Companion animals, or household pets interact with each other, demonstrating Dr. Sobie’s theories of ethology. (Photo by Christina Kim,Collegiate)

GRCC Professor discusses behavioral rules for pets
By Jacqueline Prins
A&E Editor

Meet Jed. Jed is an 18 month-old Jack Russell Terrier, and, unlike other dogs, Jed likes to stare into boxes and lick doors for hours at a time.

For Dr. Jennifer Sobie, GRCC Behavioral Science professor, dogs like Jed are a mystery solvable through the use of applied animal behavior techniques.

“There aren’t that many doctorates in applied animal behavior, but it is a growing field,” Sobie said in her lecture on Jan. 21. “It really is a science and we have a lot more answers than most people realize.” Sobie treats animals with behavioral problems, and Jed’s case was one she spoke about during the GRCC Psychology Department Speakers Series. Sobie was the second speaker in the series, which began in Dec. 2009. Dr. Frank Conner, GRCC Behavioral Science professor, said speakers for the series were chosen from all over, including outside the GRCC community.

“It’s important for a college community, and the students, to hear voices other than those of their professors, but psychologists practicing in the field,” Conner said. “We decide which topics will be most interesting to students and the community.”

GRCC student, Annie Kim said she learned a lot from Sobie’s lecture.

“I didn’t realize applied sciences and dog training go hand-in-hand,” Kim said. “It was fascinating to hear what she had to say.”

Sobie used slides and YouTube videos, during herlecture, including a video of Jed as he repetitively sniffed the bottom of a door.

“Jed was referred to me by a veterinarian for O.C.D.” Sobie said. “I had worked with Jack Russells that had exhibited this same type of behavior.”

Sobie said that he was a great dog with slight anxiety. She said that medicine, as asolution, was not needed in Jed’s case.

“It was a great success, considering we didn’t have to use drugs,” Sobie said. “People don’t like to use
drugs considering drugs are expensive and dogs aren’t insured.”

Sobie also treats animals with aggression.

“I work with a lot of shelters and veterinarian o f f i c e s ,” Sobie said.

“Dogs get afraid when they go to a veterinarian or a shelter.It is very intimate and very stressful for the animal.”

The Facts

Sobie said all her treatments have a base in ethology. “Ethology is the study of animals in their natural
environment,” Sobie said.

She said Jane Goodall’sresearch of chimpanzees is a good example of the use of ethology in studying animal behavior.

According to Sobie, the two other key elements involved in the study of applied animal behavior are behavior analysis and counseling psychology.

“Counseling psychology is really useful,” Sobie said. “You need to know how to communicate with people and convince them to follow through with the treatments.”

Sobie began working with horses, and has continued to work with many different species.

“I mainly work with dogs, cats, horses, and parrots,” Sobie said.

Sobie said although she receives most of her clientele from veterinarian offices, the two fields are very different.

“Just like you don’t need to be a good psychiatrist to be a good psychologist, you don’t need to be a veterinarian to understand animal behavior,” Sobie said.

Behaving Badly

One of the biggest problems Sobie said people have when adopting a pet is that they do not always look at the behavior.

“Instead they are looking for cute and spotted,” Sobie said. “People have a propensity to stay away from adopting black animals.”

Sobie said it is not worth it to adopt a cute dog that will end up biting someone.

Another problem facing unaware pet owners is the idea that multiple cats in a home is always a bad idea.

“I had a colleague who had 13 cats and, while I adored her, it was not fair to the cats,” Sobie said. “They peed all over her house. However if the flip side is that we euthanize these cats, then it is hard for me to argue against cohabitating cats. You should limit your number of cats.”

Sobie also said you should always have one more litter box than the number of cats you own, to avoid litter box issues.

As far as spay, neuter and release programs, Sobie said she is not for them.

“I hate to sound cruel,” Sobie said. “I love cats, but if you can’t place them in a home with a human they should be euthanized.”

Sobie said her research supports the fact the process of declawing cats is very painful, and to release them after, would make it impossible for them to survive.

GRCC student, Dana Pelton realizes the struggles of living in a multiple cat home.

“We have seven cats; Killian, Corona, Guinness, Foster, Bella, Zima and India,” Pelton said.

She said they have not had many behavioral problems with the animals.

“We have a huge house, they all use litter pans, and we are adamant about cleaning up after them,” Pelton said.

In Her Words

Sobie said, “I’m not looking for dog whisperers.”

She said that everything an animal behaviorist needs to treat animals couldn’t be learned through experience alone. “Working within the sciences will help to expand our observation skills and to come up with treatments that will help our clients,” Sobie said. “It really isn’t ethical to learn everything on our
clients, although that is often how it goes.”

Sobie’s lecture concluded with an open question and answer session.

“This is my passion,” Sobie said. “It is a science and it is an up and coming field.” Sobie owns a three year-old, German Shepherd named Trigger. She wanted to name him after Roy Roger’s dog, Bullet, so she picked a name close to that.

Looking Ahead

Conner will be speaking on Feb. 10 about whether opposites really do attract, and the psychology behind the romance in his lecture titled “The Psychology of Love.”

“Love is an area of interest to me over the years,” Conner said. “I’m going to be talking about healthy and unhealthy ways in which love might manifest itself in a relationship.”

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Mutant cyborgs included
By Christina Kim
Editor-in-Chief

DC Pierson’s debut novel, “The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep and Never Had To,” is a coming-of-age novel with a twist, drawing on the embarrassing, awkward and amazing moments of high school as Darren Bennett discovers his world isn’t exactly what he thought it was.

