Best Friends of Companion Animal Psychology

contest pets photos

Best Friends of Companion Animal Psychology

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Share a photo of your happy pet for a chance to win a Companion Animal Psychology mug.

Companion Animal Psychology just turned five! As I said in that post, one of the best things about this blog is the community of people who read, share and support it.

Several recent posts have shown photos of happy dogs who are friends of Companion Animal Psychology.

This time, it’s over to you to join the celebrations by sharing a photo of your contented pet.

One person will win a Companion Animal Psychology anniversary bone china mug.

Click the link-up and follow the instructions to add your photo. The winning photo will be published on the blog and shared on social media when the winner is announced. More details are below.

An InLinkz Link-up

The photo link-up is open until 4pm Pacific Time on Friday 14th April.

To add a photo of your pet, click the link and follow the instructions. You will have to supply an email address but this will only be used if necessary to communicate with you about the photos. You will not be subscribed to any email lists. (Click here to subscribe to Companion Animal Psychology; or read the privacy policy).

Please include your pet’s name. You have up to 50 characters if you wish to say something about your pet (e.g. “Bodger loves snow”).

The winning photo will be published on the blog and shared on social media when the winner is announced. By taking part, you consent for this to happen if your photo wins.

Only two entries per person. If you change your mind, you may delete your photo at any time. You must have copyright of the photo.

Photos are moderated so you may have to wait for yours to appear. Photos are displayed in a random order, so if you submit two photos, they may not appear together.

I have recruited an independent judge to choose the winner. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The winner will be sent an email to request their postal address to send the mug to. In the event that the winner does not respond to this email within 7 days, they will forfeit the mug and another winner will be chosen.

Companion Animal Psychology supports the humane treatment of animals and photos showing prong, choke or shock collars are not permitted.

Photo: Africa Studio (Shutterstock.com)

Video helps the shelter dog (more than photos)

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Video helps the shelter dog (more than photos)

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Adoptable dogs seen in video get more positive ratings than those seen in photos, according to new research

A new study by Chloe Pyzer et al (Hartpury College) compared people’s perceptions of adoptable dogs when they were shown video or still photographs. The results showed that video is the best way to show people adoptable dogs.

Dr. Tamara Montrose, one of the study authors, told me in an email,

“In our study, we found that viewing dogs in videos as opposed to photographs tended to result in more positive perceptions of the dogs’ behavioural traits. Dogs viewed by videos were considered to be more trainable, intelligent, friendly, and gentle and less dominant, aggressive, and unsociable. The positive effects of viewing dogs in videos was seen for both dogs of more desirable breeds and for dogs of less desirable and frequently stigmatised breeds.  

These findings are not only of academic interest but have clear applications for rehoming shelters. Many rehoming shelters use photographs, videos or a mixture of the two media types when advertising their animals for adoption. One factor that may deter some shelter workers from making videos of their animals is the extra time this necessitates, when the benefits of this approach is unclear.  

 The findings of our study suggest that the extra time spent making a video may be beneficial in better promoting dogs to the public, and that greater use of video by rehoming shelters may provide an effective method for promoting adoption of both desired, and more stigmatised breeds.” 

735 people completed a questionnaire which featured four dogs from an animal re-homing centre in the UK.

Two Staffordshire Bull Terriers, an 11 year old male and a 3 year old female, were chosen to represent a breed that is widely seen as less desirable. Breed specific legislation in the UK bans ‘pit bull types’ and sometimes people perceive Staffordshire Bull Terriers as being similar. Two other dogs were chosen to represent breeds that are seen as desirable: a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel-Chihuahua cross and a Toy Poodle, both of whom are female and 5 years old.

In the still photographs, each dog is shown sitting, wearing their dog walking equipment so that the equipment was the same in both video and photos. The videos for each dog show 30 seconds of the dog walking on leash and interacting with the dog walker.

People rated the dogs on six positive and six negative traits. Each person saw photographs of two dogs (one deemed a desirable breed and one deemed not so) and video of the two other dogs.

