The Pawsitive Post in Conversation by Companion Animal Psychology

• Human remains detection dogs and historic searches with Kim Cooper and Cat Warren

  Dogs have incredible noses, and can trained to search for the scent of human remains, bringing closure to those who are grieving and the opportunity to memorialize. As well as recent remains, they can also search for historic remains. We're joined by two experts in the field, Kim Cooper of Ottawa Valley Search and Rescue, and Cat Warren, author of the NYT-bestseller What the Dog Knows, to learn more about these dogs and the work that they do.We talk about:How Kim and Cat got started in working with human remains detection dogs and how the dogs are trainedHistoric human remains detection dogsHow these dogs can help with searches at the sites of former residential schools in CanadaThe emotional side of a search from the handler's perspective and the skills a handler needs to work with communitiesWorking with communities and the role of oral history in historical searchesWhat type of dog is best suited to this work (breed, personality, size, etc.)And finally, we talk about the books we're readingThe books we recommend:The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think by Brian Hare and Vanessa WoodsNative Nations: A Millenium in North America by Kathleen DuValWords Are My Matter: Writings on Life and Books by Ursula Le GuinVanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures by Katherine RundellAlso mentioned:The work in Croatia is described in this article by Cat Warren https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/dog-archaeology-ancient-human-remains-bones-croatia-a9522776.htmlCat Warren at Bark! Fest (with Marc Bekoff and Zazie Todd) https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16276537Cat Warren's books are What the Dog Knows: Scent, Science, and the Amazing Ways Dogs Perceive the World, and the Young Reader's Edition of What the Dog Knows. They are available wherever books are sold.Learn more about Kim Cooper on the Ottawa Valley Search and Rescue Dog Association website: https://www.ovsarda.on.ca/Learn more about Cat Warren: https://catwarren.com/Send us a text to say hello!About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Facebook Instagram BlueSky

  --------  

  56:51
• Fearful and Anxious Dogs with Zazie Todd, PhD, at Bark! Fest

  Zazie Todd is at the forefront of the move towards positive animal welfare and kind, humane dog training methods. Her third book, Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog is a compassionate and practical guide to overcoming your dog’s fears. In this panel from Bark! Fest, you’ll learn how to help your dog feel safe, how your presence can help your dog, and get a new understanding of the training techniques that can make a difference, as she shares tips from Bark!. We talked about:How Bark! Fest came aboutHow to counsel people that slow is the new fast when it comes to fearful dogsDecisions about how much of the "why" and "how" to include in the bookWhy tricks training is included in a book for fearful and anxious dogsHow to keep dogs and people safeWhether pandemic puppies really do have more behaviour issues, and how we can use management to help a fearful dogThe gorgeous cover of Bark! and how much input authors get into book covers and titles with a traditional publisherPlus Zazie did a reading from the bookBark! is out now in paperback. It is available wherever books are sold.Find out about upcoming events and learn more about Zazie Todd, PhD, on her website https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/p/home.htmlThe recording of Bark! Fest with Patricia McConnell, PhD, is here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16149739Send us a text to say hello!About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Facebook Instagram BlueSky

  --------  

  1:00:19
• Loving and Losing Pets with E.B. Bartels, Rev. Sarah Bowen, and Karen Fine DVM at Bark! Fest

