Koven Moodley - Smart Pet Behaviour

20/08/2025

WORK WITH WILDLIFE DAY 3 - MONTE BIRD PARK

Today was indeed a treat - we got to analyze the emotions and behaviours of a Two-toed Sloth named Brooke with the aim of improving her life in captivity. What an utterly amazing animal!

Some Sloth Facts:
1. They live for about 20-25 years
2. Sloths can take up to a month to digest 1 lettuce leaf!
3. They p**p once a month
4. They sleep for about 16-17 hours a day
5. They spend about 99% of their time on trees or structures above ground to stay safe
6. They eat while hanging upside down. Actually, upside down is their default preferred position
7. They groom by scratching themselves
8. They are easily stressed by human interactions so no selfies please
9. They are great swimmers but only if they have to
10. They have extra vertebrae in their necks to be able to turn their heads 270 degrees
11. They have the best fun by hanging upside down

Today Brooke was given extra enrichment activities designed to activate the brain's SEEKING system. She loved exploring new spots to find food and even played with a puzzle toy. She is content with her current location and care so we just gave her a few more enrichment opportunities to shake things up. Thankfully she has a low cognitive bias which means that she approaches all new activities with optimism and curiosity. At some point she even moved quiet fast to explore the new stuff we added...she was clearly excited and intrigued!

Working with wildlife is so different. We have to learn to work with them and their environments in the least intrusive manner as possible - so definitely no touching or petting them (no matter how cute they look).



Photography is not allowed in the enclosures and back of house to limit stress on the animals, so here is a Google stock pic of a Two-toed Sloth 👇🏽

19/08/2025

WORK WITH WILDLIFE DAY 2 - JOHANNESBURG ZOO

Michelle, the Giraffe, loved the lucerne and browse bag that we made for her....👌❤️. It was one of the new enrichment activities that we introduced to them. The zoo Enrichment Office indicated that our ideas and recommendations were accepted and they would plan it into the budget for the enclosure upgrade 🙌

Working with flight animals who have a negative cognitive bias is a bit tricky when introducing enrichment...we have to go really slow or we run the risk of spooking them. They could run off and hurt themselves or we could recieve a hard kick 🙈

Working with wildlife is so interesting and completely different from my daily work with dogs and cats. I learned a lot about girrafes in captivity in the last 2 days and am looking forward to the parrots, cockatoos and elephants in the next few days.

See comments for more videos...

18/08/2025

WORK WITH WILDLIFE DAY 1 - JOHANNESBURG ZOO

This week is dedicated to building my knowledge and understanding of the behaviour and the emotional lives of girrafes, bird life and elephants, so I'm taking a break from dogs and cats until next Tuesday. Study sites include a zoo, a bird park and an elephant sanctuary.

I had a challenging day trying to understand giraffe (Michelle and Buhle) behaviour today, at the Johannesburg Zoo...we had to analyze their Mood State, Hedonic Budget, Emotionality and conduct a Reinforcement Assessment using the MHERA models to be able to design an enrichment programme for them. Tomorrow we implement what we built in the afternoon and they (the Giraffes) will decide whether we pass or not🙏

17/08/2025

Let's appreciate ALL cats everyday but especially appreciate the black cats today. There is so much superstition around black cats related to ignorance, magic and witchcraft. This places them low on adoption lists or puts ferals and strays in danger. Black cats are beautiful and loving and they deserve as much love and attention as any other cat.

Please post pics of your black cat in the comments so we can appreciate them ❤️

17/08/2025

Nature and nurture are both important in a dog's life...

15/08/2025

These 'Walkie Talkies' are for my doggos tomorrow as part of their enrichment calender...hopefully after this activity (stuffed into a Kong with mashed pumpkin and chicken livers and then frozen), they will do less Walkies (running) and a whole lot lessTalkies (barking)! 😊

14/08/2025

Memberships with:
PPG
Cabti
UK Dog Charter
International Companion Animal Network

Force-free
Positive reinforcement
Ethical
Shock free
Welfare based

13/08/2025

When fear rules...

The term "amygdala hijack" was coined by psychologist Daniel Goleman, and it perfectly describes what happens to a dog when they react. During a hijack, the emotional brain completely overwhelms the rational brain.

