MoSHA

13/01/2025

Jefferson County: Spay/Neuter *sign up* and food distribution
https://www.facebook.com/share/1EMiktLNfT/

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13/01/2025

Dogs must be allowed to say "no". People have to learn how to hear them.

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12/01/2025

Beware fake rescues who are in cahoots w mills - or misguided rescues. If millers get their price, it doesn't matter who's paying it.

11/01/2025

10/01/2025

Perryville

🩷It's that time again! Sign up your own pet or share with someone in need of this service. 🩷

09/01/2025

09/01/2025

Friendly reminder that we are a 501(c)3 not-for-profit with a Donate button on the home page of our web site, mostatehumane.org. 100% of donations goes to the Missouri Spay/Neuter Fund.

08/01/2025

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Changing a rescued dogs name can be a good thing.

If a dog has come from an unpleasant or abusive background, or even an unknown background, they may associate their name with negative experiences.

A previous owner may have shouted their name when doing something unpleasant to them.

Changing a dog’s name can be a fresh, new beginning and can provide an opportunity to rebuild broken trust and build new bonds.

There may be concern that changing a dog’s name will confuse them or may cause some form of emotional distress, but dogs really don’t see their names in the same way that we do.

Dogs really don’t care what we call them, as long as that name is associated with positive experiences it will be a good name.

A dog’s name is more important to us than it is to a dog. A name is really just a cue to get your dog’s attention so they respond.

The way a new name is introduced and taught is important. Care should be taken not to attach any negative associations with the new name.

The new name should always be paired with something positive whenever your dog hears the sound.
Call the new name and every time your dog reacts, responds or looks at you, reward this with a treat, lots of praise, a game or a toy.

Keep repeating this and dogs will quickly begin to associate their new name with something good about to happen and will start responding to the new sound in a positive way.

“It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.” - W.C. Fields. This quote sums up the importance of pairing a name with something positive so that it will always be what a dog wants to answer to.

A previous name may always be linked to a traumatic past, but a new name can be the beginning of a happy ever after and forever home.

07/01/2025

People who love dogs owe a tremendous debt to Karen Pryor. RIP.

"When you stop relying on aversive controls such as threats, intimidation and punishment, and when you know how to use reinforcement to get not just the same but better results, your perception of the world undergoes a shift. You don't have to become a wimp. You don't have to give up being in charge. You lose nothing of yourself. You just see things you didn't see before."
Karen Pryor. 1932-2025
Nice words, but can you back them up? Oh, you can.
Books:
On My Mind: Reflections on Animal Behavior and Learning – 2014
Reaching The Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us About All Animals – 2009
Click to Win: Clicker Training for the Show Ring – 2002
Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles –ed. with Kenneth Norris; University of California Press, 1998
Don’t Shoot The Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training – 1984, 1999, 2002, 2006
A Dog & a Dolphin 2.0: An Introduction To Clicker Training – 1996
Getting Started: Clicker Training for Cats – 1999, 2002, 2004
Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs – 1999, 2002, 2005
Lads Before the Wind – 1975, 1994, 2000 (Harper & Row 1975)
Nursing Your Baby – 1963, 1973, 1991, 2005 (HarperCollins Publishers 1963)
On Behavior: Essays and Research – 1994
Crunch and Des: Classic Stories of Saltwater Fishing – 2002
How To Teach Your Dog To Play Frisbee – 1985
Pryor, K. (2014). A dolphin journey. Aquatic Mammals 40th Anniversary: Special Issue, 104–115.
Pryor, K. & Chase, S. (2014). Training for variable and innovative behavior. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 27, 218–225
Pryor, K. & Ken Ramirez, K. (2014) Modern Animal Training. In The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Operant and Classical Conditioning. McSweeney, F.K and Murphy, E. S. (Eds.).
Pryor, K.W (2001). Cultural transmission of behavior in animals: How a modern training technology uses spontaneous social imitation in cetaceans and Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24, 352–352
Pryor, K. & Shallenberger, I. (1991). School structure in spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata) in the tuna purse seine fishery in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. In Dolphin Societies: Discoveries and Puzzles. Pryor, K. & Norris, K.S. (Eds.). Berkeley: University of California Press
Pryor, K. (1981). Why Porpoise Trainers Are Not Dolphin Lovers: Real and False Communication in the Operant Setting. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 364, 1, 137
Norris, K.S., Pryor, K. (1970). A Tagging Method for Small Cetaceans. Journal of Mammalogy, 51, 3, 609–610
Pryor, K.W., Haang, R., & O’Reilly, J. (1969). The creative porpoise: Training for novel behavior. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 12, 653–661
Lang, T.G., Pryor, K. (1966). Hydrodynamic Performance of Porpoises (Stenella attenuata). Science, 152, 3721, 531–533.
Pryor, T., Pryor, K.,& Norris, S.K. (1965). Observations on a Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata Gray) from Hawaii. Journal of Mammalogy, 46, 3, 450–461.

07/01/2025

It may not seem like it today, but kitten season is coming.

06/01/2025

Greater KC emergency numbers

05/01/2025

While the weather is weathering, some impressive numbers - particularly of note: more ferals s/n'd than dogs, and 26 rescue partners. Just "wow"!

🥁 DRUM ROLL 🥁

The number of animals served in 2024 shows the incredible impact of low-cost spay/neuter services and life-saving vaccines at our weekly vaccine clinics. Imagine the litters prevented and lives improved! Now, imagine if Mid-Mo didn’t have a clinic devoted to reducing pet overpopulation.

Shelters are overflowing, rescues are overwhelmed, and owner surrenders keep rising. The most humane, effective, and cost-efficient way to tackle this crisis is through accessible spay/neuter programs.

🐾 Thank YOU again for supporting our mission! These numbers are a testament to the difference we’re making—together. Here’s to serving even more animals and saving lives in 2025! 💙💛

03/01/2025

If you don't have shelters for your ferals, here's a quick fix, at least temporarily.

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03/01/2025

Pit Bull Friday - bad weather coming.

02/01/2025

Missouri non-profits that provide low-cost community spay/neuter services: the deadline to apply for a MoSHA-funded grant is Feb. 28. Links to applications (on-line or paper) are in comments.