I chose to devote my career to working with anxious, fearful and aggressive dogs. If you read the articles I post here and in our newsletter that include Why Dogs Bite, What Is a Reactive Rover, Dogs Biting Children, well, you get the idea. I know many wonderful trainers who also work with fearful dogs and when we get together, we bemoan how clueless people can be when approaching a dog they don’t know. We spend an unbelievable amount of time coaching owners of fearful dogs on how to protect their dogs on walks. Some of our suggestions have included body blocking, using the crossing guard ‘STOP’ hand signal, crossing the street and telling strangers that their dog has a contagious skin disease (thanks Nicole Wilde). So when I saw a post on Facebook about a new product called the CAUTIONWALKER Safety Leash, I was on that web site in a matter of seconds to check it out. When I emailed the CAUTIONWALKER Safety Leash company, Matt Cunningham replied back to me and he sent me one so that I could try it for myself.

The first thing that impressed me about this leash is the quality:

• It’s made of really thick nylon. Their web site says “Same sturdy construction as truck cargo straps” and they are not exaggerating.
• The stitching is well done.
• It has a sturdy handle and swivel clip that attaches to the dog’s collar.
• The CAUTION tape look is completely authentic. It’s large enough and bright enough to be seen at a distance.

The price is very reasonable at $17.99 with free shipping and they offer “Bulk discount for vets, pet stores and dog-training professionals”. Their web site is clear, easy to read and addresses the issue of child safety. Do you really want strangers approaching your kids if they’re walking the dog?

My only minor criticism of this new product is that the leash is just over two feet long. I understand why they made the decision to keep the leash short. My owners are so nervous that they’re clutching the leash and reigning the dog in as close to them as possible but that’s part of what we try to get them over: “relax”, “nice loose J in the leash please”. That being said though, there’s no reason you couldn’t buy a splitter or extender if you really want the additional length.

I was a Senior Quality Assurance Manager before changing careers to dog training and animal behavior which means it takes a lot to impress me with any new product and the CAUTIONWALKER Safety Leash impresses me. I LOVE this new product and can’t wait to start using them with our clients.

We offered a workshop Animal Behavior for Veterinary Professionals in Seattle. We invited veterinarians and vet tech to attend lectures by Dr. Louisa Beal, DVM, Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB and yours truly. We had a great time meeting our veterinary colleagues, learning about the issues they deal with in their practices and answering questions.

But wait, it gets better! We were fortunate to have the Tawzer Dog people at our workshop to film our presentations. Everyone at Tawzer Dog was an amazing professional and made the experience a genuine pleasure for all of us. Now our lectures are available for purchase or rental at TawzerDog.com. They have recently launched a service modeled after NetFlix where for a small, monthly fee, you can rent DVDs by Veterinarians, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists and Certified Professional Dog Trainers. Tawzer put trailers together for us on YouTube:

Behavioral Genetics of Dogs and Cats by Jim Ha, Medication for Animal Behavior Problems by Louisa Beal, Confrontational Behavior Modification Techniques by Jim Ha and Recommended Behavior Modification Protocols and Outcomes by Christine Hibbard.

If you like what you see and you’d like to rent or purchase any of these lectures, visit TawzerDog:

• Behavioral Genetics of Dogs and Cats by Jim Ha
• Medication for Animal Behavior Problems by Louisa Beal
• Confrontational Behavior Modification Techniques by Jim Ha
• Recommended Behavior Modification Protocols and Outcomes by Christine Hibbard

If you follow our blog, you know we’re a bunch of science geeks. Oh sure, we write in depth about dog training and animal behavior but what you might not know unless you spend a bit of time with us is that we never miss an opportunity to make dog training and animal behavior interesting and fun! This is never more true than with our mentor, Associate Research Professor, Dr. Jim Ha. He is a professor at the University of Washington and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. He’s always working on something fascinating and important. He even manages to make genetics and statistics fun. How many people can you say that about?!

I’ll admit that I know less than nothing about online gaming or video games but I was excited to read Jim’s interview with Steve Watts over at 1up.com about Nintendogs. Steve talks to Jim about how realistic Nintendo’s dog simulator is in giving gamers the experience of raising their own puppy. OK gamers, educate us about this whole thing. Do any of you play on one of these video game consoles? What do you think about Nintendogs?

