Animal sentience

http://www.livesofanimals.org/
animalsentience.com

100 great novels - http://www.abebooks.co.uk/docs/Community/Featured/guardianList.shtml

Karen Overall links

Some articles by Karen Overall
including
How and why 3 drugs work benzodiazepines (alprazolam); tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs: amitriptyline, clomipramine); and selective serotonin re-uptakes inhibitors (SSRIs: fluoxetine). 

Sue Sternbergs dog ethogram

Calming signals

Links:

Turid Rugaas = http://www.canis.no/rugaas/onearticle.php?artid=1
theartofdog.com

http://www.pawsacrossamerica.com/interpret.html

Barking

From the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=4P5EXJBUIZR2LQFIQMGCFGGAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/05/17/ndog117.xml

Defra's top 10 reasons why dogs bark (Leaflet at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/noise/pdf/barkingdog.pdf)

1. Over-dependence on an owner, resulting in separation anxiety.

2. Fear or phobic reaction to sights or sounds, inside or outside the home.

3. Territorial.

4. Attention-seeking.

5. Social - calling to other dogs in the district.

6. To signify the dog wants to play.

7. To signify aggression (it is important not confuse 6 and 7).

8. Predatory or chase behaviour.

9. Frustration, eg because the dog did not expect to be left behind.

10. Senility.

David Sapsted's top 10 reasons why his dogs bark

1. As a good way to ruin the end of Frost so you never discover why the retired librarian did it.

2. To scare away imaginary foxes. Real foxes, on the other hand, are left undisturbed to slaughter the chickens.

3. Because why would anyone want to be asleep at 3.20am?

4. To draw attention to the fact that they missed out on the Bacon Fries during your round at the pub.

5. Because some other dog three counties away decided to bark.

6. To frighten off that ugly beast they have just spotted in the reflection of the oven door.

7. As a warning to passing aircraft that 30,000 feet looks low enough.

8. Because it's too damned quiet out there.

9. To alert you to the hazards posed by that leaf that has just blown past the window.

10. Because they can.

Dominance and Pack Theory - snippets

Some useful links:

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/dominance.htm - Dunbar

This is particularly interesting:

There is NO physical domination. Everything is accomplished through psychological harassment. It's all ritualistic.
"Alpha" does not mean physically dominant. It means "in control of resources."

"I think many times people use the term
dominant that the dog is actually not confident but rather
overcompensating (defensively) for a lack of confidence. I prefer to call
this control related problems or "control complex" as I referred to it in
my book." (James O'Heare)

This whole thead http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DogBehaviorThinkTank/messages/6102?threaded=1&m=e&var=1&tidx=1

Effect of owner personality and home environment on dog personality

Stephen, J. and Ledger, R., Relinquishing dog owners’ ability to predict behavioural problems in shelter dogs post adoption, Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. (2006), doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.09.012

Some interesting references, to papers by James Serpell, Anthony Podberscek etc and coauthors.

Aggression has been linked to (aggression problems more likely): first-time owners, dogs that sleep near their owners, owners that anthropomorphise and indulge their dogs "anthropomorphic owner attachment"

Less likely to have aggression problems if obedience trained

dog cognition

http://iaabc.org/dog

Chris Winch - Equestrian Artist

http://www.dawinchy.co.uk/watercolours.html - some lovely watercolours of dogs and other animals (his horses are amazing).

Competitive obedience Schedules for shows/events

Obedience regulations

Recipes for liver paste/treats and toys and games

http://www.make-and-build-dog-stuff.com

http://www.k9events.com/tricks_and_games.htm

includes this useful list http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002c/tricks.htm

http://www.wolfscience.at/english/why/wolf-dog-human.html

Researchers carry out an object choice task with a wolf at the Wolf Science Centre

Only their known carers are able to go inside the enclosure with the wolves; extensive familiarisation and socialisation  has built up a respect for these individuals

Compassion in World Farming

http://www.ciwf.org.uk/news/beef_and_dairy_farming/not_so_super_dairy_feature.aspx

http://www.faifarms.co.uk/

Dog Star Daily - a great resource for training articles, videos and tutorials.

http://dogstardaily.com/blogs/reinforcement-schedules  - Use differential reinforcement - only reinforce the best 50% of responses!

http://www.dogbehaviorblog.com/

"...when I see the "Best of Breed" listed on the Crufts website, I wonder how its enthusiasts would react to the worst of breeds. In my experience, the most unprepossessing mongrel still exhibits all the qualities that makes dogs irresistible. The tail may be too long, the ears unpricked and curve of the spine less than classical. But they are all dogs. And it is the universal dog - the essence of dogness - that makes, or ought to make, us want them."

Roy Hattersley - Real Dog lovers prefer mongrels

"Cynopraxic trainers should make an effort to conform their training interventions to the LIMA (least intrusive and minimally aversive) principle by employing procedures that represent the least necessary intrusion upon the human-dog bond and cause the dog a minimal amount of discomfort, as necessary to achieve the behavioral objective. Further, training recommendations should do no harm to the human-dog relationship, to the dog, or to the owner in the process of implementing them."

S. Lindsay, 2005, Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training, Volume 3, p. 29

"Essentially, the LIMA (Least Intrusive Minimally Aversive) principle is a competency criterion, since only competent trainers possessing the necessary know-how can make the required assessments and have the skills needed to ensure that the least intrusive and aversive procedure is in fact used. To speak of the effective and humane use of dogtraining procedures in the absence of competency criterion borders on the ridiculous.

Accordingly, incompetent uses of attractive and aversive motivational stimuli to modify dog behavior are liable to produce harmful effects that violate the dog’s interests and breech the trust of the responsible dog owners seeking help." Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training, Volume 3, p726