Regardless of whether the dog was seen as a desirable breed or not, they were given more positive ratings based on video clips rather than a still photograph.

All of the dogs had better ratings (higher or lower as appropriate) on the video clips for the qualities of being trainable, friendly, gentle, intelligent, dominant, aggressive and unsociable. Although there was variation for individual dogs with some of the other qualities, it was still the case that most dogs got better ratings for being playful and obedient based on the video.

Although these results did not look at adoption rates, earlier research has shown that dogs that are seen as friendly to children, dogs and other pets have higher adoption rates. So if video leads to dogs being perceived in a more positive light, it seems worth the time for animal shelters to put together videos, at least for some of their animals. Future research can use a larger number of dogs and investigate if it actually leads to shorter waits for adoption.

Earlier research has also shown that great photos make a difference to the speed at which dogs are adopted. There is plenty of scope for future studies to investigate the best features of photo and video to use and whether or not including people makes a difference.

Of course, the scientists point out that as well as showing dogs in a positive light, videos need to be realistic so that people get a fair idea of the dog they would be adopting. This will help to keep return rates low.

It’s especially interesting that positive results were found for video of both desirable and less desirable breeds.

When you are looking at adoptable dogs, do you feel that you get more information from video than photos?

You might also like: Large study finds no evidence for ‘black dog syndrome’, shelter dogs live up to expectations (mostly), and proof the internet helps cat adoptions.

Reference
Pyzer, C, Clarke, L and Montrose, VT (2016) Effects of video footage vs photographs on perception of dog behavioural traits. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 20(1) 42-51. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2016.1229186
Photos: Melounix (top) and Krumina Studios (both Shutterstock.com).

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Happy Dogs: More Photos

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Happy Dogs: More Photos

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More gorgeous photos of happy dogs who are friends of Companion Animal Psychology.

Rajah

"He is a very happy boy who loves to go for long walks, exploring the woods and trails of Gabriola Island."
Photo: Jean Ballard.

Milo

"As for his favorite treat, I'd say chicken is a big contender, probably his favorite, but he loves just about all food! His favorite trick is between "spin" or his yoga pose (which is really just a play bow) that I've cued as "let's do some yoga." His absolute favorite thing to do in the world is swim."

Photo: Sabrina Mignacca.

Shadow

"Shadow's favourite treat of all time is left over pizza crusts haha! His best trick is a dramatic play dead."

Photo: Allison Wells (twitter)

Sugar

"Her favourite reward is liver brownies."
Photo: Kristi Benson (twitter) 

Piper

"She is one of the happiest and most exuberant dogs I've ever met!  She worked hard on impulse control exercises, to earn rewards like steak and turkey. Any game that involves her people is her favorite game!"

Photo: Suzanne Bryner.

Bjorn

"Bjorn likes everything except jell-o  ;-) His favourite trick answers the question 'What does the Meercat do?'"

Photos: Sgian Dubh.

This is what the Meercat does

Shadow

"His favorite treat is chicken breast, liver, and mini hotdog.

His best trick is catching his treat from a distance, and he can spin on command both clockwise and counter clockwise. He likes to swim and chases squirrels."

Photos: Cindy Lin.

Thank you to everyone who shared photos with me!

Happy Dogs in Harnesses: Photos

#HarnessTheLove dogs no-pull harness photos

Happy Dogs in Harnesses: Photos

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Gorgeous photos of happy dogs in their no-pull harnesses. Which one is your favourite?

Drake (left) and Bacchus. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley).

Bronson. Photo: Lisa Skavienski, CTC

Bjorn. Photo: Sgian Dubh

Nani. Photo:Tails in the Valley Dog Training

Sophie. Photo: Megan Taylor

Argie. Photo: Maria Karunungan

Moo. Photo: Joanna

Foxxy. Photo: Suzanne Bryner

Photo: Courtney Bayer

Titus. Photo: Nickala Squire

Drake. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley)

Bacchus. Photo: Jackie Johnston (Adoption Specialist, Humane Society of Boulder Valley)

Tucker (left) and Bronson. Photo: Lisa Skavienski, CTC

Quinn and Riley. Photo: Tails in the Valley Dog Training

This post is part of the Harness the Love campaign from the Academy for Dog Trainers. Recent research shows that neck collars and harnesses do not cause stress when walking dogs. So if you have a dog that pulls a lot on leash, a front-clip harness is a good choice.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their photos with me.

