Commentaries

Did you ever hear a word or phrase you’d never heard before and suddenly it seems to crop up everywhere? A few years ago, the phrase “pariah cat” had this effect on me. I forgot all about this until recently when, almost as if it has its own natural cycle like Pluto crossing the heavens, the phrase suddenly cropped up again. Although the cyclicity of ideas and terminology is an intriguing phenomenon in and of itself, what the label “pariah cat” tells us about the nature of the human-companion animal bond intrigues me even more. According to those who

On Friday June 25th, Violet the Wonderdog, my almost constant companion for more than 14 years, died peacefully in my arms following euthanasia. And although the temptation looms large to go on and on about her in an effort to vanquish the pain of loss more quickly, it seems more in keeping with who and what she was to share less weepy thoughts that occurred following her death. More specifically, those thoughts elicited by two quite different sources: the Summer 2004 edition of Dartmouth Medicinenewsletter and The Old American, a novel by Ernest Hebert (Hardscrabble Press). Like many owners

Two months ago I began exploring the incredible power of serenely doing nothing and allowing animals to figure things out for themselves. In Part I I discussed how the most successful animal adults spend the least amount of energy when training their young. In Part II I looked at ways to convert an energy-hogging, reactive (subordinate) owner mind-set into a sleek, energy-efficient leadership one. This month we’re going to consider the different factors that come into play when an animal behavioral meltdown occurs. Consider this common scenario: one day Snuffy growls and maybe snaps when someone attempts to move him off

Last month I talked about how the most successful animal adults expend the least amount of energy when training their young. One particularly effective technique involves calming ignoring the pushy, attention-seeking youngster until the latter recognizes this approach isn’t working and chooses to give it up. Because those who choose to do the right thing—as opposed to being forced into doing it to gain a reward or avoid punishment—internalize what they learner more quickly, this also saves the adult energy. Alas, we live in a terribly reactive society. We personally may find it boring to stay one step ahead

Because so many factors that may require considerable time and effort to resolve often come into play when problem animal behavior occurs, I think a lot about ways to prevent it. When I do this, one thought keeps recurring: The most valuable skill we can develop to prevent problems is the ability to serenely do nothing with confidence. Doing nothing with confidence. Given the pace of most of our lives, who wouldn’t want to do nothing and improve their pet’s behavior and their relationship with that animal at the same time? Well, as it turns out, even though many

Like everything else, human-animal relationships also change with the seasons. During the long winter, the dogs and cat stick much more closely to me. Granted they probably all do this for warmth to some extent, especially at night when the temperature plunges. But in addition to that, the pets function as animate lights, brightening those long, dark days of winter in a manner no lamp can. In fact, we create such an atmosphere of human-animal coziness, I invariably succumb to the illusion that this interspecies combined We will last forever. The illusion vanishes as it always does, losing one

Those of you who read the monthly commentaries may have noticed that I finally replaced the picture. Aside from the previous picture being so out-dated it came dangerously close to violating truth in advertising laws, this particular picture has a story behind it that continues to haunt me. It all began when I needed a photograph to accompany a series of articles I write for a veterinary journal. As luck would have it, the weather was brutally hot and humid and the first photo session ended in a pictureless disaster. However, it did include one photo I treasure in

A fundamental principle of healing that goes a back to Hippocrates if not longer reminds us that the success of any treatment relies on the patient’s faith in his or her own ability to heal the self. Faith in any professional overseeing the treatment ranks second, and faith in the treatment itself comes in third. When our animals develop medical and/or behavioral problems, we must add a second part to step one: Not only must we have faith in our animals’ ability to heal themselves, we must have faith in our own ability to properly support them throughout this

Did you ever read something that struck you as so profound that you immediately made it part of your personal philosophy, even though you never even realized you had a personal philosophy until that moment? That’s what happened to me many years ago when I read Norman Cousin’s remarks about differing world views in Celebration of Life: A Dialogue on Immortality and Infinity (Harper and Row:1974). Cousins wrote that, when we believe that the world is flat, the farther two people go, the greater the distance between them. But once we realize that the world is round, the farther

Normally I find I can keep the dogs reasonably clean with routine brushing, but the day we stepped outside and the scent of skunk hung so heavily in the air that I could almost see it, I knew they would need a bath before the holidays. Just walking through that skunk-scented cloud instantly tipped their coats from acceptably dog-scented to a scent that would cause me find some reason to move in the opposite direction any time they approached. Although I’m sure neither of them agreed, the dye (or should I say “scent?”) was cast. Come hell or high

In a recent study reported in ScienceDaily, a trio of psychologists (Naomi I. Eisenberger, Matthew D. Lieberman, and Kipling D.Williams) discovered that the brain responds the same way to social isolation as it does to physical pain. Given the part of the brain involved and role the response to physical pain plays in animal survival, it seems reasonable to speculate that behavioral pain plays a critical role in domestic animals, too. Briefly, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) to monitor the brain activity of a group of college students who participated in a game called Cyberball which

