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TheOtherEndOfTheLeash
www.theotherendoftheleash.com
9
Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, has made a lifelong commitment to improving the relationship between people and animals.
#143529 in All

fMRI on Dogs: Too Wonderful!

When I was doing my PhD research in the 1980′s I wanted to see how a dog’s brain responded to different types of sounds before and after training. This was in the 1980′s, and the on...

1 day ago

Are Military Dogs “Equipment” or “Members”?

Here’s a political issue I’m happy to discuss on the blog: The classification and treatment of dogs in the American Military. Dog lovers may or may not support the use of dogs in the mili...

24 may 12

Preventing Dog Bites

A million years ago, my first Border Collie Drift lept up and nipped a man’s nose at the Wisconsin State Fair. Even though the man was clearly not injured, with virtually not even a red spot on...

18 may 12

Rabbits are like Dogs, but Not

So much to learn, so little time! I recently did a guest appearance on Wisconsin Public Radio and didn’t do a very good job answering a question about a rabbit who pottied on the couch instead ...

11 may 12

Lure & Clicker Training to teach Sit – Advantages & Disadvantages

It makes me so happy to say that Tootsie is doing great. Right now she’s sleeping in her crate beside my desk. The door is open, but she loves it there. The only places she likes as well are 1)...

05 may 12

My Turn to Ask Advice (Website related)

We’re working on a new website, and anyone who has been there knows that it’s like building a house: the number of decisions needing to be made becomes ridiculous after awhile. That’...

27 apr 12

Balance

Balance is a term used by sheep dog handlers, but I find myself thinking of its value in so many other contexts related to dogs. In sheep herding, “balance” refers to a dog’s abilit...

20 apr 12

Why I farm

Last Saturday my teenage ewe, Butterfinger, had her first lamb. I found her in the barn pen, licking off a slippery package of skin-covered bones covered with tiny whorls of wool and placental slime...

13 apr 12

New DVD on Animal Assisted Therapy!

We just released a DVD of the seminar I did in Naples, Florida on Animal Assisted Therapy and Activities, “Lending a Helping Paw.” I’m excited about it, because it gives me the oppo...

04 apr 12

Don’t waste calories!

Well, this could be a blog about my as-yet-to-be-successful attempts to lose 10 pounds, but more on point, it’s a discussion about the value of a dog’s dinner in training and behavior mod...

30 mar 12

Repeating Cues: Information or Affect?

A blog reader asked a great question recently, in response to my comment that I couldn’t help myself and repeated “Stay, Stay, Stay” to Willie when in a dangerous situation at the s...

23 mar 12

Tom Turkey (& Okay, a Sale)

So Katie Martz, Client Services Coordinator at McC Publishing, came into my office this afternoon and said: “You’re going to hate me for asking, but would you mention the sale on your blo...

19 mar 12

Who’s Doing Research on Canine Cognition?

Julie Hecht, who holds a Masters in Applied Animal Behavior and Animal Welfare from the University of Edinburgh, gave a great talk at IFAAB this year that included a summary of the labs around the wo...

16 mar 12

Size Matters

Here’s an interesting study that came out in 2010 comparing the perceptions, behavior and training of larger versus smaller dogs (“Behavior of smaller and larger dogs: Effects of trainin...

08 mar 12

Clever Hans Revisited

You probably know the story of Clever Hans, the horse owned by a math teacher named von Osten who decided to teach his horse to do math in the same way that he did his pupils. After extensive trainin...

05 mar 12

Best. News. Ever.

Today, it’s all about the farm. I had a blog written about the effect of acoustic environments on us and our dogs, some new products available for us to use to calm our dogs, and some new resul...

24 feb 12

You’ve Got a Friend?

If you’ve been following last week’s blog and the comments, you know that there’s been an active discussion about whether dogs can (or can’t) form “true” friendshi...

17 feb 12

Do Dogs Form “Real” Friendships?

I had an entirely different blog written and about to be posted, but there’s a swirl of discussion going on right now about an article that came out in Time Magazine by Carl Zimmer about “...

10 feb 12

Is Silence Golden?

As many of you know, I did a seminar on new research on canine behavior in Madison last October. (Oh, and by the way, have I mentioned it is now available as a DVD — hot off the press? Tee Hee,...

03 feb 12

Missing the Sense, Scent of the Missing

Part of the fun of preparing for the seminar I did in Orlando was working on the canine olfaction section. The overall topic of the day was Canine Communication (often compared to primates like us), ...

28 jan 12

Therapy Dogs – Born or Made?

As many of you know I recently presented a seminar on animal assisted therapy in Naples Florida. (Yes, it’ll be out as a DVD later this winter. Happy Dance!) One of the motivations for doing th...

19 jan 12

Cotton Top Tamarins-The World’s Cutest Monkey

Well, they’re not dogs. Or cats. Or domestic animals of any kind. But I spent two years working with Cotton Top Tamarins and hearing my university BFF describe how she is continuing her work wi...

17 jan 12

Tree of Life

Home Sweet Home!! Florida was great is so many ways (thank you everyone!), but I have to admit I am sooo happy to be home. Willie and Tootsie are great, Sushi and the sheep too, the snow (finally!) d...

14 jan 12

It’s the Little Things (Beh’l Regressions Part 2)

Earlier I wrote about Willie’s extreme and fearful reaction to a visiting man about a month ago, speculated about its causes and discussed how to respond. Here’s an update, and a few thin...

05 jan 12

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

So many books, so little time! Here are a few I’m enjoying: Magnificent Mind at Any Age by Daniel Amen. This is a fascinating book by a psychiatrist who began doing SPECT scans of his patients ...

29 dec 11

Treatment Plans for Behavioral Regressions

Or, alternative title: Adventures in the Willie Wonka Fear Factory. If you’re cocking your head in confusion, this is about Willie’s recent (and relatively new) fear of men. To review bri...

22 dec 11

Anger & Anger Management

CAN DOGS GET ANGRY? Yup, I’m here to say that they can. Do they get angry as often as humans? Nope, and thank heavens for that. If they did, I doubt we’d live with them, given that they h...

15 dec 11

Your Dog Has a Brain in His Gut

No, seriously. And so do you. No kidding. I’m so interested this, a relatively new discovery about what’s called the Enteric Nervous System, that I wanted to write about it today. I’...

08 dec 11

Yup, Dogs Can Be Disgusted!

Well, it seems appropriate now to talk about disgust after a weekend of gluttony. (But what fun cooking paprika chicken and pot roast and roasted brussels sprouts and home made bread and pumpkin and ...

29 nov 11

What Are You Thankful For?

Well, I keep putting off writing about the emotion of disgust (and soon jealousy and guilt), but it’s Thanksgiving tomorrow and it just didn’t feel right to be writing about such a negati...

23 nov 11

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