The Pawsitive Post in Conversation by Companion Animal Psychology

Zazie Todd PhD and Kristi Benson CTC
  • 4.4 (8)
  • PETS & ANIMALS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

The show about how to have a better relationship with your dog or cat. Get tips on dog training, dog behaviour, cat behaviour and training, learn about the science on dogs and cats, and find out which books we're reading (animal-related and more generally). Kind, humane, reward-based training methods only. Hosted by Zazie Todd PhD and Kristi Benson CTC of Companion Animal Psychology blog. Made in Canada.

  1. 2D AGO

    Holiday Special with Dr. Jo Wimpenny, Dr. Marc Bekoff, and Erica Beckwith CTC

    In this special episode, Zazie and Kristi are joined by some of the most popular guests from previous episodes to chat about all things animal behaviour, including dogs, cats, ants, penguins, and crows. We talk about: with Jo Wimpenny, PhD, author of Aesop's Animals, we talk about The Ant and the Grasshopper and how we know whether or not animals can plan ahead--plus we get exciting news about her next bookZazie and Kristi chat about their highlights of the yearwith Marc Bekoff, PhD, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals (and many other books) we talk about ethology, his research with penguins, and whether animals have ritualsZazie and Kristi chat about Holiday ritualswith Erica Beckwith CTC of A Matter of Manners Dog Training, we talk about how to get cute Holiday photos of your petsand finally we share which books we've been readingThe full show notes are available on the Companion Animal Psychology website: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/ Previous episodes with these guests: Animal minds and our favourite fables with Jo Wimpenny , PhD https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/14597289Canine emotions and perceptions with Marc Bekoff PhD, Zazie Todd PhD, and Cat Warren at Bark! Fest https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16276537Animal emotions with Marc Bekoff, PhD, at Bark! Fest https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17148973The benefits of tricks training for dogs and cats with Erica Beckwith https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/12793661Also mentioned in this episode: Preorder Beauty of the Beasts by Jo Wimpenny https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/beauty-of-the-beasts-9781399417617/Ask Me Anything about Fearful and Reactive Dogs https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/18168422Wild Rituals by Caitlin O'ConnellJane GooSend us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    1h 8m

  2. DEC 9

    Dog bites: Ask Me Anything with Carri Westgarth PhD

    Zazie and Kristi are joined by Prof. Carri Westgarth to answer your questions about dog bites, how to avoid getting bitten by a dog, and what to do if you have been bitten by a dog. We talked about: Why dogs biteHow to use management to keep people safe from dogsHow to keep children safe from dog bitesWhat to do if a loose dog charges you How to regain trust if your own dog has bitten youThe difference between predatory behaviour and fear aggressionThe systemic factors that can make a difference to the prevalence of dog bites, and why education is only part of the answerWhy Breed Specific Legislation isn't the solution to dog bitesAnd more! Also mentioned in this episode: Dr. Sophia Yin's video with loose dogs (correction: it was in Australia) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhm36dDFrk4The Care for Reactive Dogs website https://careforreactivedogs.com/Zazie's email list. Sign up here: https://companionanimalpsychology.kit.com/a88e8d1a2a Books by Prof. Carri Westgarth: The Happy Dog OwnerDog Bites: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (co-edited with Daniel Mills) Books by Zazie Todd PhD: Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog HappyBark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog Professor Carri Westgarth is Chair in Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Liverpool with a passion for understanding the relationships we have with our pets. With a background in animal behaviour and dog training she has trained in veterinary epidemiology and human public health. Her research interests focus on the implications of dog ownership for human health and wellbeing, but also how owner management of their dogs can impact dog welfare. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used to tackle her primary research questions of how to improve population health through the promotion of dog walking, and how to prevent dog bites. Her expertise on understanding and changing the behaviour of dog owners is sought by many organisations wishing to prevent dog bites and promote ‘responsible’ dog owner behaviour, such as her work as a consultant for Royal Mail. She is also a Full Member of the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors and founder of Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    56 min

