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CEUs: PPAB 3, CCPDT 3, IAABC 3, KPA 3

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Dog aggression is an emotional issue. Those of us who have been on the receiving end of aggressive behavior from our own pets may have experienced anger, betrayal, sadness and even fear. Professionally, those of us charged with helping dogs who show aggression believe that what we do can make a difference in the lives of both the dogs and the people who love them. We believe in our methods and our abilities to assess our patients to formulate the proper treatment plan. That said, there are others who believe that dogs who lunge, bite or growl or those of a certain breed should be euthanized.

This session will explore current research on the causes of dog aggression, the assessment of dogs, treatment, public perception and prevention in an accessible way. It will examine the research critically and challenge that which we “know to be true.” Attendees may be surprised to learn how much of what behavior professionals hold dear as the truth relating to dog aggression has yet to gather a consensus or published literature to support it. As much as is possible, real cases will be used to illustrate concepts.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the different definitions of aggression as they apply to dogs.

• Understand the different approaches of the primary researchers in the behavioral field.

• Understand how to critically examine the research on dog aggression.

• Understand the primary causes of dog aggression.

• Understand what is known about prevention.

Your Presenter

Lisa Radosta DVM DACVB graduated from the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. During her residency in behavioral medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, she was presented with the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists Resident research award two years in a row.

Dr. Radosta lectures nationally and internationally for veterinarians, their staff and lay people. She has written chapters for a number of textbooks including Handbook of Behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, Blackwell’s Five Minute Veterinary Consult, Decoding Your Cat and Canine and Feline and Small Animal Pediatrics and is co-author of From Fearful to Fear Free. She has also published scientific research articles in Journal of Applied Animal Behavior Science and The Veterinary Journal and written review articles for Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery, Compendium, NAVC, Veterinary Team Brief, Clinician’s Brief and AAHA Newstat. She is the section editor for Advances in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery and serves on the Fear Free Executive Council and the AAHA Behavior Management Task Force.

She has been interviewed for many publications including Cat Fancy, Dog Fancy, Palm Beach Post, NAVC Clinician’s Brief, Sun Sentinel, WebMD, AAHA trends, Real Simple, Good News for Pets and AAHA News Stat. She has appeared on Lifetime television, Laurie Live, News Channel 25 (West Palm Beach, WPBF), Mitch Wilder's Amazing Pet Discoveries, Nat Geo Wild, Animal Planet, News Channel 10 (Miami, ABC), and Steve Dale's Pet Talk.  She also podcasts for VetGirl.

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, IAABC 1.5

Most professionals know that scared dogs turn off of food. But what about the other dogs that snub food? Do you find that some dogs are better “shapers” than others. That they are more “food motivated”? Do you ever notice that some dogs are snubbing food when they are excited to go out the door? Do dogs suddenly turn off food during training sessions or middle of classes? What about the “toy motivated” dogs or the ones that simple would rather be reinforced with something other than the treats in your hand?

There are many reasons why dogs lose their foodie nature. Not all involve fear or illness. Learn when and why dogs loose the food motivation so you can help the clients who think their dog isn’t motivated by food. Bring back the foodie in the dogs you work with by addressing the issues that are impacting their focus and performance.

Learning Objectives

• Food as a primary reinforcer - it’s an excellent motivator
• Dogs are scavengers.  They eat all sorts of nasty things…so why would they turn away from chicken?
• Is there a “not motivated by food” dog?
• Learn the many - many reasons why dogs snub food.
• Learn how not to turn dogs off food.
• Learn strategies that bring back the foodie.
• Supplementation (positive reinforcement) versus deprivation.  No you don’t need to starve a dog.
• Why is it important to pay attention to a dog’s desire to eat.

About The Presenter

Yvette Van Veen

Yvette Van Veen has two decades of experience training dogs, lives and works in London Ontario. She offers both group and private sessions. She has worked extensively with formerly feral dogs. Yvette’s writing has been a long-standing feature in Ontario’s newspapers, currently appearing in the Toronto Star. Her life is shared with her son Jordan, her formerly feral dog, “Kipper the ex-crotch ripper”, border collie, “Karma” and Icarus the cat. You can reach Yvette at info@awesomedogs.ca or follow her at:  https://www.facebook.com/londondogtrainer/

CEUs: PPAB 1, IAABC 1

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Whether you’re a solopreneur or manage a team, being a boss means you do it all. The best way to lead a professional, successful business is to set boundaries based around your unique value. We will discuss how operating from fear can negatively impact decision-making, yet creating clear-cut, forward-thinking boundaries can positively impact work/life balance, profitability, company culture and more.

