Dr. Myrna Milani

In addition to her behavior and bond practice, Dr. Myrna Milani writes and presents seminars on the practical implications of the interaction of animal health, behavior and the human-animal bond. She also writes a bimonthly column for the Canadian Veterinary Journal and serves on the editorial board of the Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative.

Articles by Dr. Myrna Milani

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Human-companion animal behavioral rituals

  Thursday, December 03, 2020

  Human-companion animal behavioral rituals follow a similar pattern every time the animal displays them voluntarily or in response to some cue from the owner. The human-animal sequences that carry potent positive emotional charges may play a significant role in human and animal well-being — for better or worse. For example, all practitioners are aware of the positive physical and behavioral benefits of exercise routines — such as long walks or play sessions — that owners engage in daily. However, other times people unwittingly may create behavioral rituals that may complicate their and their animals’ lives months or even years later.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: The HIREC effect and companion animal behavior

  Wednesday, October 07, 2020

  Despite its lack of notoriety like some animal behavioral concepts, human-induced rapid evolutionary change, or HIREC, possesses the potential to alter wild and companion animal behavior in many ways. As wildlife scientists became increasingly concerned about the effects of climate change and habitat destruction on wild animal populations, some researchers chose to study the behavior effects on wild animals who couldn’t or wouldn’t vacate habitats overtaken by humans. In a relatively short time, these animals not only survived in these environments but thrived.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Client perceptions of animal behavioral problems

  Friday, August 07, 2020

  When veterinarians begin integrating the treatment of behavioral problems into their practices, it may surprise them how client perceptions of these problems may differ compared to medical ones. Consequently, these client perceptions may blindside practitioners and sabotage problem behavior resolutions. Here are some of the most problematic ones I’ve encountered.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Human beliefs about animal medical vs. behavioral problems

  Wednesday, March 11, 2020

  Ethology, by definition, is the study of animal behavior in the animal's natural environment. For the companion animal, that environment consists of the owner's home, property and wherever that person routinely takes the animal and the associated animal health, behavior and bond components. Within that complex environment, owner beliefs about animal medical vs. behavioral problems can differ considerably.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Ethology- vs. problem-based behavioral histories

  Tuesday, January 14, 2020

  Despite the growing concern about the limitations of the problem-oriented approach and the restrictive thinking it fosters, most people take a problem-oriented approach to their companion animals’ behavior. They focus on the problem instead of the on bigger picture. This variation on the theme of silo-thinking may make getting a comprehensive ethology-based history difficult when perceived companion animal behavior problems arise.

• Zugunruhe and companion animal behavior

  Thursday, November 14, 2019

  Prior to migration, animals that migrate experience multiple physiological and behavioral changes. Ethologists adopted the German word zugunruhe, which means "migratory restlessness" to describe this phenomenon. Aside from dog and cat owners who head south in the winter with their pets and back north in the summer, we seldom think of migration as a factor in companion animal behavior. When most of us think of migration, we think of birds and monarch butterflies making their semi-annual flights. However, many species migrate.

• The companion animal behavior implications of R- and K-species orientations

  Friday, September 13, 2019

  Can wild animal ethology concepts like R and K species help us understand better companion animal behavior? To answer that question, we first need to know what R and K species are. Wild R species live in harsh, unpredictable environments. They produce large numbers of offspring that mature rapidly and require minimal to no parental care. Most of these animals only mate once and die young. Compare them to K species, who live in more stable environments with sufficient but limited resources for which animals must compete.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: When bonds that worked no longer do

  Wednesday, July 03, 2019

  One of the basic tenets in ethology reminds us that we can say nothing about what an animal’s behavior means unless we know the context in which it occurs. But what does that actually mean? In an effort not to overwhelm my clients, I usually define context as the recognition of what preceded the perceived problem behavior, the behavior itself, and what follows it. "What follows it" includes their responses to the animal’s behavior. However, as a clinician, I also must acknowledge that context involves a lot more.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Seasonal companion animal behaviors

  Wednesday, May 01, 2019

  With the arrival of spring, the number of calls regarding animals displaying problem behaviors often increases. Both cats and dogs may become more aggressive toward members of their own species, including those with whom they live. Multiple natural cycles of varying length contribute to the behavioral unrest. In the wild and free-roaming domestic animal populations, the physiological and behavioral changes associated with some of these cycles first support the territorial displays that occur in the early spring. But how does spaying and neutering affect companion animal responses to these same events?