A companion animal with a behavior problem is a serious issue for most owners.  You need to find help and you want to find qualified help.  Our first recommendation is to consult with your veterinarian.  Your vet should always be the first person with whom you discuss a behavior issue.  All too often, the behavior problem is part of a larger set of health issues.  The four areas of possible concern we recommend you discuss with your veterinarian are: pain, irritation/infection, endocrine and sensory. An example that we see often is aggression in dogs caused by arthritis or other source of pain.  So take any behavior problem to your veterinarian first.

If your vet recommends that you see a behavior specialist and does not make a recommendation, you should look for professional certifications.  In the United States, there are no federal or state regulations about who can call themselves animal behaviorists or dog trainers. There are many people out there that “practice” animal behavior and even a number of organizations that provide online training to become an animal behaviorist, but we recommend only the following professional certifications for the field that we now call applied animal behavior:

• Veterinary Behaviorist: board certification in veterinary behavior
• Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist: certification through the Animal Behavior Society
• Certified Animal Behavior Consultant: certification through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants
• Certified Professional Dog Trainer: Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers

The first of these, obtained through the American College of Veterinary Behavior, requires a veterinary degree and two additional years of coursework, but especially hands-on training with a board-certified veterinarian.  There are about 40-45 ACVB certified vets in the United States right now.

The second form of qualification is certification by the international professional organization of research animal behaviorists, the Animal Behavior Society (ABS).  ABS provides for two levels of certification: Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (ACAAB) which requires a Master’s degree in an appropriate field, several years of practical internship experience and evidence of professional activity (research or instruction or a full Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB), which is similar but requires a PhD in an appropriate field (generally Biology or Psychology).  There are also about 40-45 certified applied animal behaviorists in the US and Canada at this time. You can find a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist here.

If you don’t have a veterinary behaviorist or certified applied animal behaviorist near you, look for someone certified through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. This certifying body issues the Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) credential.  The IAABC certifies dog (CDBC), cat (CCBC), horse (CHBC) and parrot (CPBC) consultants; individuals with multiple species certifications are Certified Animal Behavior Consultants (CABC).  To earn this credential, consultants must demonstrate a substantial amount of hands-on behavior consulting practice as well as learning in five core competencies.  Counseling of owners as well as animal behavior and learning is emphasized. To find a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant, visit their Find a Consultant page.

What if you want to find a dog trainer who can also help you with behavior issues? While the San Francisco SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers no longer exists, the graduates of this program are the “next best thing” to ACVB or CAAB certified professionals. The SF SPCA maintains lists of alumni for the United States and Internationally.

Finally, there is a certification program for dog trainers to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA).  This is a less rigorous program that emphasizes qualifications for basic dog training but does not require extensive knowledge, training or experience in dealing with specific behavior issues.  Unfortunately, hiring a CPDT-KA is a buyer beware situation since some of these trainers use force, fear and pain instead of science which can be dangerous for your dog and your family. To help find a CPDT-KA who is devoted to scientific and humane methods, visit the Truly Dog Friendly Trainers web site.

So hopefully this review of acronyms, a veritable alphabet soup, helps you to choose a qualified professional to help you solve a serious behavior issue with your companion animal, whether it is a dog, a cat, a parrot, or something even more exotic. What has your experience been like in trying to find a dog trainer or animal behavior consultant?

A few weeks ago, I attended a day long lecture by Ray Coppinger, PhD and co-author of Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior and Evolution. This book was published in 2002 and I read it several years ago. I remembered how much I enjoyed the book and how much I learned by reading it so when I had the opportunity to attend a Coppinger lecture, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed. It’s been a long time since I attended a lecture or workshop and took notes, let alone ten pages of notes. If you ever get the opportunity to hear Dr. Coppinger speak, I highly recommend it. He brings knowledge, experience and great humor to a topic he’s been studying for many years; dogs around the world.