  Living with pets sadly means losing them too. There wasn't a dry eye in the house (in a good way) at this event.Loving pets means thinking of them both in life and after their loss. In the poignant and personal Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter, E.B. Bartels takes us on a global tour of how we love and mourn our pets. Sarah Bowen shares her deep insights on the lives and loss of all animals—pets and wildlife—in Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice for Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, and Trying to Heal the Planet. And Karen Fine DVM’s heartwarming memoir about becoming a veterinarian, The Other Family Doctor: A Veterinarian Explores What Animals Can Teach Us About Love, Life, and Mortality, is full of tales about what we can learn from the animals in our lives.We talked about:Why E.B. Bartels wrote her book and what she learned about how people memorialize their pets, including taxidermy and mummificationThe way that grief for a lost pet is often disenfranchisedWhat an animal chaplain is and why Sarah Bowen wrote her bookBlending science with spirituality, and practical tips to help when someone loses a petWhat it's like being a veterinarian, and how Dr. Karen Fine was influenced by her grandfatherThe value of making home visits as a veterinarian, and helping other pets cope when one of their fellow pets has passedPlus each author did an amazing reading from their bookThe quote by Irving Townsend can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/37516-we-who-choose-to-surround-ourselves-with-lives-even-moreLearn more about the authors:E.B. Bartels: https://www.ebbartels.com/ Rev. Sarah Bowen: https://www.sacredsendoffs.com/ Karen Fine DVM: https://karenfinedvm.com/ Send us a text to say hello!About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Facebook Instagram BlueSky

  --------  

  1:01:33
• Animal Emotions with Marc Bekoff, PhD, at Bark! Fest

  When The Emotional Lives of Animals was first published in 2007, it was a gamechanger for its exploration of animal emotions and cognition. Now, a second edition has been published to bring us up to date on all the new science of animal emotions. Marc Bekoff joins us in this webinar to talk about animals’ experiences of joy, empathy, grief, anger, and embarrassment. You’ll never see animals the same way again. We talked about: What Marc Bekoff was hoping to do when he wrote the first edition of this book in 2007, and why he wrote a second edition Bekoff says, "It is no longer radical to recognize, respect, and want to protect the emotional lives of animals.” We talk about how people can recognize, respect, and protect animal emotions What he looks out for when he watches dogs run around and play at the dog park Examples of sorrow and empathy in non-human animals Bekoff's research on wild canids including wolves What it was like to create the book, Jane Goodall at 90 Plus Marc did a reading from the book and we were all captivated! The books are available from all good bookstores. To learn more about Marc Bekoff, visit his website: https://marcbekoff.com/ You can contact him via the website to ask to join his email list, which is mentioned in the recording.Also mentioned in this episode is Thinking Like a Wolf by Rick McIntyre.Send us a text to say hello!About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Facebook Instagram BlueSky

  --------  

  1:00:01
• Our Bond with Cats with Sarah Chauncey, Sassafras Patterdale, and Rachel Wells at Bark! Fest

  Reflect on what cats mean to us and the many ways they influence our lives with these 3 feline authors. Sarah Chauncey’s heartfelt P.S. I Love You More Than Tuna is a touching celebration of our bond with our cats, illustrated by Francis Tremblay. Claw This Journal: An Activity Book for Cats and Their Humans by Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey) is packed with crafts, training, and activities and a deep understanding of cats’ emotional wellbeing. In the latest in the Sunday Times bestselling series, Alfie the cat is preparing for a purrfect festive show when things go wrong, in Alfie the Christmas Cat by Rachel Wells. We talked about:The story of how PS I Love You More Than Tuna came about (and the Easter eggs in the book)How this book is designed to be given away, and how giving became part of Sarah's processThe role that a Muse Medallion from the Cat Writer's Association for an article by Sassafras played in making Claw This Journal come aboutThe range of activities in the book (and which ones are Sassafras's favourites)Why Rachel started writing the Alfie the Cat series, and the themes behind Alfie the Christmas CatWhat it's like to sustain a feline character and their supporting cast over so many booksAnd you can listen to each author do a readingLearn more about the authors:Sarah Chauncey https://www.sarahchauncey.com/Sassafras Patterdale https://sassafraspatterdale.com/ Rachel Wells https://itsacatslifebyrachelwells.substack.com/ Send us a text to say hello!About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Facebook Instagram BlueSky

  --------  

  57:18

More Arts podcasts

Trending Arts podcasts

About The Pawsitive Post in Conversation by Companion Animal Psychology