You may notice that I don’t say anything about the quality of the shelter I provide for Bamboo the cat. This was not because it slipped my mind that he’s part of the household. Unlike as is the case with the dogs, I can’t point to a particular location—highly valued or not—that Bam claims as his own because he claims the whole house. I’m as likely to find him sitting in the sink as on my desk, in the back of my closet, on my bed, in the dog bed, or the back of couch. And while there are
Read more →As so often happens when I discuss behaviors in animals and humans, I realize after-the-fact, that I used the same word to refer to opposite states of mind. Come of think of it, that’s the way behaviors are, too. The same behavior can have two completely opposite meanings depending on the context in which it occurs. In this podcast I used the word “dependence” to describe relationships between animals and their owners that have quite opposite consequences for the animals. Luckily for me, the intelligence of those who listen to these meanderings is so superior, I’m sure you won’t
Read more →How much of what does your pet have to do to prove to you that he or she loves you? And how much of what must you do to prove the same to your pet? Even though most of us may not consciously think about the answers to these two questions, most of us have some idea about what these are or should be. Not only that, wondering whether we or our animals measure may take up a fair amount of our time. But is all this soul-searching necessary? I’ll let you be the judge of that.
Read more →Normally when I think of guilty pleasures, I think of something like chocolate or reading when I should be mowing or weeding. But this podcast explores another kind of guilty pleasure: the ability to sometimes interact in a less-than-perfect way with our animals without succumbing to guilt. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t all strive for perfection. But there’s something to be said for not getting so involved in such a quest that we lose sight of what’s really important. Here’s Ollie preparing to protect me form the invasion of the Demon Cat, as if said Demon Cat
Read more →If this podcast doesn’t convince you to lighten up, here’s another good reason. According to researchers at Loma Linda University (CA), repeated bouts of laughter offer some of the same benefits as moderate exercise, among them lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol. Laughter also affects levels of ghrelin and leptin, two hormones that help regulate appetite and are also affected by exercise. So not only does enjoying life make it easier for us and our animals to relax and learn, we can exercise at the same time. (To read more about the study, click here.) Hmmmm. I wonder if
Read more →An additional story related to ducks and alarm calls: Several years ago, I previewed one of Ken Goddard’s wonderful animal forensics adventure/thrillers. In this he used the code word “merganser”, the name applied to fish-eating ducks who belong to the genus Mergus as an alarm call. When one of the members of his undercover team used the word, this would set into motion a complex human response. Unfortunately when I reach the part of the story where the “Merganser!” call was given, my immediate response was, “Duck!” Alas, that completely inappropriate response under those particular circumstances would have guaranteed
Read more →Speaking of hammers, you may notice what sounds like mice or some other small creatures armed with small tools periodically doing some construction work during this podcast. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what that was. Frica was on the rocker next to the woodstove; Ollie was hiding his ball under the pillow on the dog couch then flipping the pillow up to discover the ball again; Bam was outside watching the sunrise. As I recall, I was doing my usual wandering around the main downstairs room as I recorded, which wasn’t anything different either. ‘Tis
Read more →What do one of English literature’s most beloved detectives and companion animal behavioral problems have in common? As it turns out, a lot more than I thought. I just didn’t realize this until I reread The Secret of Father Brown to which I, in a recording stupor, alas referred to in this podcast as The Scandal of Father Brown which is a different collection altogether. To atone for this grievous sin on my part, a click here will take you to Project Gutenberg where you can read and/or download the book that triggered this podcast. If you enjoy Father
Read more →This podcast was precipitated by an email with this link which those of you with high-speed connections will hopefully be able to open. Here in the dead zone, I could not, but the person who sent it to me included a verbal description of the depicted canine subject’s spinning behavior. Although this particular animal’s behavior was considered newsworthy by the media, spinning or circling is fairly common. And like so many other behaviors, that same behavior can reflect mental states at opposite ends of the stability spectrum.
Read more →After years of either completely ignoring stress or reviling it as some sort of diagnostic dumping ground, science is finally acknowledging the role stress plays in health and behavior. As a result, the amount of stress-related information almost seems to double every day. Unfortunately in my effort to reduce some of this to podcastable chunks, one of my listeners rightfully pointed out a crucial point about stress I ignored. This podcast will, I hope, correct that.
Read more →