With all of the dog bite attacks that circulate in the news, you may sometimes worry; what if that were you? As a veterinarian focused on behavior and an avid runner, I’ve dealt with a lot of dogs charging towards me and threatening to bite.  In spite of working with aggressive dogs as well as running by off-leash dogs on a daily basis, I have only been bitten—minor bites— a few times over the last 20 years. What’s the secret? The number one secret is to stay calm. The more you scream and try to move the more aroused you’ll

How do we know when it is and whether it’s important? You’ve probably heard that puppies need to be socialized, but how do we know this and what do we know? Most of the ground breaking studies were done in the 1950’s and 1960’s, one of which was performed by co-authors, David Freedman, John A. King and Orville Elliot and published in Science in 1962. They carried out a classic study using the methodology that had already been established for determining critical periods in other animals such as ducks, guinea pigs, chickens, and sheep. They took 5 litters of cocker

You should find a good trainer.” How many times have we heard this advice but don’t know exactly who to turn to? When one of my dogs began exhibiting aggressive behavior, many people told me that I should “find” a behaviorist, as if it were a simple, ordinary task and that all I had to do was search. In my quest to find the best behaviorist, I realized that the options were much more nuanced, the licensing/certification organizations much more varied, and the process much more complicated than I had initially thought. Unlike many other professions, there is not one

How many of you dog owners have been a victim of this scenario? Your dog enters the room and sees you on the other side. He’s tosses his ears back, puts on a smile, wiggles his way over and gives you a big smooch. For an instant you’re overjoyed but then you realize, “That’s not normal doggie breath. Yuk. It smells like poop!” If this has happened to you, rest assured, you’re not alone. According to a study presented at the Dr. Benjamin Hart at the 2012 ACVB/AVSAB Animal Behavior Symposium, 16% of dogs are serious stool eaters – a.k.a. copraphagia – meaning,

When I think back to when I was a student in college majoring in Biochemistry I remember my professors constantly stressing that school was more than book learning. It was about getting an education so that we could see the world more broadly and understand how the information we were learning fit into real life. I took their advice and looked for connections between my classes in everything I did. When I exercised, the glycolysis and Kreb cycle pathways ran through my head, watched TV commercials psychology and classical conditioning came to mind, and whenever I waited in a slow

People frequently ask me why I use hands-free leashes in my dog classes instead of letting owners hold the leash. One main reason is the hands-free leashes allow the clients to easily handle and deliver treats quickly, in rapid succession, and with correct timing. A less obvious but very important reason and my answer: Have you seen what people do with a leash in their hands? I remember attending a seminar early in my career by Patricia McConnell where she showed a video of chimpanzees handling objects. They grabbed, swung, lifted and pulled at these objects. Her point was, primates