The Pawsitive Post in Conversation by Companion Animal Psychology

If your dog has separation anxiety, what can you do to help them, how can you cope with not leaving your dog alone for longer than they can handle, and why is it so important? We're joined by separation anxiety expert Malena DeMartini to talk about how you can help your dog with their separation-related issues.We talk about:what separation anxiety is and whether other labels like separation-related distress are useful to dog trainers and dog guardianswhat it means to suspend absences for your doghow video helps to show the moment when the dog starts to get distressed, and what happens before thatwhy it's important to speak to a vet about medication for separation anxietyhow crates are not the answer for dogs with separation anxietyhow dog trainers can become certified to work with separation anxiety cases (CSATs) through Malena's school And Malena tells us about a book she lovesMalena DeMartini is a Certified Trainer and Counselor (CTC) and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC). Since 2001, she has specialized exclusively in canine separation anxiety, having worked hundreds of cases and constantly innovating to find better ways to treat the condition and support guardians, other trainers, rescues, and shelters. Malena is the author of two ground-breaking books, Separation Anxiety in Dogs, Next Generation in Treatment Protocols and Practices (2020) and Treating Separation Anxiety in Dogs. is the founder of the prestigious Separation Anxiety Certification Program (SACP), which has graduated hundreds of Certified Separation Anxiety Trainers (CSATs) across the globe. She also has an online self-paced course, Mission: POSSIBLE, which is an invaluable resource.Learn more at https://malenademartini.com/Send us a text to say hello!Support the showAbout 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. Instagram BlueSky

In this special episode, Zazie and Kristi are joined by some of the most popular guests from previous episodes to chat about all things animal behaviour, including dogs, cats, ants, penguins, and crows.We talk about:with Jo Wimpenny, PhD, author of Aesop's Animals, we talk about The Ant and the Grasshopper and how we know whether or not animals can plan ahead--plus we get exciting news about her next bookZazie and Kristi chat about their highlights of the yearwith Marc Bekoff, PhD, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals (and many other books) we talk about ethology, his research with penguins, and whether animals have ritualsZazie and Kristi chat about Holiday ritualswith Erica Beckwith CTC of A Matter of Manners Dog Training, we talk about how to get cute Holiday photos of your petsand finally we share which books we've been readingThe full show notes are available on the Companion Animal Psychology website: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/Previous episodes with these guests:Animal minds and our favourite fables with Jo Wimpenny , PhD https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/14597289Canine emotions and perceptions with Marc Bekoff PhD, Zazie Todd PhD, and Cat Warren at Bark! Fest https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16276537Animal emotions with Marc Bekoff, PhD, at Bark! Fest https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17148973The benefits of tricks training for dogs and cats with Erica Beckwith https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/12793661Also mentioned in this episode:Preorder Beauty of the Beasts by Jo Wimpenny https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beauty-of-the-beasts-9781399417617/Ask Me Anything about Fearful and Reactive Dogs https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/18168422Wild Rituals by Caitlin O'ConnellJane GooSend us a text to say hello!Support the showAbout 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. Instagram BlueSky

Zazie and Kristi are joined by Prof. Carri Westgarth to answer your questions about dog bites, how to avoid getting bitten by a dog, and what to do if you have been bitten by a dog.We talked about:Why dogs biteHow to use management to keep people safe from dogsHow to keep children safe from dog bitesWhat to do if a loose dog charges you How to regain trust if your own dog has bitten youThe difference between predatory behaviour and fear aggressionThe systemic factors that can make a difference to the prevalence of dog bites, and why education is only part of the answerWhy Breed Specific Legislation isn't the solution to dog bitesAnd more!Also mentioned in this episode:Dr. Sophia Yin's video with loose dogs (correction: it was in Australia) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhm36dDFrk4The Care for Reactive Dogs website https://careforreactivedogs.com/Zazie's email list. Sign up here: https://companionanimalpsychology.kit.com/a88e8d1a2aBooks by Prof. Carri Westgarth:The Happy Dog OwnerDog Bites: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (co-edited with Daniel Mills)Books by Zazie Todd PhD:Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog HappyBark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive DogProfessor Carri Westgarth is Chair in Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Liverpool with a passion for understanding the relationships we have with our pets. With a background in animal behaviour and dog training she has trained in veterinary epidemiology and human public health. Her research interests focus on the implications of dog ownership for human health and wellbeing, but also how owner management of their dogs can impact dog welfare. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used to tackle her primary research questions of how to improve population health through the promotion of dog walking, and how to prevent dog bites. Her expertise on understanding and changing the behaviour of dog owners is sought by many organisations wishing to prevent dog bites and promote ‘responsible’ dog owner behaviour, such as her work as a consultant for Royal Mail. She is also a Full Member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors and founder of Send us a text to say hello!Support the showAbout 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. Instagram BlueSky

We learn what canine scent work is, why it's so good for dogs, and how to get started--and progress--in this activity with Certified Nose Work Instructor Bonnie Hartney of Ocean Park Dog Training.We talk about:How Bonnie got started in scent work and how the activity first came aboutWhy scent work is fun for dogs and for their humansWhat to expect at a beginner classWhether scent work is for all dogsThe kinds of scent that are used, how dogs progress to searching for a target odour, and the kinds of searches they doWhat Bonnie has learned about her dogs from doing scent workHow Kristi's dog Archer is likely to do at scent work if she tries itDifferences between scent work classes and professional scent workIf you'd like to try nose work, Bonnie recommends:National Association of Canine Scent Work: https://www.nacsw.net/Find an Instructor https://education.k9nosework.com/instructor_extsearchOnline Scent Training with Scent Work University:https://www.scentworku.com/collections/foundation-sniffing-programFor shy and fearful dogs with Kelly Lee; https://www.dogkindtraining.com/sniffThe book Bonnie chose is Finding Flora by Elinor Florence.Bonnie Hartney is the owner and head instructor/trainer of Ocean Park Dog Training in Surrey, BC, which is AnimalKind accredited. Bonnie is a force-free, reward-based dog training professional, who brings knowledge and experience working with shelter dogs and pet dogs to advance other’s understanding of pet dog behaviour. Bonnie earned her CTC (Certificate in Training and Counselling) from a distinguished, international leader, Jean Donaldson at the Academy for Dog Trainers. To further her understanding of scent detection for pet dogs, Bonnie studied with NACSW (National Association of Canine Scent Work) founders and is a certified CNWI (Certified NoseWork Instructor) with 9 years experience teaching Nose Work. For over 25 years, Bonnie has volunteered and worked with the BC SPCA, helping shelter dogs to be adopted. Currently they have Nose Work classes every day of the weekSend us a text to say hello!Support the showAbout 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. Instagram BlueSky

We hosted an Ask Me Anything on anxious, fearful, and reactive dogs. You asked some incredible questions, and this is the result.We talked about:How to find the starting place for working with anxious dogsHelping dogs who are afraid of elevatorsFear of strangersHelping reactive dogs in tricky environments like apartment buildings and citiesReactivity to other dogsFear of loud noisesHow the unfortunate side effects of shock collars can persist after training is overHow to persuade people not to use aversivesand more!Also mentioned in this episode: Understanding resource guarding in dogs (and what to do about it) with Lisa Skavienski https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/12905737  (episode 8)Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for this episode and/or who attended the live event. If you'd like to see more events like this, let us know!This event was arranged to celebrate the publication of my book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, which is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Bark-Science-Helping-Anxious-Reactive/dp/1778403328/ and Greystone Books https://greystonebooks.com/products/barkSend us a text to say hello!Support the showAbout 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. Instagram BlueSky