Canine & Feline Behaviour and Training with Laura

18/09/2024

And this is why you mystbbe there at the end. It is the bravest thing yiu can do for your pet.

12/09/2024

I am no longer practicing as a pet behaviour counseloor .

If you need assistance please look at the for qualified, welfare minded practitioners.

The Animal Behaviour and Training Council sets and maintains standards of knowledge and practical skills needed to be an animal trainer, training instructor or animal behaviour therapist and maintains the national Register of appropriately assessed practitioners.

16/03/2024

Serious enquiries only.

I charge for my services in accordance with my qualifications (level 7) and knowledge 25 years) and time spent on the case (home visit, report and aftercare = hours and hours).

Free and incomplete advice without a home visit over messenger will not be given.

16/01/2024

Two weeks ago I had the privilege to witness the defense of a PhD thesis at Utrecht University, written by a dear friend, Elian Hattinga van 't Sant. Her deep research (years of hard work!) concerned the origin and the evolution of the construct of 'dominance' and its role in scientific study of Animal Behaviour (especially of dogs, monkeys and apes.)

I just finished reading her entire thesis (almost 500 pages, it's a thick book) and I was so impressed. It was also a little bit unsettling to have confirmed just how accurate this cartoon of mine (that I drew in 2015) turned out to be.

I hope many people are going to be able to read her entire thesis in the future. It is pretty mind blowing.
The scientific abstract can be found here: https://doi.org/10.33540/2057
I'll copy the abstract here:

Title: The myth of the alpha male. The dominance of dominance in the behavioural sciences, 1920-2020. A historical reconstruction

The idea that dominance hierarchies structure and rule the social lives of animals is currently a widespread concept/theorem in the behavioural sciences. The terms ‘alpha male’, ‘pack leader’, ‘top dog’, ‘pecking order’ and ‘fights for dominance’ recur endlessly to describe animal behaviour. The chimpanzee and the wolf in particular figure as the role models for the ideal human alpha male and leader of the pack; in the public domain mostly cheered upon for their vigorous masculinity, courage, loyalty, confidence, survival abilities and leadership qualities.

This PhD thesis aims at answering three questions from a historical and contextual point of view. Firstly, why and secondly how has the concept of dominance become dominant in a plethora of behavioural sciences. And thirdly, why is it still going so strong?

It is shown that the concept of dominance came into being in the 1920s. It was created, not by nature or evolution as is widely believed nowadays, but by eugenecists and scientists looking for answers to social – human – problems. The concept was a human invention, a postulate, used to prove the god-given superiority of the upperclass white elite in order to legitimize their power as rulers over other people of ‘lower classes’ or ‘inferior races’.
Projected on animal behaviour, the dominance hierarchy was proved to exist in animals with the help of experiments on social animals, kept in captivity under very unnatural circumstances, as it was widely believed that the animal’s instinctive behaviour was no different in captivity from their natural behaviour. In the late 1930s and the 1940s the concept was transformed into a naturally evolved principle, a law of nature, and used to explain animal and human behaviour.
In the 1960s more and more ecologists and ethologists – well schooled academics – took to the field to study animals and their intraction with their environment, armed with scientific objectivistic ideals of the ‘modern synthesis’ movement. As a consequence, mental distance was created, still more enlarged by the taboo on anthropomorphization. Spurning the more unmethodic and often anthropomorphic descriptions of the naturalists before them as being unscientific, the ethologists, ecologists and paleontologists looked at scientific principles for guidance, such as the concept of dominance. No longer confined to the laboratory, it now became a confirmed part of the natural world. Standing alone, believed to be firmly rooted in evolution, it held a firm appeal to scientists and the public no longer familiar with its origins and its historical context.
However, the concept of the linear dominance hierarchy with an alpha at the top does not meet the objectivistic ideals and standards of the scientists who use or defend it. In fact, these ideals, together with the taboo on anthropomorphic descriptions, came to conceal that it was a the invention of a scientific elite that often adhered eugenics. Therefore, the conclusion must be that there is no reason to hold on to the concept, as it is unfounded and includes a threat to human and animal welfare.

Written by Elian Hattinga van 't Sant
Publisher © Utrecht University | dec 2023
https://doi.org/10.33540/2057

Cartoon made by © LotsDogs| www.LotsDogs.com​

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21/12/2023

10/12/2023

05/12/2023

🐈 Outdoor shelters are a great way to show how much we care for unowned cats during the colder weather. You can buy one or learn how to make one from Alley Cat Allies 👉 https://www.alleycat.org/resources/how-to-build-an-outdoor-shelter/

If the shelter is too large, then the cat’s body heat won’t warm the shelter’s interior, so don’t make the enclosure too big. Shelters need to be dry and draught-proof. Straw is a good insulator; it repels moisture and is less likely to mould or rot than other materials. Remember, straw is for strays, hay is for horses! Blankets, towels or any material that holds moisture will actually make the cat colder.