We dissect this through worksheets, which we will provide after the presentation to continue the brainstorming at home. We will begin to help you define your Unique Value in a competitive market, as well as audit your company’s boundaries to honor your own needs, and those of your clients, vendors and employees.

 Learning Objectives:

• Using a provided template and guided discussion, participants will learn to identify their unique value proposition and the ways in which they can position themselves within competitive markets by setting and maintaining boundaries based upon their unique worth to eliminate current or common pain points.
• Through guided exercises, participants will expand their understanding of setting boundaries in their pet care business and how this can impact profitability, work/life balance, company relationships and culture.
• By identifying their pain points and their boundary objectives, participants will leave with a clearer vision for strategic growth, profitability, company culture and work/life balance.

About The Presenter

Adina Silberstein

Adina Silberstein is the Founder, President and CEO of award-winning, Northwest Philadelphia-based professional pet sitting and dog walking company, Queenie’s Pets ®.  She is an entrepreneur and business coach, specializing in processes, organization, company culture and profitability. Adina is committed to urban communities, force-free practices, empowering others, and ongoing professional and personal development.

Queenie's Pets® storefront operates as a boutique retail store, administrative office, and as a community center for pet owners.  They offer a resource library, workshop and lecture series, and sell only unique and enriching products that Make the Lives of Pets and Their Humans Better™.

Adina lives in Philadelphia with her fiancee and their crew of rescues: “Rottie-Scottie” MeloDrama, and cats: Mouse, Zizzy, Brucie Marbles and perpetual bad-boy, Tuxedo Snacks.

To learn more about Queenie's Pets visit www.QueeniesPets.com

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, IAABC 1.5

Fear is an emotion and, as such, subject to respondent conditioning. Therefore, trying to solve fear related problems by focusing solely on modifying the behavior may be pointless. Fear related problems need a respondent as well as an operant approach.

Fear learning is a type of emotional learning that is quite persistent for various reasons: a) it is linked with survival; b) the brain is prewired with a negativity bias; c) sensory information conveyed by the thalamus reaches the amygdala (the brain’s center for emotional processing) much faster than it reaches the neocortex (the brain’s center for cognitive processes and thought). This means an animal will more readily emit an emotional response than a thought-out one.

This presentation focuses not only on fear learning, but also on the mechanisms that make it so persistent and why a respondent approach to solving fear related problems is essential. Some guidelines for effectively working with fearful dogs will also be presented.

Learning Objectives

• The function of emotions.
• How fear learning occurs.
• Systematic desensitization is much more than gradually reducing distance between the dog and the feared stimulus.
• How to effectively apply systematic desensitization when working with fearful dogs.
• Why respondent extinction may backfire in some cases.
• How differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors may, in fact, be flooding.
• Some guidelines for working with fearful dogs.

About Your Presenter

       

Alexandra Santos

Alexandra Santos is a professional canine behavior consultant and trainer, with formal education through The Animal Care College in the U.K. where she graduated with honors for the Diploma of Advanced Canine Psychology, and through The Companion Animal Sciences Institute where she graduated with distinction for the Diploma of Advanced Dog Training.

She is the author of the books “Puppy Problems” and “Puppy and Dog Care” and has also authored and co-authored several articles for the Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior and for the International Institute for Applied Companion Animal Behavior. Alexandra lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal, has been a lecturer at several seminars on positive reinforcement-based training, regularly presents webinars for the Pet Professional Guild, is a professor at Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias and provides individual coaching for dogs and their people.

