New Book on Dog Behavior

Terry Gross had a fabulous interview yesterday with Dr. John Bradshaw, author of a new book on dog behavior called Dog Sense: How the New Science of Dog Behavior Can Make You A Better Friend to Your Pet.

One interesting piece of advice has to do with how to get your dogs not to jump up on people. First rule of thumb: Do not physically reprimand a dog for this behavior because dogs see any form of attention as a reward. Better to turn your back on the dog and pretend the dog is in a different room. (Easier said than done especially if the dog is attacking visitors but you get the idea). "Most dogs require their owners' attention [and]they want their owners' attention," he says. "They want people's attention in general. And withdrawing that is a very powerful signal to the dog."

It turns out that dog are one of the most perceptive species on the planet when it comes to interpreting our body language, facial gestures and actually are quite good at learning from us. It also turns out that "most dogs, given the choice, will actually prefer human company to other dog company."

The downside of this is that dogs do not like to be left alone. You should acclimate them slowly to this behavior by creating a pattern for your departure that rarely varies. It also helps to gradually build up the time that you are away, beginning with as little as one or two minutes. That way they get the idea that you are coming back, especially when you do so and make a big fuss over seeing them.

John Bradshaw has studied the behavior of domestic dogs and cats for over a quarter of a century and is the director of the Anthozoology Institute at the University of Bristol in the UK.