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Fear and Safety Jun 19, 2015

Remember the first time you sat on a bike before being launched down the drive, or the first time sitting behind the wheel of a car, or horror of horrors, looking down from the diving board on your very first jump into the deep end? Scary stuff… at first. So how were these feats which […]

The Connection between Emotion and Hunting Part Two Jun 07, 2015

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27675-monkeys-cosy-alliance-with-wolves-looks-like-domestication.html?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=SOC&utm_campaign=hoot&cmpid=SOC%257CNSNS%257C2015-GLOBAL-hoot#.VXL2Xs7FuRt   In this report we learn of wolves and monkeys developing an amicable relationship that is apparently beneficial for the wolves as hunting around the monkeys increases their success rate in catching small rodents threefold. Having wolves in their midst may confer some benefit to the monkeys as well, for example  keeping other predators […]

Connection between Emotion and Hunting Jun 06, 2015

Which doesn’t belong and why? Emotion, Love, Affection, Bonding, Altruism, Cooperation, Prey-Predator dynamic. Actually it’s a trick question, in my model they all belong although admittedly the final term seems jarring relative to the warm, fuzzy, comforting feeling we get from the others. I have argued, and I invite argument to the contrary, that the oldest […]

Aggressive Dog and Core Exercises May 21, 2015

This dog is highly aggressive and was somehow rescued from a sketchy neighborhood in New Jersey. After riding for several hours in a car to be transferred to a foster, he bit the transport driver severely in the shoulder when she was getting him out of the car, unfortunately causing nerve damage. He becomes highly […]

Fruit Flies and Fear May 19, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/science/fruit-flies-are-shown-to-enter-a-fearlike-state.html?ref=science   “Despite these observations, it was not possible to conclude the flies were experiencing fear, Dr. Anderson said.” “We can only know that by verbal report,” he said. “So we can’t scientifically study feelings in any creature but a human.” Or, we could simply observe behavior without injecting human thoughts into the minds of […]

Wave Coupling and the Emotional Battery May 18, 2015

A lot of things  dogs do are really funny. But this can obscure that a fundamental truth is being revealed. So first enjoy a good laugh in the video below that’s been making the rounds, and then try to answer: Why do dogs do this? It’s no laughing matter. Below I will add my interpretation. […]

Gene-Centricity May 08, 2015

If you have an appetite for evolutionary theory, and enjoy bearing witness to the shift of a long standing paradigm, the three links below make for a hearty feast indeed.   http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/the-man-who-may-one-up-darwin/39217?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=OZYpost&utm_campaign=SA_T   http://aeon.co/magazine/science/how-horizontal-gene-transfer-changes-evolutionary-theory/   http://aeon.co/magazine/science/why-its-time-to-lay-the-selfish-gene-to-rest/   There is a lot to ingest in all this, but this passage leaps out from the article on […]

Bixie at Work Mar 31, 2015

Life on the farm isn’t all fun and games, there’s wood to be fetched, and I miss having Hessian along when I’m on my tractor. Whenever a log or a tool fell out I could point at it and Hessian would bring it to my hand. Hunting is a many-splendored thing. So a big part […]

What is “Splitting” Behavior Mar 18, 2015

The video below is interpreted as showing a dog playing the role of peace maker by stopping things between two other dogs before it gets out of hand. While the “Good Samaritan” dog here does indeed interrupt the two other dogs, is that its intent? Because if such an interpretation were correct then we would […]

See Spot Run, and next ………? See Spot Bite Mar 07, 2015

Spot is looking good and moving right along, congratulations are in order, and yet the designers of this doggy robot aren’t concerned about this robot’s ability to outcompete other robots so that it can survive and reproduce, those are problems #100,001 and #100,002 in the evolution of a doggy robot. They are concerned solely with […]

The Body Does More Than Carry The Head Around Feb 22, 2015

Most treatments of behavior, as far as I know, treat the brain as the seat of the mind and the sole computer of behavior. In my reading of canine behavior however I’ve learned that anatomy is more important in how the mind composes its view of reality than cognitive processes. An organism learns about the […]

Bixie At the Ready Feb 18, 2015

My apologies for letting this blog on Bixie lag for so long. Once too much time goes by, procrastination sets in and then the resistance gets really high. So I’m not going to try to be aesthetic (not that one might notice), just keep it crisp and chronicled. The main way of bonding with Bixie […]

Biocentrism, Light Eating Sea Slugs, and Emotion Feb 07, 2015

Two items in the news from science are of special interest. One is about Biocentrism: http://higherperspective.com/2015/01/consciousness-death.html#26xY0kV3xLRWVu6Z.01 From Wikipedia: “Biocentric universe (from Greek: βίος, bios, “life”; and κέντρον, kentron, “center”) — also known as biocentrism — is a concept proposed in 2007 by American doctor of medicine Robert Lanza, a scientist in the fields of regenerative medicine and biology,[1][2][3] which sees biology as the central […]

What Are We Learning From Animals? (per the NY Times) Jan 31, 2015

I offer the following as an exercise in critical thinking. The New York Times article below illustrates the pretzel knot that modern behavioral analysis is locked in. The problem arises from trying to understand animal behavior as states of intention rather than as states of attraction. This leads to the false dichotomy that if behavior isn’t […]

At the Heart of the Bond; Innate or Transactional? Jan 22, 2015

  The R+, or positive school of thought, sees the dominance, or P+ school of thought, as being misguided and scientifically challenged as for example when Cesar Milan claims that a dog’s behavior reflects its owner in terms of their relative ranks in a dominance hierarchy. The P+ school rebuts the notion that dogs are […]