It would be impossible to boil down a book like Dogs into an eight hour lecture so Dr. Coppinger treated us to his own version of the highlights of the book. First off, he gave us a primer in studying dogs. He organized the study of dogs into three categories: genetics, paleontology and anthropology. This was an excellent refresher and as throughout the entire day, Dr. Coppinger’s personal stories and sense of humor made wading into these topics fun and interesting.Where I really started enjoying myself the most though was when Dr. Coppinger started applying these principles to his study of dump dogs and village dogs. He travels the world studying dog populations of all kinds and his personal stories really brought his research to life. Not many people in the world could say that the Mexico City Dump is one of their favorite places in the world. Imagine having to hire a body guard to protect you from people while conducting your research in South Africa!

Dump dogs are dogs that live in large city dumps. They are not “owned” by people per say, but they often associate with certain people (the recyclers who go through the dumps for items to resell). They will even follow some of these people home, but not sleep in the house. These dogs have their favorite garbage trucks that they wait for, just like our dogs who come to know when their feeding times are or hear us open the cupboard or pick up their food bowl. Food is plentiful for them. None of the dogs are spayed or neutered so sex is one of their favorite past times (they have plenty of time for this). These dogs don’t fight over food or females in season (plentiful resources) but will fight it out for shade and water (scare resources). Coppinger notes that you will see plenty of puppies and adult dogs in the dumps but few adolescents which often don’t survive. Once they’re weaned from their mothers, they have trouble competing against the older adult dogs and if you see them, they’re bony and starving. This niche favors producing as many litters of puppies as possible since so few offspring survive.

Village dogs live among humans and feed off of their refuse. Coppinger explains that if you ask someone if a village dog is their dog, they look at you a bit confused. I thought it would kind of be like asking someone in America if that was their raccoon except that dogs are so uniquely suited to human company and are so affiliative to humans by comparison to a wild raccoon. These dogs associate themselves with certain people but are not owned per se even if certain people feed them. He referred several time to the “cuckoo affect” of females delivering litters near or under peoples homes. Who can resist feeding a puppy?!

Coppinger estimates that there are half a billion, no that is not a typo, half a billion dogs in the world. The way dogs live in North America and Europe is an anomaly compared to the way the rest of the dogs in the world live. Only about 20% of the dogs in the world live as our dogs do. We are people with huge disposable incomes and can afford to own and breed for genetic mutations. I found his riff on how wealthy people love genetic freaks (Great Danes, Pugs, Dachshunds) hilarious because it’s so true.

The perspective of a Behavioral Ecologist is so refreshing for someone like me who spends her entire career trying to help dogs live successfully in a highly artificial environment where all the things dogs are genetically programmed to do (humping, digging, barking, chasing and biting) can result in a dog’s death sentence. As Coppinger postulates, if your dog could choose between remaining intact and living a life in the Mexico City dump consisting of foraging, procreating, playing and living an unrestricted life or living in the luxurious prisons we call our homes, they’d probably pick the dump.

In what I consider to be a happy coincidence, I saw articles including pictures from Animal Behavior Associates about the Behavior of Turkish Street Dogs (they reference Coppinger’s book) and Managing Street Dogs and Cats in Turkey. They touch on a topic which Coppinger touched on in his lecture about how inhumane rescue can be depending on the circumstances.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you read the Coppingers’ book? Did reading the Coppingers’ book change the way you view dogs? Have you traveled to other countries where dogs live differently than they do here in America?

Back in the fall of 2008, I presented a blog titled A Reading List in Animal Behavior, Part One. I went on in that article to say, “So here I present a highly personal reading list in ethology.  In this entry, I suggest some reading in basic ethology, and in a later entry, I will focus in readings in applied animal behavior.”

But it never happened.. no follow-up blog on the most relevant material, applied ethology!  So, forthwith, the rest of my list… the disclaimer, as before: this is a personal list.  These are the sort of readings, applied in this case, that I would, and have, “required of students of this field, beginning at the undergraduate level and right on through graduate or board-certification work in ethology.  These are the books that my students, graduate and undergraduate, read.  And these would provide the foundation for an excellent library in animal behavior.” Note: We’ve made book and DVD recommendations about dog behavior, cat behavior, and parrot behavior on the Companion Animal Solutions web site under the Books & DVDs section. For the books below, we’ve linked the titles of these books to places you can order them.

