Tagged By behaviorism

Happy Birthday to BF Skinner: It’s time for a rebranding

March 20, 2012, Anna Jane Grossman, 2 Comments

BF Skinner codified the laws of behavior and outlined the basics of how to effectively train an animal. But his terms for things just weren’t that catchy.

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Why does my dog rub his body all over the carpet?

March 14, 2012, Anna Jane Grossman, No Comment

Humans wear clothing most of the time and scents some of the time. Dogs wear scents most of the time, and clothing some of the time. And a lot of good scents live in your carpet.

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Dear Mr. Millan: What the hell are you doing?

February 5, 2012, Kate Senisi, 6 Comments

The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior has made its case against the use of punishment in dog training. Has Cesar Millan misplaced the memo?

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How superstitious behaviors affect dogs, humans, and bowling balls

April 19, 2011, Anna Jane Grossman, No Comment

According to this post on Motherboard, buttons are useless. So why do we still push them? For the same reason that we lean in order to encourage a bowling ball to go in the right…

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How to train a squirrel to be a YouTube star

January 31, 2011, Anna Jane Grossman, 1 Comment

The Rube Goldbergites behind this video trained this squirrel just like you’d train a dog to do a long chain of behaviors

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“Dogs don’t understand basic concepts” by Hyperbole and a Half

November 22, 2010, Anna Jane Grossman, No Comment

Hyperbole and a Half’s Allie Brosh made me laugh out loud with this illustrated blog post about her dogs trying to deal with moving apartments.

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What Mister Softee can teach us about dog training

November 7, 2010, Anna Jane Grossman, No Comment

The other day  my niece did something that was a perfect example of classical conditioning: The Mister Softee song wafted in from the street and she ran to my sister in a kind of blissful…

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