Positive Consistency w/ Zazie Todd, PhD

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How To Better Understand Our Anxious & Fearful Dogs

About The Episode

John Bradshaw was one of the first people to write about “how the new science of dog behavior can make you a better friend to your pet.” His work inspired psychologist and academic professor Zazie Todd, who decided to start a website called Companion Animal Psychology to further explore translating these ideas for a larger population beyond academics in her writing.

Zazie aims to find interesting insights and break them down into digestible pieces of information that she feels are helpful to dog parents. This also turned into writing two similar dog and cat books: Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy (2020) and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy (2023).

In October 2024, she released another canine-focused book entitled Bark: The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog. In this book, Zazie shares valuable information for all dog parents and gives insight into what to look out for regarding these behaviors in our canine companions. For example: a dog could have anxiety if they have a low posture or are hiding often. The more you study and pay attention, the better you can recognize the attributes.

Zazie also offers some tips. Once you realize your dog may be having these negative feelings, how you approach it will depend on their age. If they’re a puppy, they may need socialization during a critical window. If they’re a dog who was adopted during the pandemic, and things are changing all of a sudden with how much one is at home, then you should provide other constants to keep them comfortable in consistency. If they’re a senior dog, you need to pay extra attention to their health – even making sure to go to the vet – as pain in older dogs can be displayed by behavioral changes or issues.

Across any training or everyday interactions with your dogs, more aggressive or “dominating” methods by humans have proven to be not just ineffective but harmful. Zazie says that only positive reinforcement methods should be used, which result in better training and happier dogs. Negative reinforcement techniques are not only unhelpful, but they are actively damaging.

The pursuit of happiness for our canine companions is something dog parents should all strive towards, and it’s key to remain consinsitent and diligent in the process. The goal should be to better understand what they’re feeling and provide proper solutions. By looking at dogs’ emotions and behavior through an academic and researched lens, we are able to continually better understand the pets in our lives and how our actions impact them. As the research continues, our ability to do this will only become more nuanced and beneficial for all.

About The Guest - Zazie Todd, PhD

Zazie Todd, PhD, is a psychologist, animal behaviorist, certified dog trainer, and author. She is the Founder of Companion Animal Psychology, a website she started in 2012 to write about the ways science can help our animal companions have happier lives. She writes a regular series for Psychology Today too, called Fellow Creatures, where she explores the social world of people and animals. Zazie has also now written three books about the science behind our dogs' emotions. In addition, she co-hosts a podcast called The Pawsitive Post, about how to live a better life with your pet. Currently Zazie is based in Vancouver and has a senior Shih Tzu, Pepper, who is 13 years old.

About The Host - Chris Blazina, PhD

Chris Blazina, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and author based in New Mexico. Through his work, he came to recognize the importance of animal companions in the lives of men, especially dogs. He has written several books on his studies, including his most recent One Unwavering Friend about historical male figures and the significance of dogs in their lives.

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