Else Verbeek

Silly mood today... too many meetings 😀!

Source: buff.ly/3x99imz

Mimicking the dog's movements and maintaining a 1-meter distance can be a safer and more effective way to build trust compared to direct physical contact. This "walking dance" can foster friendship within just 15 minutes!

Many dogs struggle with meeting new people. Yet, the average dog meets between 2 and 5 strangers every single day. So how can we make introductions with strangers a little easier?

Neither do we need to prevent all negative experiences. I think it's the balance between negative and positive experiences over the long-term that determines welfare. When the balance tips towards the positive side, we have given our dogs a life worth living

The process of achieving a goal makes dogs feel good, be it retrieving a favourite toy, socialising or learning something new. However does this mean that we need to let dogs do everything they want? No, only within safe boundaries.

Respecting and nurturing a dog's internal desires is just as important as setting boundaries for their well-being. Often, we’re so focused on training our dogs to be well behaved citizens in our human world. #dogtraining #dogbehaviour

It is important to provide your dog with a range of behaviours that they want to engage in. If we restrict them too much, there may not be sufficient weight on our positive side of the balance.

We can take into account a range of different welfare measures: body language and facial expressions, health and whether they are able to express happy doggy behaviours regularly. Now we can make up the balance of positive vs negative welfare over a longer period of time.

Realistically, we can’t avoid all stress and fear, so how do we deal with them? We can consider welfare in the short-term (minutes or hours), but also in the long-term (weeks or even months). Then we can look at the balance of positive and negative experiences.

Interesting paper!

New paper published! ✅ Fresh silage reduced the occurrence of gastric lesions in the stomach mucosa but did not affect the number of skin lesions. ✅ Feeding fresh silage can improve pig welfare. buff.ly/4821vUN #animalscience #animalwelfare

@roosvonk Ik verbaas me nog steeds waarom zoveel mensen dit niet weten? Dit is standaard in alle landen, ook in NL. Er zijn inmiddels alternatieven waar de kalfjes wel bij de moeder mogen blijven, of een pleegmoeder krijgen. Maar voor havermelk hoeven helemaal geen koeien te lijden!

Arm dier: net geboren, volkomen hulpeloos, afhankelijk van moeder. En kijk wat er dan gebeurt. Een heleboel leed in de wereld waar we niets aan kunnen doen. Maar hier kunnen we wél iets aan doen. Dit gebeurt omdat mensen de moedermelk van dat kalfje willen.