Applied Animal Behavior for the Lay Audience

These are books for the educated owner: I hope that most trainers, veterinarian technician and veterinarian with an interest in behavior have read these. The first three are simply classic, must-reads: I strongly encourage all dog owners, and all of my behavior-issue clients to read these.

Donaldson, Jean.  1997.  Culture Clash. James and Kenneth. This book focuses on the differences between primate [human] and dog behavior, social organization, and communication. Jean’s other fantastic books include Dogs Are From Neptune, Oh Behave! Dog From Pavlov to Pinker, and practical problem solving books like Mine! and Fight!

McConnell, Patricia.  2002.  The Other End of the Leash. Ballantine Books.  This book focuses on dog-primate communication, or the lack thereof.  Based on Trish’s PhD dissertation work and a lifetime of learning about dogs and humans.

Pryor, Karen. 1999.  Don’t Shoot the Dog!  The New Art of Teaching and Training. Bantam. This is the original book that defined the new field of positive-approach dog training.

There are some follow-ups to the themes described in the books above:

McConnell, Patricia.  Various. Trish has an extensive series of How To booklets, all of which are excellent: Cautious Canine, Feisty Fido, Surviving a Multi-Dog Household, I’ll Be Home Soon, et al.  These build, in more practical terms, on the ideas developed in her best-seller books.

Reid, P.J., 1996.  Excel-erated Learning: Explaining in Plain English How Dogs Learn and How  Best To Teach Them.  James and Kenneth Publishers, Oakland, CA

Ryan, T. 1998.  The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog. Howell Book House, New York.

These two books are by leading canine learning specialists, and build on the concepts of a positive reinforcement approach, and understanding the broader behavior of your dog, the context in which your dog behaves.

Wright, J. C. 1994.  Is Your Cat Crazy? Macmillan Publishing Co., New York.

Wright, J. C. 1999.  The Dog Who Would Be King.  Rodale Press,  Emmaus, PA.

And then, how does all this conceptual material come together: first, John’s books bring you into the world of a behavior specialist, an academic bringing the science that we have learned about dogs, and cats, to bear on specific behavior problems… and at the same time, educating about dog behavior and learning in an entertaining way.

Markowitz, H. 1981.  Behavioral Enrichment in the Zoo, Van Nostrand Reinhold. Finally, as an ethologist, I find this book to be fascinating: applied animal behavior principles, but with application to exotic animals.  This is the behind-the-scenes story of a series of imaginative, and highly successful, attempts to produce natural behaviors in captive animals.

Puppies and Puppy Selection

Then how about the big issue: what kind of dog should I get?  Here are two good suggestions for reading on this subject, again based on good science.

Hart, B.L. & Hart, L.A. 1988.  The Perfect Puppy. How to Choose a Dog by Its Behavior.  W.H. Freeman, New York.

Rutherford, C. & Neil, D.H.  1992.  How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With, 2nd Ed. Alpine Pub., Loveland.

More Advanced and Professional Books

There are many references used by behavior specialists, certified applied animal behaviorists and board-certified veterinary behaviorists: these are a few of the more accessible ones.

Askew, H.R., 1996. Treatment of Behavior Problems in Dogs and Cats. Blackwell Science, Cambridge, MA.

Bradshaw, J.W.S.  1992.  The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat.  C.A.B. International, UK.

Fraser, A.F.  1992.  The Behaviour of the Horse.  C.A.B. International, UK.

Hart, B.L. 1985. The Behavior of Domestic Animals.  W.H. Freeman and Co., New York.

Hetts, S.  1999.  Pet Behavior Protocols.  What To Say, What To Do and When To Refer. AAHA Press, Lakewood, CO.

Voith, V.L. and P.L.Borchelt, Eds. 1996.  Readings in Companion Animal Behavior. Veterinary Learning Systems, Trenton, NJ.

Serpell, J., Ed. 1995.  The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behaviour and Interactions with People. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.

Thorne, C., Ed.  1992.  The Waltham Book of Cat and Dog Behaviour. Pergamon Press, New York.

