The Pawsitive Post in Conversation by Companion Animal Psychology

Animal Emotions with Marc Bekoff, PhD, at Bark! Fest

Zazie Todd & Kristi Benson Episode 32

When The Emotional Lives of Animals was first published in 2007, it was a gamechanger for its exploration of animal emotions and cognition. Now, a second edition has been published to bring us up to date on all the new science of animal emotions. Marc Bekoff joins us in this webinar to talk about animals’ experiences of joy, empathy, grief, anger, and embarrassment. You’ll never see animals the same way again.

We talked about:

  • What Marc Bekoff was hoping to do when he wrote the first edition of this book in 2007, and why he wrote a second edition
  • Bekoff says, "It is no longer radical to recognize, respect, and want to protect the emotional lives of animals.” We talk about how people can recognize, respect, and protect animal emotions
  • What he looks out for when he watches dogs run around and play at the dog park
  • Examples of sorrow and empathy in non-human animals
  • Bekoff's research on wild canids including wolves
  • What it was like to create the book, Jane Goodall at 90
  • Plus Marc did a reading from the book and we were all captivated! The books are available from all good bookstores.

To learn more about Marc Bekoff, visit his website: https://marcbekoff.com/

You can contact him via the website to ask to join his email list, which is mentioned in the recording.

Also mentioned in this episode is Thinking Like a Wolf by Rick McIntyre.

Send us a text to say hello!

About the co-hosts:

Kristi Benson is an honours graduate of, and now on staff with, the prestigious Academy for Dog Trainers and has her PCBC-A from the Pet Professional Accreditation Board. She lives in beautiful northern British Columbia, where she helps dog guardians through online classes. She is also a northern anthropologist.

Kristi Benson's website Facebook


Zazie Todd, PhD, is the award-winning author of Bark! The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog, Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy and Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. She is the creator of the popular blog, Companion Animal Psychology, and has a column at Psychology Today. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC, with her husband, a dog and a cat.

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