Illustrating Companion Animal Psychology: Favourite Photos

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Illustrating Companion Animal Psychology: Favourite Photos

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A selection of favourite photos from the blog.

One of the things I enjoy about writing Companion Animal Psychology is picking out the photo for each week’s post. I wait until I’ve finished the first draft, and choose the photo before I go back to edit. It feels like a treat to browse through the images.

Most of the time I’m looking for a photo in which the animal is happy and relaxed. Although there are some gorgeous studio shots, I tend to prefer more realistic settings. There are some stories for which any puppy or kitten would do, but other posts need something specific. Sometimes it’s not obvious what kind of photo is best to illustrate a story, and then I’m looking for some kind of connection, a metaphorical thread that links the visual to the prose. 

pjmorley (Shutterstock.com)

This photo of the mouse scampering away from the sleeping cat makes me smile. I used it to illustrate a story about the role of animals in everyday life, based on research from the Mass Observation Project (Animals, Pets and Vermin). 

 

Zanna Holstova (Shutterstock.com)

I wrote a post about the problems with the metaphor of the wolf pack as applied to dogs. Following Eva Feder Kittay’s idea that metaphor works by “re-arranging the furniture of the mind”, I said “We need to re-arrange the furniture and consign the pack metaphor to gather dust in the attic.” This photo of the two Basenjis looking uncomfortable on the settee is a perfect match. The one behind looks a little squashed, and both would be more comfortable if they re-arranged themselves. I also like the three different fabrics of the settee, throw and cushions, and the bookshelves behind. (Re-arranging metaphors for dogs). 

taviphoto (Shutterstock.com)

I like this photo of two outdoor cats doing their own thing, the front one looking towards the camera, the other having a wash. The beautiful autumn foliage is a nice bonus. (Can cats and coyotes co-exist?).

Photo: Bhakpong (Shutterstock.com)

I love this photo. The look on the Lab’s face is delightful. And this dog is very relaxed in the water. I love the colours in this one too. (If you lead a Lab to water, should you let them swim?)

OLJStudio (Shutterstock.com)

I love the interaction between the young woman and her little Pomeranian. They are dancing together in matching pink outfits. It’s from a post on research about whether people treat little dogs differently than big dogs. (Positive reinforcement and dog training: Little dogs vs big dogs).  

I use stock photos so I know I have the rights to use the images, and you will always find a credit to the photographer in the blog post. It was incredibly hard picking just 7 photos for this post, because I love all the photos I use.

DragoNika (Shutterstock.com)

I had to include a puppy photo, and this one is adorable. Not just framed by flowers, but interacting with them by biting on the branch. The story is about how clever people think dogs are, and this one is delightfully balmy. (How clever do you think your dog is?).

Linn Currie (shutterstock.com)

This chinchilla golden Persian kitten is cute and playful, and I love the bold colours. Something about the fabric reminds me of the upholstery on seats on English buses and trains in times gone by. I used this photo on social media to say thank you to everyone who reads, likes, shares and retweets my blog. It's the support and encouragement from readers like you that makes it all worthwhile.

Which photos are your favourites? 

You might also like:
Great photos are important to dog adoption.
Proof the internet helps cat adoptions.
Do dogs get that Eureka! feeling?

Heartsmith's We Love Our Dog Contest

contest George photos

Heartsmith's We Love Our Dog Contest

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There's a contest for all dog lovers over at Heartsmith. It's called “We Love Our Dog” and all you have to do is submit a photo of your “four legged” best friend.  The deadline for entering the contest is December 15. Click here to enter.

And this handsome guy is George! Our own "four legged" best friend. Doesn't he look so charming? He has this way of looking at the camera, the expression in his eyes is amazing. So loveable!

Which shot do you like best?