Until about 5-10 years ago, the idea of socializing a pup referred to accustoming that animal to a variety of different people under different circumstances. We wanted to do this because domestic dogs live in a human world and those who get along well with people fare better than those who don’t. However, in the past decade or so, there has a been a shift in emphasis from socializing dogs and people to socializing dogs and other dogs. I suspect multiple reasons have contributed to the shift. Almost certainly guilt plays a role. As human lifestyles have become more

Last month I was privileged to attend and present at the annual meeting of my most favorite organization, the International Society of Anthrozoology (ISAZ). Naturally any organization that devotes itself to the human-animal bond appeals to me. However, ISAZ embodies the added dimension of being multidisciplinary, an orientation that also perfectly reflects the multifaceted nature of the bond. This month I’m going to indulge myself and reflect on the value of this approach because I believe it should be the rule rather than the exception if we seek to gain meaningful knowledge about anything, but especially the human-animal bond.

When my son Jeremy married in July, our family gained not only a wonderful daughter-in-law, Melissa, but also her delightful cat, Lena. When Jeremy’s brother Dan married Ellen, we gained a dog named Spike. For as often as such human-animal mergers occur, the roles our animals play in those relationships normally don’t gain a lot of attention unless problems arise. When problems do arise, the animal or his or her behavior often becomes the target of any blame. However more often than not, when problems arise, they arise because of a lack of understanding of the human-animal bond as

Several years ago I formulated my advanced directives describing my wishes for my care should I become incapable of making those choices on my own. I did this because I saw the confusion and heartache that arise when loved ones become incapacitated and did not want to impose that on my family and friends. Around that same time I was working on Preparing for the Loss of Your Pet  (now available in an updated version, The Veterinarian’s Guide to Pet Loss )and realized that writing advanced directives for our pets made good sense, too. However, while I devoted a whole

Is the human-animal bond addictive? The first time that question popped into my mind years ago, I immediately wanted to dismiss it with a definitive, “No!” Like so many animal lovers, I wanted to believe that nothing but good could come from our positive feelings about animals and theirs about us. However as the years filled with interactions with both pets and their owners mount up, I’ve had to accept the possibility that the bond does have its dark side and that such an addiction could be one of them. Even more disconcerting, I’ve had to accept that while

Of all the seasons, I don’t think any reminds me more than spring of the role patterns play in nature. The second week of May, the hummingbirds return and if I don’t have their feeder ready for them, they will hover outside my window and chitter angrily at me. If I continue to miss the point, they will dive-bomb me as I leave the house. Patterns also characterize our interactions with companion animals. As with our interactions with wild animals, sometimes these enhance and other times these undermine those animals’ well-being. And this, in turn, may enhance or undermine

Spring arrived the third week in March in my narrow New Hampshire river valley, signaling the end of a winter that began mid-October and seemed like it would never end. In retrospect I can recall all the signs of impending spring, but that rush of springness that suddenly occurs when nature reaches the seasonal tipping point invariably takes me by surprise. How, I wonder, do those who pay no attention to the natural world around them survive? Don’t they feel a tremendous sense of loss or at least some sense of emptiness in their lives? Possible answers to those

Given the current political penchant for touting war in this country, it’s difficult not to think about what animal behavior can teach us about fighting as a viable response to a real or imagined threat. Even those with only limited knowledge of animal behavior know that evolution rewards those species and individuals who get the job done using the least amount of energy: How does fighting to gain or hold on to resources rank as a valid survival strategy in terms of conservation of energy? A major up-front energy-saver takes the form of the majority of fighting being done

The phrase “human-animal bond” or its variations now occur in the literature so often that the idea of asking where the bond comes from seems almost laughable. However when you try to pin someone down regarding the source, a certain amount of waffling often occurs. In general, probable sources fall into one of two categories: We may either inherent the potential or, barring that, we may learn it from others given the desire to do so and someone with the necessary knowledge to teach us. While some view this as an either/or question and champion their personal view while

January invariably spawns numerous commentaries about resolutions we should make to resolve every problem known to plague everyone, including animals. For pet-owners this, in turn, may generate a multitude of promises to correct those animal-related problems which we soon break when the demands of daily living take hold again. Rather than contribute to that guilt-producing sequence, this year I offer three quotations from those much wiser than I which I believe are of particular value to all who enjoy interacting with the nonhuman animals who comprise the overwhelming majority of the animal life on this planet. The first, from

Today began fairly typically for a pre-holiday day in off-the-beaten-track New Hampshire. I took the dogs out in the predawn hours, then listened to the news for as long as I could stomach it. Some days, though, I don’t get the news turned off soon enough, and the reports and rumors of wars, terrorist attacks, outbreaks of disease, economic ruin, and other real or fabricated human-created horrors that always seem to worsen this time of year make it difficult to focus my thoughts. “Is this any way to practice thanks-giving or the peace and good will of the holiday