CEUs: PPAB 1, IAABC 1

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It’s not uncommon for dogs to live an outside-only existence prior to moving inside. Homeless dogs, working dogs, dogs in an agricultural context, and many other dogs may spend part of their lives living mostly or exclusively outside. For various reasons (changes in the social and legal milieu, impoundment at a municipal shelter, relinquishment for behavioral issues, and so on) many ‘outside’ dogs make the journey from an outside life to an inside life. Sometimes, this transition goes off without a hitch, but frequently there are issues that crop up. Since we don’t want dogs practicing unwanted behavior, especially homeless dogs seeking placement or owned dogs whose welcome into the family home may be tentative, it’s best to set these dogs up for success starting right from the get-go: chew training, potty training, and so on.

Based on my experience running a small sled dog rescue for ten years and my current work with many clients in rural Manitoba, I know that the transition between outside life and inside life doesn’t need to be painful or messy. I’ll review how best to plan for the dog’s arrival, including useful equipment, toys, and other acquisitions for setting up the home environment; schedules; and stress-relieving techniques to keep the dog busy during the first few days or weeks of habituating to a new world. I’ll also talk about fear-reducing techniques for dogs who are a bit overwhelmed. With a bit of preparation and a few easy protocols, outside dogs tend to transition easily into inside homes, and avoid some of the typical pitfalls that can hinder good outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

• How to prepare a home to receive an adult outside dog
• House-training and chew-training protocols
• Reasonable expectations for the behavior of an outside dog during the first few weeks
• Mitigating unrealistic expectations and setting dogs up for success
• Preventing behavioral issues through supervision and training
• Identifying and reducing fearfulness and anxiety
• Use of enrichment and exercise to ensure a calm, happy dog

About The Presenter

Kristi is an honours graduate of, and now on staff at, the Academy for Dog Trainers. At the Academy, she is a student mentor and coach, and is in charge of the weekly webinars. Kristi is also in charge of special projects, including the Husbandry Project, which is a large co-operative veterinary care research study working with hundreds of dog owners, testing the efficiency and usefulness of a series of training plans. In her private practice, Kristi enjoys working one-on-one with dogs who need help with obedience, fearfulness, aggression, unruliness, and any number of other issues. Besides offering professional training services in the Parkland region of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Canada; Kristi also works with clients across Canada via video chat. She also loves helping the humans in the equation, and brings her trademark combination of humour and compassion to the kitchen table when working with her clients. Kristi is one of a stable of course developers working with Lori Nanan at lorinanan.com, offering custom-made online content to dog owners and dog pros.

Kristi also enjoys reaching out to dog owners through writing. Besides her own blog, she also regularly writes for the Academy for Dog Trainers’ blog and for Dog International. For ten years, she ran a sled dog micro-rescue with her partner, and fostered, house-trained, obedience-trained, and re-homed racing sled dogs. She lives on a small mixed farm in west central Manitoba. Kristi is a Full Member Dog Training Professional of the Pet Professional Guild and is Fear Free certified (Vet professional level 1; dog training).

CEUs: PPAB 1.5

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Are you tired of starting classes with 6 students and finishing with 3? Of students checking training off their to-do lists after puppy or basic manners classes, never to return? Of dealing with scheduling issues and student make-up hassles? Of scrambling around like the proverbial chicken to provide mini-lessons to students at different experience and skill levels? Of managing reactive dogs, hyper kids, and unfocused adult students? The stress of enrollment and income numbers that fluctuate throughout the year?

Then you’ll want to join us for this web seminar with Veronica Boutelle. Pulling together her backgrounds in dog training, education, and business, Veronica will share a comprehensive 4-point solution to common group training class headaches. Get these 4 points right, and everyone wins: Students learn the knowledge and skills they need to succeed outside of your classroom in their real lives. Dogs learn the behaviors their people desire, and benefit from greater understanding and empathy, too. And you get consistently full classes and a steady income, plus the satisfaction of watching your students and their dogs hit new heights.

No matter the size of your class program, whether a few sessions per week or a jam-packed schedule, Veronica will show you how to offer and enjoy the best classes in town—yours!