Find out more about working with unowned cats 👉 https://icatcare.org/unowned-cats/

05/12/2023

Highly recommended

25/11/2023

Getting your list together for some Black Friday shopping?
Don't forget what your horse wants this season.

Bodywork photo by
___________________

07/11/2023

Please note: Price rise from 01.11.23

The price rise reflects my 25 years in the industry, qualification level and the hours that I spend on each case. This couple with the rising cost of living has meant I have no choice but to raise my fee. This fee is extremely competitive especially with regards to my experience and L6 qualifications.

10/10/2023

Today is and we wanted to share some tips! Share yours below...😊

01/10/2023

The bravest and kindest thing you can do for your animal is be there when the time come. It is a privilege to scrape our life with these animals and for the animal we ARE their world. Be there at the end.

“Pets, it turns out, also have last wishes before they die, but only known by veterinarians who put old and sick animals to sleep. Twitter user Jesse Dietrich asked a vet what was the most difficult part of his job.
The specialist answered without hesitation that it was the hardest for him to see how old or sick animals look for their owners with the eyes of their owners before going to sleep. The fact is that 90 % of owners don't want to be in a room with a dying animal. People leave so that they don't see their pet leave. But they don't realize that it's in these last moments of life that their pet needs them most.
Veterinarians ask the owners to be close to the animals until the very end. ′′It's inevitable that they die before you. Don't forget that you were the center of their life. Maybe they were just a part of you. But they are also your family. No matter how hard it is, don't leave them.
Dont let them die in a room with a stranger in a place they dont like. It is very painful for veterinarians to see how pets cannot find their owner during the last minutes of their life. They dont understand why the owner left them. After all, they needed their owner’s consolation.
Veterinarians do everything possible to ensure that animals are not so scared, but they are completely strangers to them. Don't be a coward because it's too painful for you. Think about the pet. Endure this pain for the sake of their sake. Be with them until the end.”
- Tricia Mo’orea
Photo credit: Travis Patenaude.
Like Fans of David Attenborough for more.

01/10/2023

My training in animal behaviour and welfare.

Additional teaching qualification, Mental health and counselling skills.

25 years experience

10/09/2023

The side-effects of aversive dog training methods that most people don’t know about--but should.

27/08/2023

25/08/2023

Safety is key

Comparative neurobiology

The size of the brain isn't what determines the intelligence of the animal, the amount of wrinkles do!
If it was the size of the brain that determined the intelligence, then a German Shepherd would technically be more intelligent than a Chihuahua, which we know is not the case.

The more socially complex the animal is, the more wrinkles they have. We know dogs are socially complex, they have social skills that often challenges human emotional fitness.

Now compare the dog brain to the horse brain!

We all know how intelligent dogs are, maybe we're not giving horses enough credit for their intelligence?

Why is it then that horses don't often offer us cognitive behaviours like dogs, such as problem solving, reasoning, impulse control, etc?

Because, for the brain to access these areas, the individual needs to FEEL safe. If the brain doesn't feel safe, all brain functions will be carried out automatically using the deeper structures of the brain. These deeper structures are subcortical, meaning they're under the wrinkly stuff (neocortex) you see in this picture, and their role is designed to help the individual stay safe and alive.

This area of the brain is called the limbic system (AKA primal brain, survival brain, flight/fight brain, emotional brain).

I refer to it as the primal brain. This brain is automatic and unconscious. It doesn't require thought process and is not concerned with responsiveness. It's job is to react and it is best friends with the sympathetic nervous system (stress response nervous system).

When you, your horse, or your dog receives sensory input or a memory and perceives it as unsafe, ALL behaviour, movement and body language will be coming from the primal brain, NOT the wrinkly stuff you see.

We expect our fellow humans, horses and dogs to be operating out of the wrinkly thinky stuff, but that can ONLY happen when the brain feels safe.

Most humans, horses and dogs in today's world are suffering with chronic stress, which means their brains are not only perceiving their world as unsafe, but they are in this state for the entirety of their waking hours.

This has major physiological, mental and emotional repercussions.

How can we help downgrade this chronic stress and start accessing the wrinkly stuff in ourselves, our horses and our dogs?

🧠 Consciously communicate in a way that creates a calm brain 🧠

A calm brain will downgrade the sympathetic nervous system and stress response hormones and allow access to all the juicy cognitive performance areas of the brain that we ALL want access to!

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 😊

24/08/2023

When our dog’s behaviour changes or something challenging arises. We need to remember that it can come from many places. The main thing is not to blame ourselves or our dogs, but instead go into detective mode.

Rule out pain, medical, developmental changes. Look at changes in their lives and if they are getting enough. Sometimes we can work on the problem without even directly working on the problem. But by simply addressing what’s needed in our dogs lives at the time.