the dog who’s so stressed that the walks are about as relaxing as a twice migration through a war zone.

But as soon as I wrote the word “unit,” I started to laugh because it reminded me of someone I worked with who previously worked for a manufacturing company where products were referred to as units.

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Why Animals Do What They Do

Arrrggghhh! I wrote this ages ago and then forgot to post it. My apologies.  Too much going on.

The advantage of taking ethological approach to normal and problem animal behavior

This commentary is a based on material I’ll be presenting at a seminar on June 5^th that focuses on canine behavior and aggression in particular. In addition to cordially inviting all interested parties to attend (see contact information at the end of the commentary), I’d like to use this opportunity to once again point out the advantages of adding ethology to the behavioral mix.

Given all the different animal training programs available, why bother?

Read more here…

Reports of two studies involving kids and one involving dogs so reminded me of what I see clinically that it caused me to ponder yet again the role teaching methods may play in problem behavior. And because at least some kids get dogs when they grow up, do they wind up creating pets with behavioral issues, too? In the case of these particular human studies and their results, I suspect that this is a possibility.

Read more…

When the time came to write this month’s commentary, I found myself in a somewhat lackluster state sitting at the kitchen table drinking Teeccino and eating dark chocolate with bits of ginger without a relevant thought in my head. My thoughts, such as they were, mostly drifted to what else I could do besides write a commentary. As I did this, I absent-mindedly leafed through a magazine that had arrived that morning. And there it was. Condemnation and inspiration all rolled up into one. An article about procrastination.

Read more…

The Ultimate New Year’s Human-Companion Animal Bond Resolution

If the title makes you think that I’ve succumbed to the hyperbole that permeates all things companion animal from (gross!) canine butt covers to the latest new food, fear not. The title represents the result of the distillation of numerous good resolutions into one that will be easy to remember even when feeling the most frazzled. Can you guess what it is?

I’ll give you three hints.

Read more here.

For many people the watch-words of the holiday season are “eat,” “drink,” and “be merry.” This holiday season, I suggest replacing them with “love,” “hate,” and “eat,” specifically Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals by Hal Herzog (Harper-Collins, 2010). This book is a perfect gift for those who work with animals in any capacity as well as any animal-lovers on your list. And don’t forget to put it on your own wish-lift or purchase it as a gift for yourself if you enjoy learning about human-animal interactions as much as I do.

Read more about this fascinating book here.

As I was flying home after two days at the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual conference last month, I found myself thinking some paradoxical, possibly off the deep end thoughts. I could defend such thoughts by noting that I’d been averaging about 3 hours of sleep per night for the previous 5 days. Or I could mention that I’d gotten up at 3 that morning to catch an early flight. But truth be told and thanks to my knowledge of animal behavior and probably normally confused mind, I often find myself evaluating what I hear from more than one perspective.

Read more to ponder the efficiency of domestic animal vs. human teaching skills here.

Plant a Garden

I have a magnate on my refrigerator that says, “Change your shoes…Change your life.” The relationship between planting a garden and quality animal interactions may seem equally unconnected, but it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. Gardening teaches basic skills that carry over into all areas of life and I’d heartily recommend it for anyone who works with animals and/or wants a quality relationship with them. Consider the following and judge for yourself.

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Have you ever noticed that when we humans think about combining two different components we automatically assume that the result will be the best of each? There are multiple examples of this concept in the animal-related world, with the natural or artificial breeding of animals from two different breeds or species being the most familiar. We cross a Siamese and a Persian or a dog and wolf and assume any offspring will possess only the best qualities from each of their parents. But this month I’d like to discuss a different kind of hybrid: working dogs who also are expected to fulfill the definition of loving canine companions.

Read more here.

The Bond: More Than What We Want

Last month I attended a seminar on the human-equine bond held at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The attraction for me was two speakers from the United Kingdom. Because a sub-theme of the meeting was equine rescue, I knew it was possible that their view of the relationship, while equally intense, could be more comprehensive than is sometimes the case in this country.

I was not disappointed.

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The nice thing about being an independent scholar is that I’m not bound by the culture and limits of a particular discipline. Because of this I’m free to think about a lot of subjects that would be unthinkable to others. Add that I’m blessed with friends and colleagues with whom I can freely share and further explore such thoughts and sometimes the results can be shocking and even blasphemous.

If you wonder what unthinkable thoughts I’m thinking this month, click here.

Also, I finally updated the picture on the opening page of the site. So if you’re still seeing the old one with the old commentary there, hit the reset button and you’ll see me age instantly before your eyes. 

In spite of my vow to limit my exposure to what now passes as news reporting for my mental health, it’s impossible to escape the rescue culture that is deeply entrenched in our society. The devastating earthquake in Haiti has yet again brought this to the forefront, both in its best and worst forms. Even so, come March 1^st when this commentary will be published, it’s possible that our interest in the subject will have waned. By then stories of animal-rescuing efforts may grab the attention of what little media remains on the scene. Or perhaps some new human and/or animal disaster somewhere else will occur and the media will turn all eyes there.

It turns out that a new earthquake, this one in Chile, has already diverted what little attention was being focused on Haiti somewhere else and so the rescue cycle begins again. To explore what all this may mean relative to animals click here.

Novelist Marcel Proust said that “…every reader is, while he is reading, the reader of his own self.” The same can be said of writers who, whether they want to or not, often tell the reader much more about themselves than the subject about which they write. Such was my experience reading The Wolf in the Parlor by Jon Franklin (Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2009).

To read more, click here.

If the title makes you think that I’ve succumbed to the hyperbole that permeates all things companion animal from (gross!) canine butt-covers to adopted pets as holiday gifts, fear not. The title represents the distillation of numerous good resolutions into one that will be easy to remember even when feeling the most frazzled. Can you guess what it is?

I’ll give you two hints. 1. This resolution is thousands of years old and probably predates human language. 2. It possesses the power to reduce even the worst pet-related situations to manageable ones.

Give up? Find out what it is here.

It’s that time of year again when thoughts about holiday gifts creep into our minds more and more often. Only this year as last, finding the funds for even token gifts is out of the question for many people. But not to worry. There are several great gifts we can give our pets this holiday season that don’t cost a cent. Not only that, these gifts will lead their recipients to bestow different, but equally enjoyable gifts upon us.

Want to know what those gifts are? Click here.