Recent News
Filming episode of SBS television program 'Insight'
November 3, 2014 (SBS studios, Sydney)
Next season of Insight on SBS there will be an episode called 'puppy love', which discusses the emotion and intelligence of dogs. I was lucky enough to be part of the show which filmed on November 3. The episode should air in around February 2015.
Video of my SPARCS conference presentation is now live!
November 1, 2014
The presentation I delivered at the 2014 SPARCS Conference about the personality and behaviour of dingoes, is now available online!
Click the here to view the video.
When it comes to pets in our bed, researchers not prepared to let sleeping dogs lie
October 30, 2014
Following a few published articles on human-animal co-sleeping (see earlier post), we are now conducting an Australia-wide survey of dog owners and their sleeping arrangements. The survey is being run by my honours student Peta Hazelton at CQUniversity. Click the here to see the CQU news article.
To complete the survey, please click here
Farming hazard behaviour studied
September 3, 2014 (Palmerston North, New Zealand)
I travelled to New Zealand in September to attend the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC conference (Wellington) and the Society for Risk Analysis Conference at Massey University (Palmerston North). I spoke there about livestock producers in Australia, and how they perceive risk during bushfires.
Click the here to see the story in the Manawatu Times and the corresponding CQU story here.
ABC National, series on 'Animal People'
August 3, 2014
I was recently interviewed by Sarah L'Estrange from the ABC for a series she is producing on 'Animal People'. In this part 1 of 5, I disucss the domestication of dogs and the relationship between dingoes and Indigenous Australians. Click the link to go to the ABC website and/or the Media page to listen to the interview.
Collaborations with Yale University- Canine Cognition Centre at Yale
August 1, 2014 (Dingo Discovery Centre, Victoria)
I have been working with researchers Dr Katie McAuliffe and Angie Johnston from Yale University to conduct various physical and social cognitive experiments. In June, I was able to spend a couple of weeks in their dog lab, and then was able to help them conduct their experiments at the Dingo Discovery Centre.
Click the here to see more about the work being conducted by the Canine Cognition Centre at Yale.
Human-animal co-sleeping
July 31, 2014
Along with my colleague Dr Kirrilly Thompson, we have written several papers (to be published this year) relating to human-animal co-sleeping. Prof. Hal Herzog blogged about the topic and our paper recently on Psychology Today. See his blog here. This topic has gained a lot of media attention, and I have interviewed by several radio stations on the subject. It is certainly a subject that divides animal owners. See the Media page for recordings.
Media relating to my upcoming presentation at the SPARCS 2014 conference
June 5, 2014 (Adelaide, South Australia)
In June this year, I will be speaking about the personality and behaviour of pet dingoes, and why they don't make good pets. The presentation will be streamed live on the web, so stay tuned for details if you are interested in checking it out. SPARCS is an exciting initiative that aims to promote canine science to the world. Website
Click the link to be taken to the news article (it even made the CQUni homepage!)
Television story on Channel 7's Today Tonight (Perth) on pet co-sleeping!
January 29, 2015
Channel 7 interviewed me for a feature story relating to our recent work on co-sleeping with your pets.
To view the transcript on the Today Tonight website, please click here