Two months ago, I wrote about serving as advocates for our pets which some of those who view their pets as members of the family might take as a discussion of the obvious. However, in spite of the fact that multiple surveys do conclude that 80% of us relate to our pets as members of the family and specifically as one of the kids, this isn’t necessarily a boon to the pet animal population. It probably would be if all pet owners could claim good parenting skills. However, as the popularity of television shows like “Nanny 911” and “Supernanny”
Read more →Several weeks ago, a reporter from The New York Times called me about the latest New York fad pet, the savannah cat, which is a domestic cat-wild serval cross. This led me to ponder the role novelty plays in the survival of nonhuman and human animal life. For example, those individuals who don’t recognize and properly respond to novel changes signaling the presence of predators won’t last very long. Those seeking mates will preferentially seek out those of the opposite sex who possess some quality that makes that individual stand out from the crowd. However, because pets often serve
Read more →Last month we discussed how the only way to function as a purpose-oriented rather than process-oriented owner is to willingly embrace the role of pet-advocate. Although purpose-oriented pet owners seek input from experts when problems arise with their pets, they also acknowledge that the final choice and the responsibility for implementing it lie with them and them alone. Unfortunately, however, we live in an age of experts who may communicate that they, not us, are the only thing standing between our pets and certain physical or behavioral disaster. Such views, while well-meaning, may erode owner confidence to the point
Read more →In previous commentaries we explored Nature’s purpose-oriented approach and why humans often accept a process-oriented one. In this commentary we’re going to examine the role of purpose in our personal interactions with our pets. Obviously, we should clearly define the purpose before embarking on any process. However, that’s not as easy as it sounds. Let’s consider the case of Carrie Labatti, whose new pet, Moshi, arrives with pages of instructions from the breeder regarding how to properly feed him. If Carrie is a big fan of those how-to books that compel us to blindly accept another’s processes or ads
Read more →Last month we explored how nature puts the average human’s idea of purpose-driven to shame. This month we’re going to discuss how the process-oriented approach to animal problems is so deeply entrenched, we may not even realize we could approach these some other way. To recap from last month, a purpose-driven or goal-oriented approach focuses on the result rather than how to achieve it. A process-oriented approach, on the other hand, focuses more on how the goal is achieved. Why do so many people focus on how the goal is achieved? Doesn’t everyone know that the end justifies the
Read more →Another advantage of getting older takes the form of the increasing amount of evidence to support the old adage that there is little, if anything, truly new under the sun. Certain themes keep recurring, albeit each almost invariably presented as if it were something new. Ideas come and go and come again not unlike hairstyles or fashions. Within the human behavioral realm, academia’s “goal-oriented” gives way to business’s “results-oriented”; keeping our eyes on the ball gets replaced by admonitions to keep our eyes on the prize. The most recent reincarnation now urges us to embrace a purpose-driven approach to
Read more →In the rocky river valley in which I live, December is the month of stillpoints. The calendar says winter won’t come until the 21st, but the slightest shift in temperature could bring it sooner or delay it for another day. When thick clouds shroud the valley, the old-timers sniff the air. “It smells like…” The stillpoint hits us all, then disappears when they conclude, “like snow.” On clear nights the sheer number and brightness of the stars pressing down from above empties the mind, another stillpoint. Each one of these possesses the potential to change us and our behavior,
Read more →During the past few weeks, my life has been dominated by time-related issues of one sort or another. My trusty watch no longer wants to keep accurate time; I spent a harrowing period lost in the woefully unmarked Toronto airport surrounded by clocks and schedules that used military time. I knew I had to catch a flight that left at 3:15 pm, but had trouble getting my already frazzled mind to accept how that related to the 14:35 on the clocks overhead. And then daylight savings time ended with all its usual attendant timepiece-changing rituals and confusion. Like many
Read more →Well, I lasted two months after the death of Violet the Wonderdog before I got a new pup. Although there was no doubt in my mind that there would never be another dog like Vi, I also knew that the only way to fill that little-dog-sized hole in my heart was to get another. What I didn’t expect, even though I should have given all the time I spend studying the interaction of animal behavior and the human-animal bond, was how all the emotions and projected beliefs tied up with this process could easily sabotage the new addition and
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The Bully Pulpit: Getting the Politics and Emotion Out of Animal Legislation
When I recently gave a seminar in California, the San Francisco area was in a tizzy over proposed breed-specific legislation that would ban those breeds of dogs certain individuals or groups consider problematic. As always when such legislation is proposed, it precipitated a feeding frenzy in a media community often far more interested in sound bites than dog bites. An old truism has long maintained that animals make good media, but media-savvy politicians and others are now discovering that they can tap into that media base for their own use by using animals (and their owners), too. This, in
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