I believe that it was Mark Twain who noticed what dunderheads his parents were when he was young, and how much wiser they became as he got older. I’ve had that same experience, not only with my parents, but also with a lot of my ideas about animal-related scientific and other conclusions. There were many I thought were absolutely, no-doubt-about-it true when I was younger about which I now think, “Boy, did I get that wrong!” This has happened so often that I now accept how relative truth actually is. Even what I say in this podcast might or
Read more →This podcast is a tongue-in-cheek response to the announcement of this new magazine and website sent to me by a friend: In keeping with the rationale of this and many other publications for those with animals, I’m sure the editorial board of my new venture is well-qualified because they are owned by a human. “NOTHING gets by me” Bamboo will cover late-breaking news, “Wake me when we get there” Frica will cover leisure and travel, and “Where’s my ball? When’s dinner?” Ollie will share the latest buzz on how people can keep their eyes bright, their hair curly, their
Read more →Our bigger brain is usually touted as evidence of the human species superiority, but it turns out that it’s actually the result of our physiological and behavioral immaturity. That is, we owe our bigger brains to the fact that we’re domesticated. Naturally that made me ponder what might be happening to the brains of our domestic animals as they become more domesticated, too. An article in Scientific American on human bigger brain origins by Charles Q. Choi entitled “Being More Infantile May Have Led to Bigger Brains” can be found here.
Read more →In addition to the discussion about sound bites you may notice that the sound track accompanying this podcast is different. It’s not that there’s no longer any play going on among the resident quadrupeds. Quite the contrary, there’s more play than ever. But since BeeBee has been gone, the sight of my voice recorder now triggers raucous play primarily between Ollie and Bamboo. However—and this is a theory I’m still working on—I think Bam is part cat, part Lanky Demon, and part stealth bomber. This means that he can sneak up on Ollie, grab him around the neck, throw
Read more →Semantic contagion: should we be worried about it or not? I’ll let you be the judge of that. Even though a discussion about pit bull-related issues trigger this podcast, I could have just as easily put ticks at the head of the list. As ticks have moved northward, people have become more paranoid about them and Lyme Disease. Fortunately for dogs, the semantic contagion strain associated with Lyme disease in humans seems more virulent than that in dogs. Apparently in humans, one needn’t even have a positive test result to be diagnosed with and treated for the disease. All
Read more →The article that precipitated this podcast was “Self-Reported Comprehension Ratings of Dog Behavior by Puppy Owners” by Keven J. Kerswell, Pauleen Bennett, Kym L. Butler and Paul H. Hemsworth. It was published in Anthrozoos, Volume 22, Issue 2, June, 2009, pages 183-193. At the time I recorded this, Bamboo was 3 1/2 months old and had exposed me to six week’s worth of subtle and not-so-subtle feline behaviors that gained their unique spin in our household. During that same interval, BeeBee’s unique lexicon also expanded as she struggled to make her peace with a mind that told her she
Read more →First, a link to Stewart Brown’s interview that you can listen to here. Second, I am NOT advocating people idly standing by while dogs or other animals destroy each other, either physically or mentally. What I’m advocating is the usual: a knowledge- rather than emotion-based approach to domestic animal play. That means that those who own and/or work with animals learn what constitutes normal play in their individual animal and others of that species, and about the role of play in normal development. This is quite different from taking a one-size-fits-all or free-for-all approach as occurs in some dogparks,
Read more →First a couple pictures of the subject of this week’s podcast, Ollie, responding to the question, “Do you want to go on a diet?” Notice the extreme reluctance to establish eye contact and answer. Were I able to read his thoughts, perhaps they would be something like, “Fat? I am not fat! That’s hair! If you kept me properly trimmed, you’d see how svelte I am!” Sorry Ol, I’m not buying it. One clarification. In the podcast I referred to tossing Ollie’s balls to increase the amount of exercise he gets. This is a reference to his favorite toys—fuzzy
Read more →First some informal shots of the main characters in this week’s podcast: BeeBee under my desk wearing her Gentle Leader, Frica resting up following a run-in with Bee, And Bamboo, staying out of BeeBee’s way. I’d like to report that I’ve come up with the perfect way to resolve this issue, but the truth is I haven’t. Since I recorded this, Bee has nailed Frica again under such unusual circumstances I must assume that Bee has figured out that only a surprise attack will work. Normal intra-canine communication I can accept. I’m not so sure about this kind.
Read more →There are two definitions of pedagogy in my old American Heritage Dictionary. The first is the one most people are familiar with, the art or profession of teaching. That certainly would apply to Bamboo the kitten, as he pointed out to me as he perused the dictionary himself. But the second definition, “preparatory training or instruction,” also is an apt description of the valuable service behaviorally stable cats provide when it comes to helping us understand the concept of normal dog behavior. Dog behavior? Is that a mistake? Not at all. Bam continues the same worthy tradition fulfilled by
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