Recently I posed a question about research to fans of my Facebook page. The question goes like this: Say you’re comparing dog-training method A for training a down-stay (using a clicker and food rewards) with method B (using a shock collar at low levels when the dog starts to get up). You want to know if one method causes more signs of fear and anxiety during the training than the other. For consistency you decide to use the same trainer for both groups.  The trainer is skilled at both training methods. You are recording the training sessions and having a

What do you do when your kitty is leaving little landmines around the house—a.k.a. pooping outside the box? Follow these tips to a T and your cat will once again poop in his litter box regularly.

This week newspapers and television news have splashed an alarming headline for those pet owners who love to share their bed with their pet. The headlines warn that sleeping with your pet can make you sick and even prove life-threatening in a few rare cases. These headlines are based on an upcoming February 2011 article in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases entitled “Zoonoses in the Bedroom.” In this peer-reviewed article, the authors, veterinarians Bruno B. Chomel, a professor of zoonoses at the University of California, Davis, and Ben Sun, the state public health veterinarian for the California Department of Health,

Trainers often debate about the use of electronic shock collars. Some trainers find these collars unethical and unsafe. The pro-collar camp takes a different stance. Some say it just distracts the dog, calling it “tap technology” and others say it may be painful at the instant but then the dog learns to behave and there are no lasting negative effects. In 2003, researchers from the Netherlands, Matthijs Schilder and Joanne van der Borg assessed the short and long-term behavioral effects of dog training with the help of shock collars. They wanted to know three things: Do shock collars cause pain

A reader recently emailed me about a hot topic of debate in his town of Carl Junction, Missouri. The town is considering revising their leash law to allow owners to walk their dogs on electronic collars including when they are running their dogs next to them in the street while driving golf carts. His specific question was, “Does this provide good control?” There are several factors involved in answering these questions. First, you have to understand how such collars work and how dogs need to be trained in order to learn the goal behavior of heeling next to their owners

It’s a multi-cat household where all get along, then one day a change and now everything’s wrong. Before they were buddies or at least sort of friends, but now one chases the other to no happy end. While disputes among human family members are often status quo, a sudden feud among felines can leave everyone frazzled. It seems strange that amicable individuals could erupt in a friendship-ending fight. Anyone who watches soap operas though sees it happen all the time with humans. Two college buddies are closer than a sock and a shoe. Then add a big party, alcohol, and