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the four pillars of successful classes

• Challenge the common definitions of successful classes

• Understand the difference and relationship between course structure and curriculum

• Understand the roles that course structure and curriculum each play in student success, recidivism, and retention

• Understand the role of curriculum in student success and classroom management, and identify common curriculum errors that undermine each

• Identify the common errors made in dog training course offerings

• Identify common business errors contributing to inconsistent enrollment and income

About The Presenter

Veronica Boutelle

dogbiz founder Veronica Boutelle, MA Ed., CTC, is a regular speaker at PPG Summits, and writes the business Q&A column for BARKS from the Guild. She’s the author of the go-to business book for dog pros, How To Run a Dog Business: Putting Your Career Where Your Heart Is, and travels the world teaching R+ dog trainers how to make a living doing what they love.

None of this is likely news, but what you may not know about Veronica is that she holds a Masters Degree in Education and spent her years before becoming a dog trainer, and eventually starting dogbiz, teaching. After years teaching virtually every level of school from preschool to high school (her favorite), Veronica taught graduate courses in curriculum design, classroom management, and teaching, and also coached junior high and high school teachers in the field. In this web seminar, Veronica marries her education and business expertise to tackle the challenges of building and running a successful class program in a way only she can.

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, CCPDT 1

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So many of our handling techniques are done TO the animals we are training.  I want to use techniques that are done WITH my animals.  This program explores what that means and it illustrates some remarkable changes that can be achieved using very basic lessons, but using them mindfully. It is built around some remarkable before and after video footage taken at a clinic. 

The talk includes a description of the microshaping strategy, and the use of constructional training.  The images are all those of horses, but the concepts apply to any animal where good balance matters. 

Learning Objectives:

• Who owns the process - what does that mean: illustrated with example/non-example
• An introduction to Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement
• Teaching the micro behaviors that create good balance
• Before and after examples 
• There are many different strategies for developing micro awareness
• The micro shaping Strategy
• Shaping on a Point of Contact
• Simple lessons can create great changes: a remarkable case history
• Who owns the process - an answer from Mia Segal, a Feldenkrais practitioner
• Asking questions not giving answers: here are the questions

About The Presenter

Alexandra Kurland is a graduate of Cornell University where she specialized in animal behavior. She began teaching horse training in the early 1980's. Her area of particular interest is the development of a horse's balance: physical and emotional. Helping horses stay sound and happy throughout a long lifetime is the goal. The result are beautiful horses that feel like heaven to ride.

In 1998 Alexandra launched the rapidly growing field of clicker training for horses with the publication of her  book, "Clicker Training for Your Horse".

Alexandra's work helps you apply clicker training to any equine need or sport - including developing a gentle and companionable riding horse, halter training foals, training advanced performance horses, and retraining difficult to manage horses. Her own riding interests align most closely with classical dressage.

Alexandra travels widely, giving clicker training seminars and presenting at conferences in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. 

In addition to "Clicker Training for your Horse", she has written "The Click That Teaches: A Step–By–Step Guide in Pictures" and "The Click That Teaches: Riding with the Clicker". She has also produced The Click That Teaches DVD lesson series, and The Clicker Center On-line Training Course.  She maintains a very active blog, theclickercenterblog.com.  She has published a book: "JOYFULL Horses" in her blog and most recently "The Goat Diaries".  Her current project is Equiosity, a weekly podcast which she produces with Dominique Day, one of the co-founders of Cavalia.

Alexandra Kurland's websites are:
theclickercenter.com,
theclickercenterblog.com,
theclickercentercourse.com and
equiosity.com

CEUs: PPAB 1.5

How do you get a cookie to beat a squirrel?

Behavioural Momentum, the holy grail of skills training

Powerful distractions, such as squirrels, cats, garbage and other things often seen as “more valuable” than the cookies trainers have in their hands. It’s not true that some chow hounds are more suited to food as a reinforcer than other dogs.

Learn how to harness the power of behavioural momentum - the ability to create strong, powerful behaviours that persist despite distractions and even when reinforcements are not present.  It’s the holy grail, the magic tipping point of dog training. Once you learn how to create it at will, you’ll be chasing momentum in every skill you teach. You can stop trying to chase the magic high value cookie in favour of creating behaviours that your dog loves to do, despite distractions.

