Please stop referring to other animals as „therapists“

„Going for a walk or cuddling with my dog is like a free therapy session“, is something I hear a lot from colleagues and friends. The sentiment behind calling other animals „therapists“ is understandable. There have been countless days I’ve been thankful to have dogs motivating me to go for a walk or nuzzling their way into my arms on …

„Anthroz… what?“ Getting a degree in anthrozoology

Sitting under an apple tree, we watched our horse friends picking the tips off of fresh, juicy, tender grass shoots, as they tapped their haunches with their tails to flick the flies away. My friend and I had just graduated high school and, naturally, we knew exactly what we wanted in life. I looked down at the blueberry I was …

Why Do We Live With Animals?

Why do we live with animals? How would we change our behaviours and practices if we answered that questions honestly? Over ten years ago, at a large seminar for individuals and their horse companions, a world-famous horseman asked just that: Why do you have horses? Why do you ride them and what drew you to that concept in the first …

Stop and eat the grass

Perhaps we need a different name for going outside with our dogs. Going for a „walk“ paints that picture: walk and walk some more and if you’re not walking, well, hurry up and stop sniffing the ground! But, for most dogs, this is the only time they are able to be outside and do as they wish. Not to mention …

Your mental cinema

In Germany, people might talk about their „Kopfkino“. When roughly translated, this means „mental cinema“. We all have a mental cinema playing in our minds – the films are our personal experiences and expectations of how situations will unfold. Most of us don’t actively decide what we play in our mental cinema and this can have detrimental effect on how we …

Exercising my dog?

(Photo by Alessio Albi) In the world of dog-owners, two continents have formed: those who push their dogs to physical exhaustion daily and those who, well, don’t do that. There is an ocean, or a middle-road between these two extremes which I’d like to address with this post. Some research states that dogs require around 20 hours of sleep per day. …

Wolves as Spirit Guides: Reality or Romanticism?

Here is another paper which I wrote for my Masters in Anthrozoology and thought you guys might find interesting. Tell me what your thoughts are on this topic in the comments!   How does a woman’s experience finding psychological well-being from a wolf (Canis lupus) spirit guide contrast to that of a woman following a similarly romanticised quest with a …

Is musicality a uniquely human trait?

Here is another paper which I wrote for my Masters in Anthrozoology and thought you guys might find interesting. Tell me what your thoughts are on this topic in the comments!   The nature-culture dichotomy has been partly fueled by the belief that humans are unique in their musicality. A simple definition of musicality can be difficult to agree upon, …

Our Need for Perfection

Photo by: Jessica Trinh Sometimes it feels as though the world is suffocating from a thick need for perfection. Social media is no help – we see the highlight reels of everyone’s lives constantly. TV shows, Facebook, Instagram… most of it is very staged and only a rare few will share their mistakes or „low points“ with the world. So even …