• Scientific Studies on Force-Free Positive Reinforcement Dog Training with Dr. Zazie Todd

  • Mar 15 2025
  • Length: 30 mins
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Scientific Studies on Force-Free Positive Reinforcement Dog Training with Dr. Zazie Todd

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  • In today's special episode, we talk with Zazie Todd, PHD, about some scientific studies; some dogs are harder to train than others, adolescent dogs have more issues than puppies, the puppy blues thing! If you would like to donate to Ripple Animal Effect Project, please use this link: https://www.clover.com/pay-widgets/45e53cea-3d70-4757-a404-fabcaf9b33ed Zazie Todd, PhD, is an animal behavior expert and the award-winning author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy, Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy, and Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog. She is the creator of Companion Animal Psychology blog, has a column at Psychology Today, and is an adjunct professor at Canisius University. She has a PhD in Psychology, an Advanced Certificate of Feline Behavior (with Distinction) from International Cat Care and is an honors graduate of the Academy for Dog Trainers. Originally from Leeds, UK, she now lives near Vancouver, Canada, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Website: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/ Podcast: https://thepawsitivepostinconversation.buzzsprout.com Substack: https://zazietodd.substack.com/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/zazietodd.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/companionanimalpsychology Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zazietodd/ SOME DOGS ARE HARDER TO TRAIN THAN OTHERS: - Researchers investigated which kinds of dog will struggle to learn a new behavior. They picked a hand-touch. - Older dogs were more likely to fail, likely due to lack of attention to guardian - Dogs who were used to being trained with food rewards were less likely to fail, compared to dogs used to being trained with non-edible rewards (play or praise) - Owner experience and knowledge of training helped - They did not teach the hand touch how we would. It’s easy. We can talk about the benefits of teaching it. ADOLESENT DOGS HAVE MORE ISSUES THAN PUPPIES: - A study from Generation Pup that studied dogs through the first year of life from being acquired as a new puppy to 12 months of age - At each time-point, dogs were more likely to have a behavior issue, reaching 41% of them by 12 months of age - Although some dog guardians used only reward-based methods, most used a mix of rewards and aversives - As dogs got older, people were more likely to switch to include more aversives - People need more help with their adolescent dog and info on how to use reward-based methods THE PUPPY BLUES THING: - This is something that people often talk about but had hardly been studied until last year - Researchers developed a scale to assess the puppy blues - There are 3 main areas: Frustration; Anxiety; Weariness - 24% of people surveyed said they regretted getting a puppy - Of course, things change with time! - We can recommend going to puppy class! REFERENCES: Azadian, A., & Protopopova, A. (2025). Factors Influencing a Hand-touch Learning Task Outcome in the Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 106522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106522 Owczarczak-Garstecka, S. C., Casey, R. A., Cooper, B., Da Costa, R. E., Kinsman, R. H., Lord, M. S., ... & Murray, J. K. (2025). Association between training methods and owner-reported problem behaviours in dogs enrolled in the ‘Generation Pup’longitudinal study in the UK. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 77, 52-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2024.10.001 Ståhl, A., Salonen, M., Hakanen, E., Mikkola, S., Sulkama, S., Lahti, J., & Lohi, H. (2024). Development and validation of the puppy blues scale measuring temporary affective disturbance resembling baby blues. npj Mental Health Research, 3(1), 27. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44184-024-00072-z
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