Anyone who frequents the dog park and knows about dog behavior probably has a few horror stories to share and I am no exception. A couple of years ago, I was at my neighborhood park, which is a private multi-use park for dogs and people. It was an off-hour so it was just me, my dog, Jonesy, and my foster dog, a little Corgi with a history of some fear and reactivity to unfamiliar dogs. Jonesy was off-leash and the Corgi was on a long line. Generally, when I’m just with Jonesy, who is reactive towards unfamiliar dogs, especially those

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Every year, the UC Davis Animal Science Department raises and sells yearling horses at their annual auction. While most owners would be happy if their yearlings could lead nicely on halter and load calmly into a trailer, in the Spring of 2000, when I was teaching the behavior courses in the Animal Science Department, I helped the students in charge of the yearlings aim higher. Using a combination of clicker training and natural horsemanship, we trained a number of handy behaviors. One of the first things we taught was lateral and vertical bending. We taught the behaviors using two different

Every time I give a lecture on behavior modification, someone asks me, “But what if my dog’s not motivated for food?” This always makes me wonder if we live on the same planet. For one, if a dog were truly not motivated for food, he would dead. What the attendee really should be asking is “Why won’t my dog eat when I want to train him? Could it have anything to do with the fact that I leave his food out all day or give him table scraps and treats for free out of guilt whenever he looks at me?”

It’s three hours past dawn and the songbirds are strangely silent. The house is still, devoid of life save a lone Tabby sitting bold, solitary, and aloof in the window with a beam of sunshine spotlighting his silver and stripes. He is the keeper of his house, the king of his territory. Then he turns, looks. And then Weeoow! Weeeoooww! His wails grate the air like freshly manicured nails sliding down a squeaky clean chalkboard. Why the mournful meowing? This kitty wants his mommy and she’s just left for work. Tabby drops down from his pedestal and paces five steps

Everyone knows that if you have a dog you’ll take it on walks. But did you know you could also take your cat on walks? Taking a cat on walks works best if you’ve socialized the cat at a young age to new environments so he’s comfortable in the places you plan to take him. Of course, you’ll also want to train your cat or kitten to love wearing a harness.