Friday Finds #9

It's Friday, the day of the week where I share various things that piqued my interest during the last week.

Here's a nice article on 10 Steps To Great Leadership With Your Dog from Animal Wellness magazine. It's practical, common sense stuff that you've heard before. But if you're like me, you could probably hear it again. Plus the author put it all together nicely.

The ABC's of animal speech: Not so random after all suggests that animals aren't just making random noises, but in fact have some form of language-like structure. It's an interesting article. Of course, those of us with animals have believed this all along!

By now we've all seen the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of watching people wet themselves. Jen over at Dogthusiast shared the About the World Dog Trainers’ Motivation Transparency Challenge -- which I find much more interesting. Dog Trainers around the world post videos that share their answers to three questions:

1. What will happen to my dog if she gets it right?
2. What will happen to my dog if she gets it wrong?
3. Are there less invasive alternatives to what you propose?

These are questions you should ask any trainer before entrusting your dog to them. I enjoyed the videos (especially the ones posted by non-Americans). However, when I saw some of the things the dogs on the videos were doing I felt a teeny tiny bit inadequate.

Finally, Scientific American asks Do You Know a Fat Dog When You See One? Make sure you follow the link to the YouTube video to Dogs: Their Secret Lives. It'll be an eye-opener.

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. See you here next week! -- K