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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Truth About Cats and Dogs by The University of Edinburgh

4.8
stars
2,366 ratings

About the Course

What is your cat revealing to you when she purrs? What is your dog expressing when he yawns or wags his tail? Understanding your cat and dog’s behaviour and the way they communicate with you, will enable you to better understand their needs and strengthen your relationship with them. This MOOC is divided into five topics, the appliance of science; behaviour and body language, senses and perception; challenges for the human-animal relationship, including pet problem behaviour; and how to improve the quality of life for cats and dogs in our care. At the start of the course we ask you to consider what you feel is important to your cat/dog and what your cat/dog means to you? We explore the world of cats and dogs and how our relationships with them vary around the world and have changed over time. We ask if we can really know what our animals are thinking or trying to communicate through their facial expressions and behaviours. From our beloved pets to street dogs, shelter dogs/cats and welfare challenges, we explore the world from their perspective and examine how their genetic make-up may influence their behavioural responses and choices. We dispel common behavioural myths by looking through a scientific lens, asking questions about the function and development of their behaviour.. We explore how their senses help them to interact with their world and how they communicate with each other and us! Finally, we ask whether we impose unrealistic expectations on our cats and dogs and how this affects their ability to live alongside us. We ask, what can we do to be more responsible pet owners and to ensure the welfare of all cats and dogs in society? This MOOC explores different scientifically validated methods that can help you to better understand your pet, to enrich their lives and help you to be a more educated and confident pet owner. We hope you enjoy the course!...

Top reviews

LD

Apr 5, 2020

I really enjoyed taking this course. The lectures were very informative and I learned a lot from this course. I definitely recommend this course for anyone who is interested in dogs and cats. :)

MB

Dec 6, 2019

I am enjoying this course and am learning quite a bit. Behavior is one of my main interests as a trainer as I think understanding it helps to design training and living programs for the animal.

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626 - 650 of 667 Reviews for The Truth About Cats and Dogs

By Vyachaslav G

Sep 3, 2017

Nice. But I still think that there is a lot of extra info in this course

By Desmond O

Dec 13, 2018

Very interesting course and well informed and enthusiastic tutors.

By Diana C

Aug 12, 2020

very informative and would consider retake it in near future!

By Megan Y

Apr 29, 2017

This course was good. It was great to refresh knowledge.

By Wk W

Jun 28, 2020

Very informative course with good videos and delivery!

By Maria L

Apr 24, 2017

Very good course, especially for the (new) pet owner!

By Erica M J

Aug 16, 2022

Great course. Cwrs da iawn very informative course

By Veronica S

Jun 25, 2020

Basic information, but still useful.

By Ricardo P

Nov 18, 2020

I have 100% time for cat facts. <3

By prajakta J

Jun 20, 2020

like the course,.

very informative.

By maryanne e

Oct 5, 2020

great course! really enjoyed it!

By Vladimir R

Oct 29, 2020

The best of the themes.

By Richard K

May 26, 2017

Nice overview

By Noureddine I

Apr 24, 2022

very useful

By Anne b

Jun 26, 2018

Interesting

By Julio C N P

May 23, 2017

thanks

By Акимжан Н А

Aug 21, 2024

супер

By Dr J W B M M

Mar 11, 2025

There was some good information, however many if the links need to be looked at as they are nit active and just go to page 404 not found. There is new work and knowledge that is lacking I think and should /could be added in quite usefully.. Information related to recent changes in society,electric fields and electric vehicles. Sadly no content to suggest how to mitigate these so I would have liked to have given it a 3.5 really .I thought the information on cats was better than that for dogs which was rather basic. Some contributions were more informative than others. But surprised at some things that were said too .....

By Andreea T

Nov 11, 2020

The course was informative but at times it felt like i wasn't learning that much and that much of the information could be foudn online on specific animal organisation websites. Would've been nice to have extra research on cats and dogs and more information on diseases, different breeds, how to show you animal you love them etc. Feels like these were mentioned but just touched on rather than explored in detail. Still helpful though so thanks for the effort put into making this come together!

By harshit s

Mar 19, 2018

i came here after putting aside my firm belief in the alpha theory as far the dogs are concerned, totally fresh minded, zero ground. And i have to say i do agree on a lot of things discussed here. I knew nothing about cats, so this was a largely beneficial course in that field. There is a lot of information in this course on the nature of cats (loved those portions). Dog portion of the course is good, but not the best. Thanks a bundle for this!

By Jasmine K

Sep 25, 2020

The topics can be rather boring and very directed towards UK residents. It had little information that was useful for anyone outside of the UK when it came to resources. Most of the information was basic info all pet owners should know before getting a pet. If that is what you want this is the right course. If you want to learn about pet behavior and proper training this is not the course.

By Valérie O

Jan 22, 2020

module très intéressant mais parfois contradictoire sur le bien être animal (dressage/éducation) beaucoup de confusion cela vient peut etre de la traduction en français n'est pas très bonne.

By Nikkole P

Apr 21, 2020

very interesting, learned a lot of important things, but the course was not very challenging. I was able to complete the course in one day.

By Kate C

Apr 23, 2017

The content was inconsistently delivered and the topics disorganized. The content was excellent, although a bit repetitive at the end.