  3. NOV 25

    Why you and your dog will love nose work with Bonnie Hartney

    We learn what canine scent work is, why it's so good for dogs, and how to get started--and progress--in this activity with Certified Nose Work Instructor Bonnie Hartney of Ocean Park Dog Training. We talk about: How Bonnie got started in scent work and how the activity first came aboutWhy scent work is fun for dogs and for their humansWhat to expect at a beginner classWhether scent work is for all dogsThe kinds of scent that are used, how dogs progress to searching for a target odour, and the kinds of searches they doWhat Bonnie has learned about her dogs from doing scent workHow Kristi's dog Archer is likely to do at scent work if she tries itDifferences between scent work classes and professional scent workIf you'd like to try nose work, Bonnie recommends: National Association of Canine Scent Work: https://www.nacsw.net/ Find an Instructor https://education.k9nosework.com/instructor_extsearch Online Scent Training with Scent Work University: https://www.scentworku.com/collections/foundation-sniffing-program For shy and fearful dogs with Kelly Lee; https://www.dogkindtraining.com/sniff The book Bonnie chose is Finding Flora by Elinor Florence. Bonnie Hartney is the owner and head instructor/trainer of Ocean Park Dog Training in Surrey, BC, which is AnimalKind accredited. Bonnie is a force-free, reward-based dog training professional, who brings knowledge and experience working with shelter dogs and pet dogs to advance other’s understanding of pet dog behaviour. Bonnie earned her CTC (Certificate in Training and Counselling) from a distinguished, international leader, Jean Donaldson at the Academy for Dog Trainers. To further her understanding of scent detection for pet dogs, Bonnie studied with NACSW (National Association of Canine Scent Work) founders and is a certified CNWI (Certified NoseWork Instructor) with 9 years experience teaching Nose Work. For over 25 years, Bonnie has volunteered and worked with the BC SPCA, helping shelter dogs to be adopted. Currently they have Nose Work classes every day of the week Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    41 min

  4. NOV 11

    Reactive and fearful dogs: Your questions answered

    We hosted an Ask Me Anything on anxious, fearful, and reactive dogs. You asked some incredible questions, and this is the result. We talked about: How to find the starting place for working with anxious dogsHelping dogs who are afraid of elevatorsFear of strangersHelping reactive dogs in tricky environments like apartment buildings and citiesReactivity to other dogsFear of loud noisesHow the unfortunate side effects of shock collars can persist after training is overHow to persuade people not to use aversivesand more!Also mentioned in this episode: Understanding resource guarding in dogs (and what to do about it) with Lisa Skavienski https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/12905737  (episode 8) Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for this episode and/or who attended the live event. If you'd like to see more events like this, let us know! This event was arranged to celebrate the publication of my book Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, which is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Bark-Science-Helping-Anxious-Reactive/dp/1778403328/ and Greystone Books https://greystonebooks.com/products/bark Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    57 min

  5. OCT 28

    Conservation dogs and Deadly Trade by Sara Driscoll

    We talk about the real world of conservation dogs and the fictional world of FBI dogs and conservation canines with Jen J. Danna, who writes under the name Sara Driscoll. Deadly Trade is the latest FBI K-9 mystery from author Sara Driscoll. K-9 handler Meg Jennings can never walk away from her job, even amid her Hawaiian Islands honeymoon, where she and her search-and-rescue black Lab encounter a double threat from wildlife poachers and Mother Nature. We talked about: The work of conservation dogs and what they do on the Hawaiian islandsWhy Sara was inspired to write about conservation canines in Deadly TradeHow to write about dogs as characters in their own rightThe kind of training that Hawk, the FBI canine, and the conservation dogs in the book would go through in real lifeHow the dogs influence the success of the missionHow Hawk picks up on things his handler, Meg, can'tWhy Sara chose to write about endangered birdsWhat it's like writing with a co-authorAnd as always, we ask for a book recommendation!Deadly Trade is published on 28th October 2025 and is available from all good bookstores. Sara Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna, coauthor of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries and author of the FBI K-9 Mysteries and NYPD Negotiators series. After over 30 years in infectious diseases research, Jen hung up her lab coat to concentrate on her real love—writing “exceptional” thrillers (Publishers Weekly). She is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada and lives with her husband and four rescued cats outside of Toronto, Ontario.  Learn more about Sara Driscoll on her websites, saradriscollauthor.com and https://jenjdanna.com/. Also mentioned in this episode: Away to Me by Patricia McConnell PhD will be published in February 2026 and is available for pre-order nowYou can hear Patricia McConnell talking about the book at 2024's Bark! Fest, which is available as a previous episode of this podcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/16149739Learn about the work of historical scent detection dogs in an episode with Kim Cooper and Cat Warren https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17384889 The Hawaiian crow is the ‘Alalā. Learn about the ‘Alalā project https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/alalaproject/ Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    28 min

