RESEARCH AND PAPERS

Mills, D. S. (2025). A psychobiological framework for defining discrete emotions in animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 286, 106595.

This paper lays out the approach to problem behaviour I have developed over the last 30 years and which I am continuing to develop.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159125000930

Mills, D. S. (2022). Clinical animal behaviour: paradigms, problems and practice. Animals, 12(22), 3103.

This paper critiques some of the philosophical underpinnings to different approaches to studying problem behaviour. It highlights a number of common errors associated with scientific thinking in the field and the assessment of the evidence base (including statistical methods), while providing solutions to these issues.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12223103

Mills, D. S., Demontigny-Bédard, I., Gruen, M., Klinck, M. P., McPeake, K. J., Barcelos, A. M., … & Levine, E. (2020). Pain and problem behavior in cats and dogs. Animals, 10(2), 318.

This paper arose from a symposium in Washington DC and has a major effect on the field by increasing awareness of how pain can relate to problem behaviour, it also for the first time looked at the prevalence of heath issues in companion animals presenting with behaviour problems across a range of clinics internationally.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10020318

Mills, D. S. (2017). Perspectives on assessing the emotional behavior of animals with behavior problems. Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 16, 66-72.

This paper describes the original approach used to assess discrete emotions in a clinical setting which we developed at the University of Lincoln.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.04.002

Mills, D. S. (2003). Medical paradigms for the study of problem behaviour: a critical review. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 81(3), 265-277.

This paper highlights issues with the approaches to problem behaviour which focus on describing things in terms of disorders, and implying that the brain is malfunctional in cases. I highlight the difference between behaviour being maladaptive versus malfunctional and the implications of this.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(02)00286-1