This explains why our dogs will not take a treat, cannot hear their name being called and why training at this point is the last thing we should be doing.

Think about the last time you were truly terrified. Maybe you thought you saw someone breaking into your house, or you nearly had a car accident. In that moment, could you have solved a maths problem? Recited your phone number? Of course not.

Your thinking brain was offline, overwhelmed by your survival instincts.

This is exactly what happens to your dog during a reactive episode. When you try to "get your dog's attention" or "make them sit" during a reaction, they're asking you to access a part of your dog's brain that's temporarily switched off.

It was never going to work, yet we end up feeling like we have failed because we tried.

This is often why working with our dogs in this way not only fails but can also affect our mental health and wellbeing.

13/08/2025

Oh the irony...😅

13/08/2025

Reactivity can't be solved by flooding a dog with the very trigger that brings on his reactivity

“Exposure Group Training” Why It Can Do More Harm Than Good
If you have a dog that barks, lunges, growls, or otherwise reacts to triggers (people, other dogs, bikes, etc.), it’s natural to want to “socialize them” or “get them used to it.”

Unfortunately, balance training or group exposure sessions (where reactive dogs are placed near multiple triggers with corrections for reacting) can actually make things worse for your dog.

Here’s why:
1. Stress Overload – When a reactive dog is surrounded by triggers, their stress level skyrockets. High stress shuts down learning and reinforces fear instead of reducing it.
2. Association Backfire – If a dog sees another dog and then gets a lead correction, shock, or other aversive, they may start associating other dogs with pain or discomfort. This can deepen reactivity.
3. “Shut Down” – Dogs that appear quiet after repeated corrections are often not “cured” — they’re suppressing their behavior out of fear. Inside, the emotions causing reactivity are still there (or worse).
4. Loss of Trust – Punishing a dog for expressing fear can make them less likely to trust you as their safe person, which is vital for progress.

But I get why it may seem appealling. Back in the 90s (30 years ago) before i had studied dog behaviour I watched Cesar Millan programmes and thought he was fantastic. He took reactive dogs back to his "pack" and abracadabra they were cured. He was amazing right?
Wrong 😢
What César Millan was doing, was flooding: exposing reactive dogs to overwhelming levels of their trigger (other dogs, strangers, skateboards, etc.) until they physically stopped reacting.

On the surface, it looks like a “cure” because the lunging and barking stop quickly. But internally, the dog was just shutting down (a stress response sometimes called learned helplessness) rather than actually feeling calm or safe. The root emotional state — fear, insecurity, over-arousal — remained untouched.

This kind of suppression can backfire later because:

The underlying anxiety hasn’t been resolved, just masked.

If the dog encounters a similar trigger in a less controlled setting, the suppressed reaction can resurface — sometimes even stronger.

It can increase the dog’s stress levels overall, leading to new problem behaviours elsewhere.

Its hard to believe that today in the year 2025 some trainers still use these out of date methods

Modern behaviourists and trainers using force-free, positive methods focus on counterconditioning and desensitization — changing the dog’s emotional response to triggers, not just their outward behaviour. That way, the “quiet” isn’t a shutdown; it’s genuine relaxation.

Building calm, positive associations at a pace your dog can handle.

One-on-one work before carefully staged neutral exposures.

Bottom line: If your dog is reactive, skip the “boot camp” group setups and focus on evidence-based, humane training that changes emotions — not just masks behavior.
Your dog’s progress depends on safety, trust, and the right pace. ❤️

11/08/2025

Not aggression. Not reactivity. Not dominance. Not bullying. Just communication.

"Back off dude, I need space!"

11/08/2025

Too many misconceptions about anxiety meds...

Myth Busters 7: Anxiety Meds Just Sedate Your Dog – False!

Anti-anxiety medications are designed to reduce emotional arousal, not knock your dog out. While some pets may seem a bit sleepy at first, this is often just relaxation or better sleep. Your dog should still be able to walk, play, eat, and eliminate normally. If sedation lasts or seems excessive, the dosage or medication should be reassessed with your veterinarian. The goal isn't sedation, it's helping your dog feel safe any more relaxed.