• Ethology and veterinary practice: The behavior-territory-history connection

  Thursday, March 28, 2019

  It's difficult to analyze any perceived problem behavior without recognizing the role the animal's territory plays in it. This difficulty occurs because establishing and protecting the territory is a top animal priority. Moreover, this includes the mental and emotional as well as the physical space. If animals don't know where they fit in relative to any people or other animals in their space, their territory is no more secure than a space with physical hazards they must learn to negotiate safely or avoid completely. When people think about their pet's territory, though, they often think about it in general terms — e.g., only in the here and now, and strictly as it relates to their home and yard.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Shadowy feline behaviors, continued

  Thursday, February 07, 2019

  Last month's brief considered two normal behaviors that create problems for some people. It began with a discussion of cats who knew all the behaviors involved in proper litter box elimination, but never properly connected them. The brief ended with a brief introduction to feline sucking behaviors related to premature weaning that also may create problems. This month's brief looks specifically at cats who suck on people. As with many unusual companion animal behaviors for which personal experience and my veterinary education hadn’t prepared me, my introduction to it came from a new client.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Shadowy feline behaviors

  Wednesday, January 16, 2019

  My first encounter with an animal displaying shadows of normal behavior occurred early in my veterinary medical career. During a routine examination/vaccination appointment, a client told me she had to teach her Himalayan cat how to use the litter box when he was a young kitten. "Even though he was 8 weeks old when I got him, he seemed a lot younger than that," she explained. "But because he was eating on his own, the breeder said he was ready to go." The client also noticed that her new kitten did something odd every time he used the litter box.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Behavior and bond challenges in multi-dog households

  Thursday, December 06, 2018

  Last month’s article considered the inverse relationship between the amount of energy an animal expends when displaying a perceived problem behavior and the animal’s level of confidence. Consequently, more naturally submissive animals who find themselves in protective positions beyond their capacity may expend more energy barking, snarling, and posturing than more fit animals in that same environment. At first glance it may seem like it would be more difficult to convince these dogs to give up those behaviors. But in my experience, this often isn’t the case.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Behaviorism vs. companion animal ethology

  Tuesday, November 06, 2018

  One of the most challenging aspects of my work is surmounting the communication challenges created when B.F. Skinner and others referred to their laboratory method of altering animals’ behavior as "behaviorism" and themselves as "animal behaviorists." This left all those who were studying animal behavior in the animals’ natural environments without the words to describe the work generations of them had used for years. History is vague as to why those in the latter group chose to adopt the nearly incomprehensible term "ethology" instead making a fuss about this misappropriation of terminology.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: The (pseudo-)protective dog

  Wednesday, October 03, 2018

  Say the words "protective dog" to most companion animal veterinary practitioners, and most will know exactly what that means. Say "protective dog" to people outside the profession, and they will react the same way. The problem is that all these people may feel so sure of their definition that it never dawns on them that others may not share it. In reality, the mental images those two words elicit may vary a great deal. Moreover, this image has changed as a function of human and canine time and place.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Multipurpose puppy behavioral packaging

  Tuesday, September 11, 2018

  When animal lovers even think about puppies, most can feel themselves getting softer. For some that may mean smiling. For others, the thought may elicit memories of puppies past or present with whom they shared their lives or encountered over the years. Although they may love adult dogs very much, most agree there was something special about those babies. Even people who normally ignore dogs often will admit that they find most puppies appealing. But obviously, evolution didn’t result in young animals whose looks appealed to humans. Or did it? Yes and no.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Those confounding variables!

  Wednesday, August 08, 2018

  If you read a lot of animal behavioral studies, you quickly discover that researchers and veterinary practitioners live in two different worlds. Researchers have the luxury of eliminating or ignoring all but a single variable. They also can limit their study to a small population of carefully selected animals. Study environments may include laboratory settings that involve only those elements essential to the study. When studies are conducted on animals living in human households, all the variables in that household are disregarded except those the researcher deems important.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Ethology of feline play

  Tuesday, July 03, 2018

  The play that occurs in cats with behavioral problems may differ from that which occurs in dogs. However, determining exactly how it differs can be challenging thanks to differences in canine and feline behavioral evolution as well as in the evolution of the human-canine and human-feline bonds. Although all veterinary practitioners and a significant number of cat owners recognize the hazards of medically treating cats like little dogs, comparable awareness regarding differences in species behavior may vary from person to person.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Ethology of canine play

  Tuesday, June 05, 2018

  Unless they think about it, most people feel convinced that they recognize animal play when they see it. But when they think about it, some also will recall at least one occasion when something about the play struck them as off for some reason. Whether this is true depends on the kind of play and the context in which it’s displayed. My first inkling of this occurred when I serendipitously included the question, "How does your dog/cat play?" on my pre-consultation canine and feline questionnaires. I quickly discovered that this simple, open-ended question revealed a great deal about how those animals with behavioral problems play — or don't.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Rock hounds