  6. OCT 14

    Demand barking in dogs (and what to do about it)

    Demand barking is a type of barking that dogs do to get something they want, like a treat, toy, or attention. It happens because we've previously (accidentally) rewarded them for it. So what should you do if your dog is demand barking? In this episode, we talk about: How dogs bark for different reasons, including watchdog barking and barking due to fearWhat demand barking isWhy the phrase "demand barking" is actually a bit of a misnomerWe give examples of demand barking, including when Zazie's dog Pepper does thisWe share ideas and tips for what to do about itKristi talks about why she set up a course on this and what's includedAnd finally we talk about the books we're reading. The books we recommend in this episode are: Spoiler Alert: You're Gonna Die by Korttany Finn and Jacquie PurcellJunie: A Novel by Chelene Knight Also mentioned in this episode: The episode on harmonious multidog households and resource guarding in dogs https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17835523 The episode on how to help your reactive or fearful dog https://www.buzzsprout.com/2183505/episodes/17695165The Hogan's Alley Society https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/ Learn more about Kristi Benson and her courses: https://www.kristibenson.com/ Learn more about Zazie Todd: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/p/home.html Get Zazie's books from all good bookstores or here: https://www.companionanimalpsychology.com/p/books.html Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    30 min

  7. OCT 1

    How to get started in dog sports with Ayoka Bubar

    Dog sports are fun activities for you and your dog, but with so many to choose from, it can feel daunting to get started. We demystify dog sports with trainer Ayoka Bubar, a Rally Obedience judge who has taught (and tried) many different sports. She shares the details and tells us how to match sports to dogs. We talked about: Why Ayoka loves dog sportsWhy dog sports are good for dogsWe get examples: rally o, tricks training, barn hunt, and cartingWhich kinds of dogs and people these sports are best forThe best place to start if someone is interested in trying a dog sportThe role of a dog's breed in choosing a dog sportWhich dog sports are suitable for reactive and fearful dogsWhat Ayoka has learned from doing so many different dog sportsThe kind of community that is found amongst dog sports peopleAnd as always, we get a book recommendation Ayoka Bubar is an approved judge for the Canadian Association of Rally Obedience and she never passes up an opportunity to try a new sport with her Rottweilers. She has trained or trialed in Flyball, Agility, Tracking, Trick Titling, Herding, Rally Obedience, Mondioring, IGP, and Scentwork, so she is the perfect person to tell us about dog sports. As well, Ayoka believes that dog training should be fun for dogs and their humans, which we love to hear. And she likes to use positive reinforcement techniques to help handlers communicate more effectively with their dogs. Learn more and get details of classes at https://ayokabubar.com/ Ayoka on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ayoka.bubar Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theogrottendog/ Also mentioned in this episode: Bark! The Science of Making Your Dog Happy by Zazie Todd. Available wherever books are sold. Tricks classes by Erica Beckwith of A Matter of Manners Dog Training https://www.amatterofmannersdogtraining.com/ Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    32 min

  8. SEP 16

    Harmonious multidog households: How to prevent (and stop) fights

    The benefits of having more than one dog and what you should do to ensure everyone gets along. We talk about: How having another dog in the home can be beneficial for a dogHow it can cause issuesDisagreements between dogs are normal, just like people disagreeWhat kind of disagreement is okayThe mistake many people make which makes things worseHow to make sure resources aren't a source of stressHow to deal with dog fights and break them upManagement can be life-saving for multi-dog homesOn the fly training for polite interactionsAnd as always, we recommend some booksThe books recommended in this episode are: How to P*** Off Men: 109 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego by Kyle Prue Birds of Coastal British Columbia by Nancy Baron and John Acorn This episode topic was suggested by a listener. If you have ideas for things you'd like us to talk about, let us know! Send us a text to say hello! Support the show About the co-hosts: Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist. Kristi Benson's website Facebook Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat. Instagram BlueSky

    34 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.4
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

The show about how to have a better relationship with your dog or cat. Get tips on dog training, dog behaviour, cat behaviour and training, learn about the science on dogs and cats, and find out which books we're reading (animal-related and more generally). Kind, humane, reward-based training methods only. Hosted by Zazie Todd PhD and Kristi Benson CTC of Companion Animal Psychology blog. Made in Canada.

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