{"id":8002,"date":"2025-05-23T13:47:42","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T11:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/?p=8002"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T13:38:33","slug":"applied-ethology-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/applied-ethology-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"An applied ethologist&#8217;s take on how we care for dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I was invited to revisit one of my favorite online conferences, KIENO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that sounds like Japanese to you, know that it\u2019s an acronym for Kindness Is Essential, Not Optional. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I thought I\u2019d share the discussion I had with Holly Tett, the organizer, on the topic of How an Applied Ethologist Looks At How We Care&nbsp; For Dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025-819x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8020\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025-819x1024.png 819w, https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/Karolina-KIENO-2025.png 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In our 40-minute talk, we discussed the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>What is ethology, and why is it relevant?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pet dogs are captive \u2013 we dictate everything about their lives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How giving them agency in certain areas can improve their welfare.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why we don\u2019t need to mimic the animal\u2019s wild habitat down to the smallest detail to provide good welfare- but we should attempt to nail the three most important areas where it really does make a difference.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The difference between evolution and domestication \u2013 and why it\u2019s relevant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The hunting sequence of wolves and how it relates to dogs \u2013 and the type of enrichment that we might choose for the dog in front of us.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why the animal\u2019s feelings of safety should be our first concern.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why my jaw drops at how inappropriately we treat pet dogs in the first few months of their lives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why play is tremendously important for the developing baby.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why I think most captive, owned dogs, are traumatized orphans (I touch more on my thoughts on the timing of dog weaning <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/maternal-separation\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The surprising background of a litter of dogs that aced the Swedish Mental Test for Dogs (MH).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why the concept of \u201cdinner\u201d and \u201cbreakfast\u201d may be a disservice to the animals in our care.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1087076352?h=772eecd3e0&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s the image I discussed showing that feeding and foraging was seen around the clock (I calculated the average to about 9.3% of the time) in Indian free-ranging dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/dog-behaviour-stacked-bars-India.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"449\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/dog-behaviour-stacked-bars-India.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8003\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.108641975308642;width:610px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/dog-behaviour-stacked-bars-India.png 449w, https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/05\/dog-behaviour-stacked-bars-India-300x271.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 449px) 100vw, 449px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Figure 4b) A stacked bar graph showing proportions of different behaviours observed within activities across 24 hours of the day<\/em> <em>(with permission, Banerjee &amp; Badra, 2021).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The freebie that we discuss in the end, about how to prevent and help dogs deal with fireworks and thunder, is <a href=\"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/eliminating-firework-and-thunder-phobia-in-dogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get access to the KIENO 2025 conference (which featured this discussion) <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/pawsupdogs.samcart.com\/products\/25-kieno-all-access-pass-karolina\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>***<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wanna know more of what I\u2019m up to? I write the occasional blog post, participate in summits, webinars and masterclasses, as well as offer online courses &#8211; all on the topic of how to get happy, reasonably well behaved animals who thrive living with us weird humans. If you want to be notified when any of these things happen, just sign up for my newsletter below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banerjee &amp; Badra, 2021. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/337703105_Time-activity_budget_of_urban-adapted_free-ranging_dogs\" target=\"_blank\">Time-activity budget of urban-adapted free-ranging dogs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was invited to revisit one of my favorite online conferences, KIENO. If that sounds like Japanese to you, know that it\u2019s an acronym for Kindness Is Essential, Not Optional. &nbsp; I thought I\u2019d share the discussion I had with Holly Tett, the organizer, on the topic of How an Applied Ethologist Looks At How [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,27,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8002"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8002"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8024,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8002\/revisions\/8024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illis.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}