Pierson brings to life the gruesome, monotonous days of high school student and notebook-paper-margin artist Darren, who thinks he has high school figured out.

He knows who he despises, which girls are cute and out of his league, and those who are ugly and still out of his league, and he knows about where he doesn’t fit in.

One day he’s approached by Eric Lederer, a boy who stands unnaturally straight and still, appreciates Darren’s artwork and who will forever alter Darren’s world.

Together, they create a world of mutant cyborgs, zombies, and horned creatures all illustrated by Darren.

Together, they discover girls and sex—well, maybe not together, but they certainly get to deal with the ins and outs of the opposite sex.

And together, they find what it means to be a friend—a best friend—until something goes terribly wrong, and they are plunged into something beyond their wildest dreams, or one of their dreams, because Eric has a secret.

Pierson’s novel is fun and quirky and draws the reader in, unraveling in fluid, quick prose.

Anyone who has experienced high school, and maybe wished for something more or different, will appreciate Darren’s world.

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Rothbury festival called off this year
By Brian McCollum
MCT Campus

Organizers have pulled the plug on this year’s Rothbury festival, the much-touted rock and environmental fest that drew thousands of camping concert-goers to western Michigan the past two summers.

But they say they are moving toward the event’s return in 2011. Event producers Madison House Presents and AEG Live said a factor was difficulty in assembling an artist lineup.

“We are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival,” Jeremy Stein of Madison House Presents said.

The festival launched on Fourth of July weekend in 2008, garnering positive reviews for both its music lineup and devoted green focus, including a progressive use of sustainable technologies. Rothbury embraced an unconventional music approach that assembled both rootsy rock bands and edgy electronic-dance acts.

Organizers managed to reprise Rothbury last summer amid financial struggles for the Double JJ Ranch, the fest’s lush rural site 25 miles north of Muskegon. The 72-year-old ranch was purchased from bankruptcy court in July by a Pennsylvania resorts firm.

After an initial embrace from residents near the Double JJ, rumblings of discontent began to emerge in recent months.

Stein said“Our efforts are certainly not coming to an end.”

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Museum partnership creates opportunitiesr
By Tim Nellett
Collegiate Staff Writer

For the first time in this college’s history, a partnership has been made with the Grand Rapids Public Museum, and GRCC.

Dr. Rick Underhile, Associate Dean of Instructional Support and Interdisciplinary Studies, said last semester President Ender met with Dale Robertson, the CEO and President of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, or GRPM, and they discussed a potential partnership.

“GRCC and GRPM are both educational institutes,” Underhile said, “and they thought it would be a good opportunity for them to work together.”

Professor Sarah Krajewski, a Biology Professor, thinks the partnership is a great idea.

“Only 10 percent of the museum’s artifacts are displayed at one time, and the other 90 percent are in storage.” Krajewski said, “With this partnership teachers can have access to these artifacts, and incorporate them into a classroom setting.”

Another option is field trips, which is what Krajewski did with her Biology 101 for Elementary Educators class last semester.

“I took them to the museum to get them to put together a lesson plan for their future classes, if they were to take a field trip there themselves.” Krajewski said. “The lesson plans were given to the museum to potentially use in the future for elementary school field trips. In the end it was sort of a combined effort.”

The most recent faculty day was held at the museum on Jan. 6. Krajewski was an instructor for that event as well.

“I used the museum as our classroom,” Krajewski said, “I used five sites, and each had a different article the teachers had to reflect on. One of my stations they had to hold on to an artifact and gather info on it by going through the exhibits and gathering info. I received a lot of positive feedback on the course.”

Underhile also mentioned some of the advantages of the partnership.

“It’s free to the public on Mondays,” Underhile said. “If a teacher were to give an assignment that required them to visit the museum, that wouldn’t be an issue. Plus, it’s only four blocks away. If students are working on a special project, the museum is a really wonderful and rich resource. It’s rich not only in exhibits, but its archives and even how exhibits are created.”

There’s nothing set in stone about specific events. The museum is now seen as another resource teachers can use.

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E-cigarette sparks attention
By Ken Mclaughlin
MCT Campus

The young man in the tall swivel chair at the mall seems lost in nicotine nirvana as he takes a deep drag on a cigarette and blows smoke rings to the surprise of passing shoppers.

Sarah Kruberg, a 21-year-old college student from Portola Valley, Calif., does a double take but keeps walking.

“I knew it couldn’t be someone smoking a cigarette,” she said with a laugh. “But I didn’t know what it was.”

What Kruberg saw at Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara, Calif., was a kiosk salesman puffing away on an electronic cigarette, a new product that Jose Canseco, the steroid-tainted baseball slugger turned e-cigarette pitchman, predicts will “revolutionize the industry of smoking.”

Health officials worldwide, however, are casting a wary eye.

Last summer a Florida company began aggressively marketing e-cigarettes — which emit a nicotine vapor with the help of a computer chip — but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now seems poised to pull e-cigs from the market because the agency considers them “new drugs.” That means they need approval from the FDA, which requires companies to back up their claims with scientific data.

“It is illegal to sell or market them, and the FDA is looking into this,” said Rita Chappelle, an agency spokeswoman.

The cigarett has a light-emitting diode on the tip of the e-cigarette simulates the glow of burning tobacco. The device is powered by a rechargable lithium battery.

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