Turner, D.C. & Bateson, P., Eds. 1988. The Domestic Cat: The Biology of Its Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, New York.

Waring, G.H.  1983.  Horse Behavior. Noyes Publications, Park Ridge, NJ.

So that’s my reading list in applied animal behavior, from both an academic and a popular view.  Combining the books in this list with the previously listed readings in general ethology would generate an impressive library in ethology with a focus on applied animal behavior.

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a favorite book to recommend, or a question about a book you’ve seen or read, or a specific topic in animal behavior for which you would like a reading recommendation.  Time to read!

** I must credit my colleague, Daniel Estep, PhD, for developing the original form of these reading lists, which I have modified and annotated considerably.  Any changes and added editorial opinions are strictly my own, unless Dan likes any of them.

I see many, many new dog behavior cases each year and I love my work, but sometimes, I need to branch out and learn about the behavior of other companion animals. My partner in Animal Behavior at Companion Animal Solutions is Jim Ha, PhD, CAAB. Jim sees all of the cat and parrot cases that we take. I’ve been privileged to learn about animal and bird behavior by riding along with him on his private behavior consultations with our clients. The ride along opportunities that I enjoy the most are the parrot cases. I love cats, don’t get me wrong, but the parrot cases fascinate me. When I first embarked on my parrot behavior and training research, I was disappointed at how difficult it was to find quality information about parrot behavior and training. The internet is rife with dog training information (some of it excellent and some of it awful and downright harmful), but information about parrot behavior is harder to come by. After some time consuming research, I began to compile a list of resources that include the most respected researchers, veterinarians, applied animal behaviorists, and trainers. I wanted to share what I’ve learned with our readers interested in parrot behavior and training.

For those of you who live in the Seattle, Washington area, your first stop for finding like minded people should be the Northwest Exotic Bird Society. When I attended my first meeting, I was surprised and thrilled to discover that many of the people attending the monthly meeting brought their birds with them and many of those birds were getting the opportunity to socialize with one another and fly freely around the room! The members of NWEBS were very knowledgeable as well as being friendly and welcoming. I was hooked! I went right home, logged on to the web site and joined. Once you’re a member, you can attend the monthly meetings at the Lawn Bowling building at Greenlake, receive their informative newsletter, and gain membership to the yahoo group. Members of NWEBS also belong to the Northwest Avian Flyers. The Northwest Avian Flyers conduct “indoor free flight” sessions twice a month. The Northwest Exotic Bird Society’s website is full of scientifically correct and practically useful information about caring for, living with, and training your feathered friends.

The next stop on our parrot learning tour is Barbara Heidenreich, owner of Good Bird Inc. Barbara is a leading authority on parrot behavior and training as well as being a huge proponent of clicker training and learning theory based training for parrots. I was shocked to learn that there are “dominance” and “punishment” based training proponents in the parrot world too (so sad). Barbara is a voice of reason and practical alternatives to those outdated and harmful proponents. If you’d like to learn about modifying your parrots behavior or clicker training your parrot, Barbara Heidenreich is a necessary resource in your toolkit. If you’ve spent any time on the Companion Animal Solutions website, you know that we highly recommend Barbara’s books and DVDs. I’m a enthusiastic subscriber to Good Bird Inc magazine which now comes in electronic form (PDF) as well as the traditional paper copy. If that weren’t enough, Barbara writes a blog and produces Wings ‘n Things podcasts available on Pet Life Radio. Barbara just released a new DVD titled Get Your Bird Back! about what to do if your parrot flies away. This DVD contains a wealth of resources such as lost bird flyers, lists of people to contact and a variety of parrot calls.

When I contacted Barbara about listing her books and DVDs on our web site, I asked her if she had recommendations for other authors and she was gracious enough provide me with more resources. Here are some of Barbara’s picks for books, DVDs, and blogs: Happily Ever After with Parrots (DVD) by Ellen Cook, DVM,  Captive Foraging (DVD) by Scott Echols, DVM, DABVP, A Parrot for Life (Book and Blog) by Rebecca O’Conner, and bloggers Sid Price, and Linda Rasmussen.

