Articles: dog behavior

Pheromones aren’t hocus pocus, it’s real science. Dr. Natalie Marks explains what pheromone products, like Adaptil Junior are able to achieve on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show. Adaptil, the dog pheromone product reduces fear, anxiety and stress – and that’s an important concept in veterinary clinics, in our homes, at kennels, grooming…

Veterinary technician Beckie Mosser explains on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show what service dogs can do – and it’s pretty incredible. Mosser says correctly that service dogs are actually like medical equipment in some ways, helping people with mostly invisible disabilities like detecting diabetic crashes and spikes, or serving people with post…

Socialization has become a buzz word. People know the word, care about socializing their pet but exactly what does it mean? I talk with Dr. Kendall Houlihan, assistant director of animal welfare about the topic on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show. Indeed socialization is imperative – and we talk about why that…

Ryan DeRoche tells me what a service dog means to him following his mountain bike accident several years ago. Through the non-profit National Education for Assistance Dog Services or NEADS World Class Service Dogs, he was partnered with a new best friend named Oliver. He says on my national Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show,…

Dr. Terri Bright, director of the Behavior Department at MSPCA-Angell, about The 56th Annual Conference of ABS (Animal Behaviour Society) and joint meeting with the Ethological Congress, a conference coming to Chicago as part of the ABS Annual Meeting and FREE PUBLIC DAY. The Animal Behaviour Society free event is Saturday, July 27, 9:00AM-1:00 PM…

“We adopted a rescue Beagle, named Manna, who is now around 5 or 6-years old. She came from a Beagle hoarder in Tennessee. She’s not housebroken, and we’re trying to train her to go to the back door to tell us she needs to do her business, but she’s clueless. When we take her in…

Here are some fireworks facts: Many pets are frightened, and even terrified. And many pets are lost as a result. They’re kept outside in the yard, panic and run off. Some pets are tethered to ropes or chains and even choke to death. As a result, shelter intake of lost pets increases around the country.…

The Fourth of July is a scary time for many dogs. Here are three acts of cruelty which should never occur – each is downright cruel. NEVER tie up the dog outside on a tether, or even keep a dog in a yard around July Fourth without adult supervision. Fearful or terrified, a dog may…

I speak HERE on my WGN Steve Dale’s Pet World radio show with Amanda Smith, lead author of a recent paper on leptospirosis,  “The Descriptive and Spatio-Temporal Analyses of 45 Canine Leptospirosis Cases from Chicago, 2015-2018” We’re talking about leptospirosis here for two primary reasons: The bacterial disease may infect our dogs and potentially cause…

It’s not that dogs aren’t patriotic, but many dogs, and also some cats, are terrified of the loud and sudden bangs we call fireworks on July 4th. It’s actually adaptive to be hard-wired to be afraid of sudden loud sounds. We too may jump at such sounds, and we might also run the other way…