OzVet

On my current site, I recently published a review of Don’t Shoot the Dog, Karen Pryor’s awesome book about clicker training, animal training, and behavior analysis.
I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in animal behavior and animal training should read this review and read this book. Karen Pryor totally changed the way I [...]

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I’ve started a new blog…I’m no longer in vet school, so it doesn’t make much sense to have a blog about being in vet school!
I’m currently taking some classes part time in the behavior analysis department at the University of North Texas and they’re going excellently so far. I also have a goldfish I bought [...]

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So I’m getting a turtle. A Red Eared Slider to be exact.
I’m probably the only vet student in the history of the world who doesn’t have a pet. (Note: This is an utterly false statement, I know of at least a few of my classmates who don’t have animals).
When I signed my lease [...]

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I recently realized that Dr. Deb Bennett has updated her classic article on skeletal development in horses. I was searching for it and most of the internet links I found for it were bad links. So, I ended up on her main website, were I was pleasantly surprised to see that the article had been [...]

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Here’s what a racehorse use to have to be fit enough to do:
1. The horses shall run four miles (over undulating terrain, on turf), and the winer shall be recorded.
2. They shall then rub for half an hour.
3. They shall then run a second heat of four miles, and rub for half an hour.
4. They [...]

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Dogs are fairly easy to train, as are horses. However, I find many people believe many other types of animals (especially small animals) are “dumb” or “impossible to train.” However, with proper motivation (HINT: food is usually a good motivator) most species are actually quite easy to train. In addition, training is good because is [...]

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I go to the coolest gas station ever.
Seriously.
Here’s some of their signs.
SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Dara’s Fast Lane”, url: “http://blog.ozvet.net/2008/12/daras-fast-lane/” });

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Dr. Patricia B. McConnell, in “The Other End of the Leash,” discusses why dogs might or might not roll in dead things:
Others have suggested that, as predators, dogs are trying to camouflage their scent to prey animals by smelling like something else. I suspect this just makes them smell like a dog or wolf [...]

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Most everyone knows that it doesn’t do any good to beat a dead horse. No matter how hard you beat, you’re not going to be able to convince him to load up into the trailer, jump that 2 foot oxer, or perform any other sort of task.
(Most) people these days also realize that it doesn’t [...]

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Yesterday we bought Ginger (my parent’s Brittany) a Buster Cube. (Here’s a really good picture of a Buster Cube). It’s a medium-sized plastic cube with a hole at one end. Inside the cube is a maze-like path created by projections of plastic. How it works is you (the owner) put dog food or treats inside [...]

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