What is the How in the “Play Bow?” Jan 20, 2015

The why of dog play has been the subject of some recent research. Yet the fundamental question is not being asked: How does a “play bow” indicate an invitation to play? Yes dogs often play thereafter, but not always. In fact, fearful and aggressive dogs misconstrue the enthusiasm invested in a play bow as a […]

So then, why do dogs roll over in play? Jan 16, 2015

The latest science on why dogs roll over onto their backs in play is in (bearing in mind that it took the current models of analysis all these years to question the concept of submission, but better late than never) and what is the takeaway from this research that has generated world wide attention? “This […]

Theory is Replicable Jan 14, 2015

I converted this to a post for two reasons. 1) b.. ‘s synthesis represents an achievement of replicability. The good news is that one can learn to understand the internal processes of the animal mind, we do all have one after all. However the bad news is you might end up thinking like me. 2) […]

Getting Under The Charge Jan 02, 2015

Oregon Seminar October 2014 In any particular seminar some idea tends to stand out. While for me it’s all one thing, I know from my  experience when learning a new system that something said once might not sink in, but then later in a different context it rings a bell so loud I can hear […]

Deer Meets Dog via the Universal Code Dec 14, 2014

When a dog is afraid, he acts like a deer. Conversely, when a deer feels safe, she acts like a dog. We can discern in the video the entire scope of behavior. First of all, all animals live by the same bios code, one which is predicated on emotion as a “force” of attraction.  Emotion is the […]

Viruses and Network Consciousness Dec 04, 2014

My reading of animal behavior has led me to understand the principle of emotional conductivity as the connective glue of animal consciousness, and hence, a new way of understanding what constitutes information in the animal mind. Information equals consciousness converting environmental inputs into emotional, temperamental values. Since I can see the same primal code at […]

Abrantes on Stress and Emotional Bonding Nov 25, 2014

Roger Abrantes: “Bottom line: we need to be nuanced about stress. Events causing healthy stress responses are necessary for enhancing attention to details, formation of memory, creation of bonds, and learning—and too much stress or for too long works against it.” http://ethology.eu/bonding-and-stress/   For a nuanced treatment of stress Abrantes might be interested in my […]

Infinitesimals and the Self Oct 27, 2014

In my immediate-moment theory of animal behavior, the physical center-of-gravity of an animals’ body is how an animal becomes aware of its Self. I believe this is substantiated by the discovery that animals have an inherent sense of calculus, which is how they compute an efficient manner of movement. This is also substantiated by Dr. […]

Emotion is a Universal Code Sep 25, 2014

Little by little, science is coming closer to understanding emotion as the universal operating system of animal consciousness. In this study, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329873.100-primal-pull-of-a-baby-crying-reaches-across-species.html#.VBzBnsZ3RBV various species of animals are found to respond to the distress calls of other species’ infants. This is because an infant no matter the species is an emotional ground, a preyful essence. Similarly, […]

Impulse Control in the Hunt

Here’s an excellent video courtesy of Brad Higgins Gun Dogs showing strongest degree of impulse control. Because the dog’s attraction to the prey is the basis of how he has learned to hunt with humans, again courtesy of Brad, the strength of his attraction to the prey is the strength of his capacity to self-control […]

Intelligence as a Function of Emotional Capacity Sep 13, 2014

Thanks to Scott for this interesting science: http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/researchers-search-for-genes-behind-intelligence-find-almost-nothing/   From the end of the article after these words I would add: “it seems that your intelligence is likely to be the product of a huge collection of minor genetic effects, combined with a very large helping of your environment”…….AND your emotional capacity to tap into […]

Canine Cognition isn’t “Dognition” Sep 11, 2014

In “Natural Dog Training” in 1992 I posited the notion that learning in dogs was a function of emotional bonding. In other words a dog applies a social construct to all situations, he has a group mind perspective of reality. Even a seemingly innocuous physical act has a social connotation. This means that dogs become […]

The “Transparency Challenge” Sep 03, 2014

The ALS ice bucket challenge has inspired a dog training version called the “Transparency Challenge.” It consists of three questions; What happens when the dog gets it right? What happens when a dog gets it wrong? Is there a less intrusive method? Having watched a number of trainers answer these questions apparently the proper formula […]

More on Jealousy and Dogs Aug 12, 2014

Note that whenever body language and various behaviors are discussed in mainstream behaviorism, the mantra is always context, context, context. And yet we can see in human behavior that jealousy is not dependent on context. It can become all consuming that follows one wherever they go and corrupts whatever they do. Furthermore it requires the […]

Books about Natural Dog Training by Kevin Behan

In Your Dog Is Your Mirror, dog trainer Kevin Behan proposes a radical new model for understanding canine behavior: a dog’s behavior and emotion, indeed its very cognition, are driven by our emotion. The dog doesn’t respond to what the owner thinks, says, or does; it responds to what the owner feels. And in this way, dogs can actually put people back in touch with their own emotions. Behan demonstrates that dogs and humans are connected more profoundly than has ever been imagined — by heart — and that this approach to dog cognition can help us understand many of dogs’ most inscrutable behaviors. This groundbreaking, provocative book opens the door to a whole new understanding between species, and perhaps a whole new understanding of ourselves.
  Natural Dog Training is about how dogs see the world and what this means in regards to training. The first part of this book presents a new theory for the social behavior of canines, featuring the drive to hunt, not the pack instincts, as seminal to canine behavior. The second part reinterprets how dogs actually learn. The third section presents exercises and handling techniques to put this theory into practice with a puppy. The final section sets forth a training program with a special emphasis on coming when called.