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  2. Not Your Average Dog: A valuable resource for those who recommend others get service dogs, or desire to train one for themselves or a loved one

    Entry #320
    Myrna Milani
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    You might think that this is a strange topic for someone whose integrated animal health, behavior and bond practice is dominated by animals with serious behavioral problems. You also might consider my recommendation that you read a reader-friendly book written for dog-trainers entitled Service...

  4. The Polarization of Human-Companion Intereactions

    Entry #310
    Myrna Milani
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    Originally published on www.mmilani.com Last month, an unusually heavy workload combined with energy-depleting weather and a certain amount of domestic chaos got me thinking–again–about the increasing trend toward polarized thinking. How does this play out in human-companion...

  5. A Perfect Human-Animal Bond Storm

    Entry #292
    Myrna Milani
    3 comments

    Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion. Arthur Koestler While many items appear on my list of enjoyable activities, reading mysteries remains a life-long favorite. This ongoing exploration of the who-what-where-when-how and why of hundreds plots and thousands of characters taught...

  6. Transport Dog Lessons

    Entry #258
    Myrna Milani
    2 comments

    I’m one of those people who enjoys optimism far more than pessimism. And because the animal transport scene sometimes really gets me down, I decided to list the benefits I’ve gained since this process began. I limit these remarks to those benefits related to transport dogs. Even...

  8. Service Dog Devaluation

    Entry #242
    Myrna Milani
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     With each passing decade, the respect with which US society views service dogs and their handlers sadly steadily declines. This poses increased problems for these animals and their handlers and those around them. Recently I saw something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime: an...

  9. Internal Clocks and the Human-Animal Bond

    Entry #237
    Myrna Milani
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    Particularly in areas with temperate climates, November is a transition month. In the northern hemisphere summer has yielded to fall and signs of winter become more common. In the US, November also signals the arrival of that abomination known as the time change. It’s an abomination for two...

  10. Does "can" mean "should"?

    Entry #236
    Myrna Milani
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    Two recen articles illustrate a disturbing trend in science: the use of domestic animals for genetic manipulation research and subtly or not-so-subtly marketing their results to the general public in one way or...

  11. The Ethology of the Bond

    Entry #234
    Myrna Milani
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    In a a commentary I wrote for my website, I explored some basic concepts of ethology as they relate to human and animal behavior. Writing that  got me thinking about the ethology of the human-animal bond. I’m the first to admit that when I was younger, my views of...

  13. Physicians "Prescribing" Pets?

    Entry #196
    Myrna Milani
    1 comments

    Call me a grinch but articles like this one about physicians prescribing pets for their patients doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I most certainly recognize the benefits healthy, well-behaved animals  can have on human physical and mental well-being. But I also know...

  14. A Therapeutic Look at Zoos

    Entry #181
    Myrna Milani
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    No doubt this series will stir a lot of controversy about a whole rage of topics related to the best and worst of the human-animal bond because it addresses so many different elements of it simultaneously. One can only hope that the result will be broader appreciation of its full range instead of...

  15. Birds and the Human Condition

    Entry #180
    Myrna Milani
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    This beautifully written opinion piece from The New York Times points out the integral role birds play in human survival, or could play if we weren't so busy doing what we consider matters of  such consequence that we miss their much more...

  17. AVMA Introduces New Animal Welfare Hub

    Entry #166
    Myrna Milani
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    Whether we share our homes with companion animals, train or depend on them to perform various functions that benefit us, work with animals used for food or fiber production or research, success means taking the animal's welfare into account along with everything else. The...

  18. Want to Broaden Your View of the HAB?

    Entry #164
    Myrna Milani
    0 comments

    Then hurry and claim your copy of Trash Animals: How we live with nature’s filthy, feral, invasive, and unwanted species. In addition to offering highly readable accounts of 17 animal species that elicit extreme human emotional reactions, these essays also provide readers with insights into...

  20. Before You Rescue

    Entry #156
    Myrna Milani
    1 comments

    Before You Rescue Because of the increasing number of rescue animals in the general companion animal population, I decided to put together a list of pre-rescue questions for those considering rescuing an animal to ask themselves. These are based on after-the-fact comments made by self-defined...