  Thursday, May 03, 2018

  If you practice veterinary medicine long enough, chances are you’ll encounter at least one rock-eating dog. But you probably won’t ask yourself why dogs eat rocks in the first place unless ethology interests you. If not, you’ll focus on the surgery and the animal’s recovery. However, if you wonder why a specific dog eats rocks or take a more ecological view of medical problems in general, then your view of these animals as mentally deficient may change like mine did.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Nocturnal behavior

  Monday, April 09, 2018

  ​Just as clients may think medical problems occur out of the blue, some may perceive behavioral ones materializing that same way. Among these are animal behaviors that keep people up at night.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: The worst of times for transport ethology

  Thursday, March 08, 2018

  ​​Last month's brief began a discussion of the ethological challenges practitioners may see thanks to the increased number of transport animals that show up in their practices. Jake, the canine subject of that brief, represented the best of transport ethology times.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: The best of times for transport ethology

  Monday, February 05, 2018

  For veterinary practitioners with an interest in companion animal behavior, these are the best of times and worst of times. Thanks to the increase in intra- and international transportation rescue animals, they’re the best of times because practitioners may encounter dogs and cats (to a lesser degree) displaying behaviors seldom seen in purebreds or animals of local origin from long-established companion lines. These are the worst of times because these animals often arrive with little or no history. Additionally, any history they arrive with may be incomplete or unreliable.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: How much space does a cat need?

  Tuesday, January 09, 2018

  ​Many people new to sharing their homes with dogs or cats will turn to their new pet's veterinarian for information about how to keep their animals healthy. In response, practitioners often supply information about and schedules for vaccines, fecals, heartworm and other preventive testing, flea and tick control, appropriate time for spay or neuter, and other concerns related to animal physical health. Any mention of preventive behavioral health may be limited to recommending some sort of training classes for puppies or unruly dogs.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Specialists and generalists

  Friday, December 01, 2017

  ​Ethologists who study wild animal behavior use the terms generalist and specialist to describe two different survival strategies. Generalists can thrive in a wide range of environmental conditions and on a varied diet. Specialists, on the other hand, only can thrive in limited environmental conditions and have specific dietary needs.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Comprehensive behavioral analysis

  Monday, November 06, 2017

  ​In his latest book, "​Behave: The Biology of Humans at our Best and Worst," neuroendocrinologist and primatologist Robert Sapolsky does something those of us dealing with animals with problem behaviors and their people do every day. To use a concept many of us learned in driver's education, he gives readers the big picture.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Companion animal behavior-related vocabulary

  Monday, October 16, 2017

  ​In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass," Alice and Humpty Dumpty become involved in an unproductive discussion of semantics during which Humpty Dumpty scornfully notes, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." While it may seem that his philosophy has nothing to do with companion animal behavior, the status of companion animal behavior vocabulary suggests otherwise.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Emotional contagion

  Monday, September 11, 2017

  The quality and intensity of the human-animal bond plays a much more significant role in the analysis and resolution of companion animal problem behaviors than it does in studies of wild animals in their natural environments.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Animal communication evolving

  Monday, July 31, 2017

  ​​Last month's article considered some general features of animal communication. This month's piece will focus on specific displays individual animals may use to communicate.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Key features of animal communication

  Thursday, July 06, 2017

  Although the behavioral repertoires members of each animal species use to communicate with their conspecifics may differ greatly, all forms of animal communication share some key features. And sometimes not realizing this can get practitioners, their staffs and clients as well as their animals into trouble.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Animal behavior and human perception

  Tuesday, June 06, 2017

  In previous articles, I've mentioned that we can say nothing about what an animal's behavior means unless we know the context in which is occurs. In the case of companion animals, a key contextual element is the owners' and others' emotional perception of those animals.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Feline maternal-human mismatches

  Friday, May 05, 2017

  ​​Last month's brief opened with a scenario common to many practitioners: the client who rescues a kitten naively thinking that bottle-feeding will fulfill the kitten's maternal needs. Then, I looked at the opposite end of the feline nursing spectrum: the range of behavioral benefits conferred by a prolonged nursing strategy on kittens, queens and a population of free-roaming cats drawn together by a reliable food supply.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: More than mother’s milk

  Thursday, April 06, 2017

  This is the time of year when veterinarians, shelter workers and animal control folks often get more calls from kind-hearted people who lack ethological knowledge. This leads to a three-step process that can create behavioral problems for animals.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Transport behavior-related trends