Susan Friedman, PhD is a professor at Utah State University. Dr. Friedman’s specialty is behavior analysis and she offers online workshops for veterinarians, animal behaviorists, and trainers. The Behavior+ Works website contains useful information on parrot behavior, behavior analysis, and learning theory, just download the free PDF files.

Another nice online community for parrot owners and advocates is the Nationwide Parrot Place Organization. You can become a member of this 501(C) non-profit organization for an annual membership fee of $12 per year. A new online resource for beginning parrot owners has recently come online called The Parrot Forum. This is an online forum where owners can ask questions and learn important information about Health, Nutrition & Diet, Housing, General Parrot Care, Parrot Species, Basic Training, Trick Training, Recall Flight and Indoor Freeflight. As with any forum dedicated to helping people and their pets, please be polite at all times and thank people for the time and effort they spend answering questions.

I informed via the Northwest Exotic Bird Society group that Chris Biro will be presenting at their meeting on Thursday, November 19th at 7:00PM. His topic will be Parrot Training and Free Flight. This will also be the first time that a presentation will be webcast so that viewers can watch from home. The webcast includes a chat feature so that Internet viewers have the ability to submit questions to the speaker. The webcast can be found at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/chris-biro

That brings me to the end of my list of resources for parrot owners. Do you have other resources for parrot behavior and training you’d like to share? If so, please post a comment.

First, we love TWAAW because it is very funny.  Food Lady is just a funny writer and her great photos really give her lots of opportunities for humor.

Second, we love TWAAW because there are lots of great photos of dogs being dogs.  Food Lady does not hide the fact that Piper is, well, a bitch.  We love Mad Teeth ™.  We love the bizarre lip configurations when dogs shake off.  We love the photos of the Woofs interacting with strange dogs, too.

Third, we love TWAAW for a reason that is a little harder to describe.  There are lots of great dog photos (though fantastic quality photos of dogs out just doing their doggie thing are rarer), and there are lots of great writers who tell us truthful things about dogs, and there are lots of people who are very funny about their dogs… but almost no one is all three.

Food Lady often puts words or thoughts in her dogs’ mouths (or heads).  And sometimes these are not thoughts a dog’s lemon-sized brain could generate.  But these are usually obvious; Food Lady knows, and lets us know, that she’s joking.

One great example is in the entry called Conversations with the Dogs (Sept. 19, 2008). Food Lady asks Tweed what is the matter.  Tweed says:  “I see dead people.”  We can be pretty sure that no one really thinks Tweed is seeing dead people… though he does look a bit spooked for some no-doubt legitimate canine reason.  Because Tweed’s expression does look like a dog might look if he could see dead people, and because we all know that Food Lady isn’t silly enough to think Tweed is actually seeing dead people, we can enjoy the wonderful humor of this piece without being bothered by fussing about misleading anthropomorphism.

And people who are reading the entry without having any concerns whatever about whether Food Lady is anthropomorphizing will still realize that she is making up a fun story, not seriously attributing a human and psychic act to Tweed.

I guess I love this because so much of what is written about dogs out there is, well, wrong.  And sometimes damaging.  As a professional dog behavior consultant who constantly deals with the fallout of faulty and damaging beliefs, and who rarely finds dog humor funny simply because it tends to contain these damaging beliefs (about which I am now highly sensitized), it is a tremendous relief to be able to laugh at dog humor that doesn’t promulgate harmful beliefs.  Yeah.

Go Food Lady!

I am frequently asked about readings in animal behavior.  One of the nice things about practicing in a region like Seattle is that our audience is so well educated.  So not infrequently I have clients who want to learn more, want to read more about animal behavior.  Most often, they want to read more about what we call Applied Animal Behavior.  Applied animal behavior is the relatively new field which deals with the behavior (and misbehavior) of our companion animals based on a scientific approach that extends from the modern academic field of animal behavior, or ethology.  Ethology was historically based in Europe, and is a field of biology and psychology, that is, it is a sub-discipline of evolutionary biology.  The basic precepts of ethology are that behavior has a genetic, and thus evolutionary, basis, overlaid with environmental influences (learning and experience), that we can best learn about the behavior of animals by learning about the behavior of close and distant relatives in natural environments which allow the expression of species- (or in the case of dogs, breed)-typical behaviors.  It is an approach that traces its roots, like all the rest of modern biology, back to Darwin in the mid-1800’s, and one that has been revolutionized, again like many topics in biology, by the DNA/genetics revolution.  The mapping of the entire dog genome at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in recent years has begun to confirm the long-standing assumptions of ethology.So here I present a highly personal reading list in ethology.  In this entry, I suggest some reading in basic ethology, and in a later entry, I will focus in readings in applied animal behavior.  These are sort of readings, both basic and applied, required of students of this field, beginning at the undergraduate level and right on through graduate or board-certification work in ethology.  These are the books that my students, graduate and undergraduate, read.  And these would provide the foundation for an excellent library in animal behavior.

