Commentaries

Companion Cats and Seasonally Affective Orders

It’s that time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere. The days are getting longer and even though the snow is piled high and the wind bitter cold, the calls and emails come in as cats, in particular, succumb to seasonal orders. But wait a minute! Shouldn’t those behaviors be called disorders like the seasonal changes in behavior some humans experience? Not at all. Even though we may find these season-related animal behaviors disconcerting or even incomprehensible, they’re no more abnormal than the natural tendency for those same animals to slow down and sleep more as the days get

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Charlotte’s Tangled Web

Several weeks ago, two spider-related items arrived in my email box on the same day. One was from a friend telling me she had taken her son to see Charlotte’s Web and was surprised to discover that this childhood classic now comes with a disclaimer. The second was a link to a video clip showing the bizarre webs spiders weave when exposed to certain mind-altering drugs. (The fact that this showed up on a comedy site is equally bizarre but that, as one of my teachers used to say, is beyond the scope of this discussion.) These two events

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Pandas, Manatees, and Companion Animals: Peas Caught in a Human Pod

One of the things I love about teaching animal behavior is seeing how fundamental concepts that apply to wild animals play out in the human-companion animal realm. For example, as part of my animal behavior course, students must prepare a written report and do an oral presentation on an endangered species. As I read the reports and listened to those presentations, the same reason for a species’ dire condition was cited time and time again: human encroachment and habitat destruction. With each repetition, I couldn’t help but see similarities between this and the way we relate to companion animals.

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The Very Best Holiday Pet Gift Ever!

It’s that time of year again when all kinds of catalogues, ads, and announcements shout the praises of the very best holiday pet gift ever so I feel obligated to add my candidate for this award. Can you guess what that might be? I’ll give you a hint. Unlike the offerings touted by others, this very best pet gift won’t cost you a cent. On the other hand, it might very well be the most expensive gift you ever gave. Give up? Well, let’s consider some possibilities that fit those criteria. For over a third of the pets in

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Animals as Therapy: Therapy for Whom?

During the past year, several people have approached me regarding the use of pets as therapy in certain situations. Rather than eliciting the warm feelings usually associated with this topic, all of these incidents elicited negative reactions in those describing these events as well as myself. How could this be? First, I admit that, because of my role as an independent scholar seeking to integrate information about animal health, behavioral, and the human-animal bond, my perspective of many animal-related activities may differ from that of others. When others tout the benefits of animal-companionship relative to human physical and mental

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Good-by Leadership, Hello…IPIM?

It’s been obvious to me for years that using the term “leadership” to describe the ideal relationship between humans and companion animals was problematic. In my experience, people who lacked knowledge of animal behavior automatically would define the term as used in sports, politics, and corporate structure, i.e., the leader was the winner of the fight, leadership = domination. I got around this by explaining the difference to my clients and students, but using the same word to describe two almost opposite concepts was messy and confusing and I knew it. Still, I was loathe to coin a new

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Young Kids and Cats: Adding Claws and Other Feline Qualities to the Mix

Like the relationship between dogs and young children, that between cats and kids has much to offer—provided the child’s parents or caregivers recognize the needs and limits of cat and child alike. Unfortunately, many times parents know little or nothing about normal feline behavior, and what little they do know comes from poorly informed media sources. Other times they may mistakenly perceive cats as little dogs. Both behaviorally and physiologically, the latter approach wouldn’t work even if the underlying canine knowledge were sound. But as we saw in the previous two commentaries, often people’s knowledge about dogs is pretty

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A Recipe for Human-Canine Disaster: When Dogs Speak “Dog” to Infants and Young Children

When a dog bites a person’s face, it’s not uncommon for someone to attribute the wounds to the dog’s predatory nature. However, these bites rarely represent predatory responses. More often than not, these dogs are playing by dog- rather than human rules, thanks to the animal’s relationship with humans. And dogs playing by dog rules naturally communicate in the way they communicate with other dogs: they use their teeth. Unfortunately when they communicate this way to young children and infants, the youngsters often get bitten on the face. “Who cares why the dog bites?” you may ask. Well, I

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Infants, Toddlers, Dogs, and the Human-Animal Bond

Among the many presentations I’ve given are those to new parents regarding canine and feline behavioral-bond problems. And in spite of the fact that the best time to consider such issues is before the baby arrives, there are things that can be done after-the-fact to ensure both the animal’s and the baby’s well-being. Granted new parents often think that the new arrival leaves no time to worry about Spot or Kitty’s little quirks. However, unless something is done to address those behavioral issues, trust me, there’s a good chance they’re going to get worse. Because of this, this month

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Animal Learning and Teaching Theory Doggy Style

For eleven weeks I was privileged to watch one of my dogs, Frica, imparting those lessons she considered critical to the survival of her three pups. What I learned from her further increased my conviction that we need to reevaluate the way teach animals. It also taught me how little we humans actually know about the animals over who we claim stewardship. Among the many elements of this process that fascinated me was the difference between how Frica taught her pups and what is commonly viewed as canine learning theory among animal-care professionals. The body of scientific studies that

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