  Thursday, March 02, 2017

  ​Thoughts about the status of contemporary dog behavior elicits thoughts of Janus, the mythological two-headed god. Among his many duties, he stood in doorways with one face keeping an eye on what went on inside the home and the other focused on the world outside.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Telltale signs of human fear

  Monday, January 30, 2017

  ​Think about normal and problem companion animal behavior. Of all the biological variables that contribute to it, which attribute has the greatest influence? Some would say the animal's species- and breed-specific genetic makeup has the greatest impact. Others might place more emphasis on maternal care or nutrition. Relatively few, however, will mention the quality of the biological and behavioral effects of the human-animal bonds (HAB) that form between an animal and the people with whom the animal lives and interacts.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Human emotions and animal behavior

  Thursday, January 05, 2017

  Changes in animal behavior often trigger human awareness of existing or impending animal medical problems. However, how a specific person responds to these behaviors depends on the quality of the bond between that person and the animal.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Implications of Russian fox studies

  Friday, December 02, 2016

  ​Much of what we know about the physiological and behavioral effects of domestication comes from the ​farm fox studies conducted by a Russian team of geneticists, led by Dmitre Belyaev and Lyudmila Trut. A mere 40 years and 30-35 generations of breeding wild foxes strictly for friendliness toward humans resulted in animals with behaviors closer to that of domestic dogs than their wild cohorts. More importantly, these studies offer four valuable insights for veterinary practitioners.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Behavioral variations on an anatomical theme

  Monday, October 31, 2016

  ​As I learned more about the interaction of animal behavior, health and the bond, my disenchantment with the canine "sit" command steadily grew. Eventually, I eliminated it completely from my patients' behavioral repertoire. Then and now, it serves as another good reminder that there's no such thing as just a medical or behavioral or bond problem. Change one, and the other components will change.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Canine and feline sexual politics

  Thursday, September 29, 2016

  ​Even though practitioners readily acknowledge that gonads aren't the only source of male and female hormones in the animal body, the belief that spaying and neutering eliminates sexual behaviors persists. Even if practitioners don't necessarily believe this, they may not be able to convince their clients otherwise.

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Tricky treat dilemmas

  Tuesday, August 30, 2016

  A fairly common event in my behavioral practice involves clients who handle their animals' timid or fear-based aggressive displays by having the person the animal perceives as a threat feed the animal treats. When asked to think about how this human response could affect the animal's long-term behavior, some experience a light bulb moment and exclaim, "I'm asking those people to reward the behavior! No wonder Zippy still acts that way!"

• Ethology and veterinary practice: Effect of person

  Wednesday, July 27, 2016

  Why could putting a "Watch!" or "Aggressive!" label on a patient file backfire if the file included no supporting behavioral and bond information? This takes us to one of the unique factors that characterizes the natural environment of companion animals compared to their wild counterparts: they live in a human-controlled environment. However, long before homosapiens entered the scene, wild animals routinely shared their environments with animals belonging to different and similar species.

• Nonverbal animal communication: The fear fight response

  Tuesday, June 28, 2016

  ​The fear-fight response appears last in the discussion of fear responses, even though the possibility of an animal opting for this response ranks first in most veterinarians' minds. However, it is the last option the majority of animals will choose.

• Nonverbal animal communication: The fear flight response

  Tuesday, June 07, 2016

  Whereas fear freeze responses seek to limit physical activity as much as possible, the goal of the flight response is to put as much distance between the perceived threat and the self as possible. As with the freeze response, flee responses may take different forms.

• Nonverbal animal communication: The fear freeze response

  Monday, May 09, 2016

  Fear plays such a crucial survival function in all animals — including humans — that the physiological and behavioral changes associated with it are deeply rooted. Equally deeply rooted is the ability of many animals to detect fear-related changes in humans. Not so deeply rooted in some of us is the ability to detect fear-related changes in them.

• Nonverbal animal communication: The homecoming

  Tuesday, April 05, 2016

  Imagine yourself interacting with an adorable but apprehensive puppy brought in for a first examination. Ask yourself if what you see and hear communicates your total confidence in yourself and the animal to deal with whatever life dishes out. Or does it communicate something else?

• Companion chemistry: When the ‘rescue’ bond has a negative charge

  Monday, March 21, 2016

  Practitioners routinely sprinkle their client communication with words that carry a particular emotional change for themselves, their clients or both. Sometimes both assign the same charge to the same word; other times the same word may carry different charges for each.

• When veterinary science ‘bytes’ bite back

  Tuesday, March 08, 2016

  Most veterinarians recognize that science is an ongoing, often dull and repetitive process during which subsequent findings may support or refute those of previous studies. Most also recognize that science reporting by the news media may present study findings in audience-friendly "bytes" with attention-grabbing headlines that may create false impressions.