Recently I had the opportunity to speak at the annual conference of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and, in one of those fits of inspiration that occur far too seldom when I seek to end a presentation just so, I remembered Lao-tzu’s words about teachers: Good teachers are best when students barely know they exist Not so good when students always obey and acclaim them Worse when students despise them. Of good teachers, when their work is done and their aims fulfilled, The student will say, “I did this myself.” In the past I’ve paraphrased this profound sentiment

I confess. When it comes to comprehending what some consider fundamental behavioral terminology, I am impaired. As soon as people start throwing jargon around, my eyes glaze and I can feel my brain cells shutting down, one by one. True, I also experience this problem when it comes to medical terminology, particularly now that I’ve reached the age when micro-organisms and surgical techniques receive make-overs and new names to go with them on what seems like an almost daily basis. However, keeping up with animal behavioral jargon is much more challenging because those working in this area come from

A friend recently acquired three kittens and has been in awe of the animals’ playfulness ever since. Ethologist Paul Leyhausen once stated that the more animals need to learn, the more they need to play. For small wildcat kittens and members of other solitary species who must learn all they need to survive before weaning, that makes for a very playful early life indeed! But even though young animals of all species do spend more time playing than adults, adult animals play, too. For many years scientists missed this reality, and that probably explains why some owners (and those

To me one of the most enjoyable aspects of my work involves observing how animals normally interact with each other. And because cats and dogs are the most common domestic household pets, these supply a rich source of input. However, you don’t need to observe canine-feline interactions very long to realize that some, and possibly many, dogs and cats don’t subscribe to the antagonistic relationship described in the old saw “fighting like cats and dogs.” That raises the question of why some people wanted or may still want to believe this. Given the hypertext way my mind works, the

Because I spend a fair amount of time working with aggressive animals and their owners, I naturally pay a lot of attention to how the general public and the media respond to these events. Within western society, we tend to take a villain-victim approach to what we perceive as an attack by one animal on another member of the same species. Aside from the fact that this completely disregards the fact that animals normally may communicate with members of their own species with teeth and claws and that what we perceive as an attack may not be an attack

Recently I was reading a very well-researched study of human-animal interactions and couldn’t help noticing how often both researchers and those surveyed used the phrase “unconditional love” to describe a cherished quality of a companion animal. As surely anyone with any interest in companion animals knows, that phrase crops up in the mass media so frequently that most of us could write the articles or conduct the interviews ourselves: Interviewer: “And what is it about Ipswich that you like the most?” Owner: “It’s his unconditional love for me.” In the midst of all of this certainty, I found myself

Regardless of the specific feline qualities that endear a particular cat to a particular person, human-feline relationships can be relatively intense. And because the more intense the relationship, the greater the pet’s sense of loss when separated from that person, it’s important to understand why and how this occurs. In spite of the fact that many domestic cats can and do form quite complex social relationships with others, this doesn’t erase the fact that their physiology and behavior reflects the successful evolution of a small, solitary, nocturnal predator over thousands and thousands of years. Although we may choose to

A great deal has been written on the subject of pet loss as it affects any surviving humans or other pets, including by me. However, as several recent e-mails have reminded me, little is written about how to help a dog cope with the loss of an owner. Unfortunately, two factors—one canine and one human—may combine to create problems for these animals and make those problems difficult to resolve. On the canine front, if a person a dog perceives as leader of the human-canine pack departs and none of those remaining in the household share that same kind of

I think it’s safe to say that whenever an animal experiences an unexpected and dramatic event—such as snow sliding off the roof, the sudden appearance of a stranger, blare of the smoke detector, an owner’s angry voice—it initially responds fearfully. For years, scientists have acknowledged that frightened animals respond in one of three ways: freeze, fight, or flee. However, research by neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux suggests that this isn’t an either/or phenomenon. His work revealed that threatened animals initially freeze, then opt for another response if that doesn’t work. This raises the possibility that the freeze response might actually serve

Not to long ago my cat, Whittington, sat in front of the French door in my livingroom surveying his domain following a major snowfall. As he watched, a section of snow slid off the roof immediately above the door with a whump! He immediately leaped back in surprise, then for the briefest of instants looked at me. This didn’t surprise me because I’ve seen him and my dogs do it many times. Still, why do he and other felines and canines do it? My intuitive response is that my pets want to know my reaction to their reaction: Will

For many, the worldwide uncertainties of life highlighted by the attacks on New York City and Washington, DC have made their relationship with animals more important than ever. We hear news that frightens or saddens us beyond words in the company of other people and we feel obligated to summon those words anyhow, regardless how inadequate those words may be. If we’re lucky enough to find ourselves in the company of someone who shares our thoughts and feelings, we gain comfort from this communication. If not, if we must weigh each word lest we upset that person in some

After years of making excuses, I’m finally emerging from my semi-Luddite state in response to requests for a web site from clients, students, and friends. Add two sons with the necessary know-how and here I am, dragged middle-aged, kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Because both my upbringing and my veterinary education occurred at a time when self-promotion morally ranked only slightly above exposing one’s self in public (with self-promotion possibly ranking as the more offensive of the two), this site will focus on providing what I hope those who visit will consider quality educational, provocative, and entertaining