General Readings in Animal Behavior and Ethology: Textbooks
I have not listed years because there are many editions: the more recent, the better, but any will do.  These are the basic textbooks in animal behavior, with Alcock and Drickamer being the most advanced “serious” texts.  Klopfer’s book is a little different, taking a historical and personality approach to the basics of behavior.

Alcock, J.  Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach
Drickamer, L. et al.  Animal Behavior: Mechanisms, Ecology and Evolution
Goodenough, et al.  Perspectives on Animal Behavior
Maier, R.   Comparative Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary and Ecological Approach
Klopfer, P.:  An Introduction to Animal Behavior: Ethology’s First Century (a very readable introduction to the history of modern animal behavior)

Evolution
To understand modern animal behavior, you need to understand evolution, and these books will give you a great start to a huge scientific discipline.

Brackman, A.: A Delicate Arrangement
(a description of the relationship, or lack thereof, between  Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace)
Darwin, C.: The Origin of  Species
(the classic that started it all, not an easy read and not the best introduction to evolution as we now understand it: read it for the historical perspective)
Dawkins, R.: The Selfish Gene
(a wonderful and thought-provoking book about the implications of modern Darwinism)
Dennett, D.: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea
(a very recent book by a philosopher of science about the deeper implications of Darwin’s view of evolution)
Gould, S.J.: (numerous collections of essays — sometimes controversial, always entertaining: take some of it with a grain of salt)
Stone, I.: The Origin
(an historical novel about Darwin’s life: a great introduction to his life and times)

Personal Accounts
I put these here to provide a very accessible introduction to how ethologists think and work.  Many of these have been best-sellers in the population literature, but all provide a glimpse into the world of the modern animal behaviorist.

Fossey, D.: Gorillas in the Mist
(one of “Leakey’s Women,” along with Goodall and Galdikas, this and the next two books illustrate the payoffs to patient, time-consuming field work and the risks of attempting to do science without training)
Galdika, B.: Reflections of Eden
(Leakey student’s study of orangs in Indonesia)
Goodall, J.: In the Shadow of Man
(Leakey student’s study of chimpanzees)
Heinrich, B.: Ravens in Winter
(fascinating and eccentric study of a difficult-to-study species)
Lorenz, K.: King Solomon’s Ring
(very readable insight into the early days of ethology, one of my most recommended readings in behavior)
Mowat, F.: Woman in the Mist
(a different, and more objective, view of Fossey’s work and life with gorillas)
Schaller, G.: Year of the Gorilla
(story of the early work with wild gorillas which laid the groundwork for Fossey)
Tinbergen, N.: Curious Naturalist
(the life and studies of one of the founders of ethology)
Wilson, E.O.: The Naturalist
(autobiography of the brilliant Harvard scientist who established the direction of much of behavior research for years to come: winner of several book awards)

Advanced
These are books that delve into the details.  These are more advanced, a little “thicker” than most of the books listed above (except maybe the textbooks), but these show you the details, and the future, of research and learning in animal behavior in general.

