We have been working on a values document to agree what is important to us as a group and define the ways we want to work. We wrote this document as a team based on our experiences loosely using the method described here: https://civiclaboratory.nl/2021/04/29/choosing-lab-values/ and borrowing from other lab values documents which chimed with our…
Teenage dogs
In 2020 after literally trying to get the research published for years, we (Naomi Harvey, Becca Sommerville, Gary England & I) were able to publish our findings on Teenage dogs. We found dogs were more likely to ignore commands given by their caregiver and were harder to train at the age of eight months, when…
DogBox on the BBC
We had a bit of media coverage on DogBox and our latest study on the BBC. A short video was on BBC news website this morning and we also had a radio interview on the breakfast show of BBC Radio Newcastle. We are hoping this will help us recruit some volunteer dog owners and dogs….
DogBox
This week there was a very exciting delivery to Asher Behaviour Lab. We had DogBox delivered. DogBox is a horse box which has been customised for us into a mobile dog behaviour lab. It will let us drive to our dogs rather than them coming to us. It will let us conduct research all over…
Swiss Animal Welfare Walks&Talks
I was lucky enough to be invited to be the guest speaker for the Swiss annual Animal Welfare Research Walks and Talks in Kandersteg. This is a great meeting where PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers present their research and gain lots of feedback in a friendly environment. It was great to hear about the breadth…
The highly sensitive dog
Are you the kind of person who feels others’ pain more than those around you? Are you overwhelmed when there are too many things going on at the same time? Perhaps you are more sensitive to bright lights or loud music? Do you have deep and rich inner thoughts, perhaps a great imagination? Then you…
Tracking chickens
We’ve been working on code to track when chickens are moving. This is an early prototype, there are some bugs to work out (the code thinks there is a chicken where there isn’t one!) but its a nice start. The video will show when you open this page.
Dog Face
As humans we use our faces to communicate and express feelings. Some facial expressions are understood to be universal, allowing us to interpret the basic intentions of any human regardless of culture or language. Unsurprisingly then, we also look at animals’ faces in an attempt to know their feelings. Yet we don’t actually know how…