Behind the Behavior

Information on Dog, Cat, and Bird Behavior from Companion Animal Solutions

  • Home
  • Browse by Topic
    • Behavior and Training
      • Aggression
      • Animal Behavior Research
      • Cat Behavior & Training
      • Dog Behavior & Training
    • Pet Health
    • Reviews (Books, DVDs)
    • Tips For Dog Owners
    • In The News
    • Puppies
    • Events & Announcements
  • About Behind the Behavior
    • Our Authors
    • Resources
  • Companion Animal Solutions

Associate Professor in Animal Behavior reviews Nintendogs

Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT-KA

If you follow our blog, you know we’re a bunch of science geeks. Oh sure, we write in depth about dog training and animal behavior but what you might not know unless you spend a bit of time with us is that we never miss an opportunity to make dog training and animal behavior interesting and fun! This is never more true than with our mentor, Associate Research Professor, Dr. Jim Ha. He is a professor at the University of Washington and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. He’s always working on something fascinating and important. He even manages to make genetics and statistics fun. How many people can you say that about?!

I’ll admit that I know less than nothing about online gaming or video games but I was excited to read Jim’s interview with Steve Watts over at 1up.com about Nintendogs. Steve talks to Jim about how realistic Nintendo’s dog simulator is in giving gamers the experience of raising their own puppy. OK gamers, educate us about this whole thing. Do any of you play on one of these video game consoles? What do you think about Nintendogs?

 

2 Comments

Comments

  1. Jim Ha says

    June 2, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    Yes, this was one of the more interesting interviews I’ve given… how to compare owning a dog with… a simulation of owning a dog. But as I thought about it, there were some real similarities and some real, obvious differences, and that’s where I decided to focus. It came out pretty well: I think that these sort of simulations can teach SOMETHING but are, of course, quite limited.

    But it was fun, and different… never know what’s going to appear in the next email!
    Cheers,
    Jim Ha

  2. William Semple says

    October 23, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    After owning a dog for about 8 years, I have come to understand them. I believe that Nintendogs does actually feel quite realistic in many ways. Of course not all dogs can be taught this quickly, but my dog is actually pretty intelligent, and will learn in a similar way and possibly even speed to the Nintendogs. The way that Nintendogs react to being touched and… ahem… touched near the wrong area, is quite accurate.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get Notified of New Posts by Email!

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon Enter your email address

Get Our Newsletter

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon
Enter your email address

Get Notified of New Posts by Email!

Enter your email address:

COMPANION ANIMAL SOLUTIONS, SCIENTIFIC SAFE AND EFFECTIVE DOG TRAINING SOLUTIONS! CALL TODAY! 206-953-0703
or EMAIL US info@companionanimalsolutions.com Serving Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Bellevue, Redmond and surrounding areas. Copyright 2010 Companion Animal Solutions, All Rights Reserved.