Axelrod, R.: Evolution of Cooperation
(very readable intro to game theory and the evolution of social behavior)
Lehner, P.: Handbook of Ethological Methods
(the bible for methodology in animal behavior research)
Mech, L.D.: The Wolf
(detailed report of a long-term wolf research program)
Poundstone, W.: Prisoner’s Dilemma
(a biography of an interesting character, John Von Neumann, who invented game theory, and the application of games to human behavior)
Wilson, E.O & B. Holldobler: The Ants
(the main resource on ant behavior: readable too!)
Wilson, E.O.: Insect Societies
(everything you wanted to know about ants, bees, and wasps, and probably more)
Wilson, E.O.: Sociobiology: A New Synthesis
(the book that started an entirely new field)

So that’s my reading list for general animal behavior… later, I will present a similar sort of list but more specifically directed at applied animal behavior, from both an academic and a popular view.  Feel free to leave me a comment if you have a favorite book to recommend, or a question about a book you’ve seen or read, or a specific topic in animal behavior for which you would like a reading recommendation.  Time to read!

I have been engaged in an effort to find an acceptable way to explain to my clients how to provide structure and predictability to their dogs in a way that would make their dogs comfortably willing to abide by human rules.  I explained that I’m uncomfortable when such programs invoke the concepts of dominance, “boss”, “alpha”, or even “leadership” — not because those concepts are wrong or unimportant, but because of the meanings and connotations that decades of popular dog writing have attached to these words.  I also commented that I was uncomfortable with many of the steps in so called “leadership” programs because they struck me as being based on false ethology and having no real training value once the supposed ethological meaning was stripped away.  Not much was left!

I attended the “Control Unleashed” seminar in Portland, Oregon presented by Leslie McDevitt, CPDT, CDBC, a very gifted trainer and behavior consultant from the Philadelphia area.  Leslie has worked closely with Karen Overall, one of the leading veterinary behaviorists in the world, and has a strong understanding of brain chemistry.  She works mostly with troubled dogs, but also with many sports dogs, including flyball and agility dogs with serious arousal issues.  In an earlier blog entry, I reviewed her book (also entitled Control Unleashed) and talked about how good I thought the program was.  In addition to the two seminar days, I was able to watch the following day which consisted of private lessons for “not ready for CU” dogs.

Control Unleashed was originally written as a series of articles for Clean Run magazine to help agility competitors with overamped dogs teach their dogs to focus and relax.  Most of the dozen dogs at the seminar were competition dogs in agility (one in flyball), and two were non-performance dogs looking for improved life skills.  The dogs’ stress reactions ranged from shut down to goofy to frantic.  Leslie worked each dog in a series of games designed to promote physical and mental relaxation, calm focus, and the ability to raise and lower arousal with ease.  Leslie uses lots of food, but she also makes extremely heavy use of the Premack Principle — the idea that a higher probability behavior will reinforce a lower probability behavior.  (Being allowed to chase a ball will reinforce a sit — if you have a ball crazy dog.)

As I watched, it occurred to me that a lot of the CU exercises are what Leslie calls “rule structures” that incorporate into daily life.  One lovely example is the reorienting exercise.  Leslie suggests that each time you transition to a new space, you have your dog reorient to you.  This involves having the dog sit in front of you, make eye contact, and pause.  Leslie uses this moment to check the dog’s breathing (stress panting or calm breathing?), attention (calmly looking at handler, or ears swiveling madly about?) and demeanor (cringing? about to explode?).  If the dog is not calm and focused, she will pause for some calming work before moving further into the space.  She uses this reorienting technique when dogs go out the front door, out of the car, into the classroom, or out of their crate in class.  The dogs know it’s coming and soon learn to relax themselves at each predictable transition.

So — the dogs have a rule to follow.  It involves exercising self-control, which is always a good thing, especially for dogs with “issues.”  It involves self-calming, which is great for dogs that are scared or reactive or just amped.  It involves a highly predictable behavior that has them interact and connect with their handler.  In short, it provides a highly predictable rule structure *and* valuable learning benefits *and* increased connection and teamwork between dog and person.  Doesn’t that sound like a good thing?

Control Unleashed is full of rule structures that can be incorporated into daily life with the same benefits.  Instead of artificial, arbitrary rules “just to have rules” or imbued with some doubtful ethological benefit (do dogs really think we’re in charge just because we eat first?), these rules actually ease handling and teach the dog useful skills.  And they provide a high degree of predictability and give the dog desirable ways to get what he needs.

I love this book so much that I’m considering ordering it in bulk to be able to get it clients fast!