Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

by Dr. Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson

Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, New York, NY, 2009
ISBN 978-0-15101489-7

(In United Kingdom, book title is "Making Animals Happy" and ISBN is: 978-0-7475-9714-8)

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Table of Contents and Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 1: What do Animals Need?

Explains how core emotional systems discovered during neuroscience research are the drivers of normal and abnormal behaviors. This chapter shows that animals really do have emotions.

Read the entire first chapter

Chapter 2: A Dog's Life

Reviews studies on dog behavior and contains lots of practical information to help people understand their dogs. Tips on dog socialization, dog behavior, and choosing a dog.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Cats

Contains lots of information on cat behavior, training cats, and solving behavior problems. Tips on preventing fear at the veterinarian's office, litter box problems, and aggression between cats.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 3

Chapter 4: Horses

Horses are sensory based thinkers and they often fear somethign they were looking at or hearing when a painful or frightening event occurs. Learn how to use positive reenforcement and clicker training with your horse.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 4

Chapter 5: Cows

Learn about low stress handling that improves cattle welfare. Cattle are often "curiously afraid" of new novel stimuli. They will approach a coat hanging on a fence and run away if it moves. The core emotional systems of seeking and fear are being activated.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 5

Chapter 6: Pigs

Contains information on many animal welfare related subjects ranging from the importance of good husbandry and stockmanship to how to successfully transfer the results of behavioral research out to farms and the livestock industry.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 6

Chapter 7: Chickens and other Poultry

Discusses a variety of poultry welfare issues ranginf from production practices to slaughter. The author also covers implementing animal welfare auditing systems and measuring the strength of an animal's motivation.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 7

Chapter 8: Wildlife

Who will be the next Jane Goodall? There is a need for more students to go into field work. This chapter will help people to become better observers of animal behavior and help bridge the gap between hands-on field work and scientists in the laboratory.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 8

Chapter 9: Zoos

Some of hte subjects covered in this chapter are training animals to cooperate witih veterinary procedures and providing effective environmental enrichmenttha that will satisfy the animal's emotional needs.

Read an excerpt from Chapter 9

Afterward

Why do I still work in the Industry? Discusses the importance of quality of life for an animal. Cattle may have a better quality of life than a dog which has been left alone all day while the owner is at work.

Read the entire Afterward

Notes

Extensive footnotes and references to scientific studies. Covers research on emotional systems in animal brains.

Click here to return to the Homepage for more information on animal behavior, welfare, and care.