How to train your cat, and whether dogs feel guilty
Dr Zazie Todd is a pet psychologist and says animal behavior will tell you what your pet is thinking almost every time if you just know what to look for. She shares her insights with Jesse Mulligan and busts a few myths in the process.
Bored and stressed dogs can cause damage to property and themselves. Photo: 123RF
Clever canines
Nearly 30 percent of New Zealand homes have a dog – that’s almost 700,000 canine companions. An animal psychologist is putting some of those pet dogs to the test to find out just how empathetic and clever they really are.
Photo: 123rf
Dogs that sniff out pest fish
Dogs have a great sense of smell. And koi carp are a pest fish in Waikato Lakes. Those two phrases might not seem to have much in common, but at Waikato University they turn out to have a surprising connection.
Koi carp are a pest in lakes and rivers in the Waikato. They exist in large numbers, and they stir up sediment and make the water muddy. Photo: RNZ / Alison Ballance
NZIFF: Dog's Best Friend
New Zealand film maker Eryn Wilson's documentary Dog's Best Friend, follows ex-soldier Jacob Leezak who runs the Canine Behaviour Expert Dog Psychology Centre for several weeks as he works with dogs, showing how he and his pack of dogs teach new dogs to interact naturally.
Dogs Best Friend still Photo: NZIFF
Pet owners of the Otago Peninsula
A temporary photo studio in the Broad Bay community hall is capturing the "little intimacies" between local pets and their owners. It's the first time Dunedin photographer Justin Spiers has run his Pet Photo Booth in a New Zealand community - and he hopes it won't be the last.
Photo: Justin Spiers
The rise of raw-food dog diets and pet anti-vaxxers
Vets say they're concerned over the growing anti-vaccine lobby among pet owners, and food fads such as raw and grain-free diets for animals are gaining popularity.
A cat with raw meat. Photo: 123RF
What it's like to be a Dog
Neuroeconomics researcher Gregory Berns’ latest book What It's Like to be a Dog explores his findings from his canine MRI research. He specialises in the use of brain imaging technologies to understand people’s - and now, dogs’ - motivation and decision-making.
Modern dogs are descended from grey wolves, and the process of domestication began about 33,000 years ago in Asia. Photo: RNZ / Alison Ballance
If you thought cats were good ratcatchers, think again
When it comes to catching rats, cats leave a lot to be desired. This is according to researchers who planted microchips in rats living in a Brooklyn, New York, waste recycling facility and watched how they interacted with a bunch of feral cats that moved into the area.
Photo: Jason Leung / Unsplash
How to train your dog to be wildlife ready
Summer is fast approaching and the Department of Conservation (DOC) is wanting dog owners to get their beloved pets wildlife ready. DOC rangers were called to Ngāti Domain in August after a leopard seal was left bloodied in a dog attack.
The Department of Conservation is trying to keep wildlife, like the fur seal, safe this summer. Photo: Department of Conservation
History of NZ's Antarctic sled dogs
Dogs were a part of life on the ice in Antarctica for nearly a century until motorised vehicles and dogs' fondness for seals prompted them to be removed, as Ngā Taonga's archives recount.
Robert Falcon Scott’s dog Chris, listening to the gramophone, Antarctica 1911. Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library