Learning Objectives:

• What is behavioural momentum.
• How does it work?
• What factors are required to create it.
• Why does rate of reinforcement matter?
• Learn about the optimal level of reinforcement.
• How to add distractions so you can “crush the competition (the squirrel)” with training technique.
• Why Premack is should not be the go to method of dealing with distractions during initial training.

About The Presenter

Yvette Van Veen

Yvette Van Veen has two decades of experience training dogs, lives and works in London Ontario. She offers both group and private sessions. She has worked extensively with formerly feral dogs. Yvette’s writing has been a long-standing feature in Ontario’s newspapers, currently appearing in the Toronto Star.  Her life is shared with her son Jordan, her formerly feral dog, “Kipper the ex-crotch ripper”, border collie, “Karma” and Icarus the cat. You can reach Yvette at info@awesomedogs.ca or follow her at:  https://www.facebook.com/londondogtrainer/

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, IAABC 1.5

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While most foster kitten raisers focus on keeping the kittens medically healthy, It is also very important to socialize them well. This is what will keep them in life long loving homes. We want them to be outgoing, friendly, and social with many different people and in many different environments. You may have kittens that exhibit signs of being fearful or feral, but with the right strategies and techniques, they can be socialized into happy, loving, well-adjusted pets. I will be detailing techniques and methods aimed at transitioning these kittens into living comfortably in a home. While these techniques may be geared towards helping recently-outdoor kittens, these strategies can also be used to work with other fearful felines.

 

Key Learning Objectives

• What is socialization and why it’s important
• Goals of socialization
• Understand the potential consequences of force-based techniques
• Learn techniques to help kittens go from hissing to purring
• How to understand your kittens body language

About The Presenter

Tabitha Kucera

Tabitha Kucera is the owner of Chirrups and Chatter cat behavior consulting and training (chirrupsandchatter.com) and Positively Pawsitive dog behavior consulting and training in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a certified cat behavior consultant through the International Association of Behavior Consultants, a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner, and a level 3 Fear Free and Low Stress Handling Certified Registered Veterinary Technician. She the co- chair of PPG’s Feline Committee. Board member of The Together Initiative for Ohio Community Cats and is the president of the Society of Veterinary Behavior technicians.

CEUs: PPAB 1

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Behavioral stereotypies in captive animals have been defined as repetitive, largely invariant patterns of behavior that serve no obvious goal or function (Mason, 1991a; Ödberg, 1978). Stereotypies are commonly attributed to boredom and/or fear and are typically “treated” by trying to enrich the captive environment with distracting, appealing stimuli. These stimuli often include food presented at times outside of regular feeding times, and as a result, engage species-typical foraging behaviors in the process of reducing stereotypic activity.

This presentation examines the defining features and common hypotheses surrounding stereotypies, including what their function is and how they can be addressed. Of primary concern will be (1) what are stereotypies (what does and doesn’t meet the definition), (2) specific examples of how they’ve been discussed and dealt with, and (3) practical solutions for applied animal behaviorists for both defining and treating stereotypies. Emphasis will be placed on an empirical, functional approach to dealing with stereotypies, including how any scientist and/or practitioner can be most effective when dealing with this topic.

Learning Objectives

1. What are stereotypies in terms of their definition and examples?
2. How do we talk about stereotypies in terms of their form and function?
3. What evidence supports their hypothesized functions?
4. How are most stereotypies treated, and which of these treatments are most effective?
5. What does an empirical, functional approach to stereotypies look like, and why is this important for both science and practice?

About The Presenter

Eduardo J Fernandez, PhD

School of Behavior Analysis, Florida Institute of Technology

Dr. Eduardo J. Fernandez received his Ph.D. in Psychology (minors in Neuroscience and Animal Behavior) from Indiana University, where he worked with the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Zoo. He received his M.S. in Behavior Analysis from the University of North Texas, where he
founded and was President of the Organization for Reinforcement Contingencies with Animals (ORCA). Most of his past and current work involves conducting research on the behavioral welfare of captive exotic animals found in zoos and aquariums. He has worked with close to 50 species of animals, with a focus on marine animals, carnivores, and primates. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the School of Behavior Analysis at Florida Institute of Technology. His past positions include an Affiliate Professorship in the Psychology Department at University of Washington, Research Fellowship with Woodland Park Zoo, and National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. While working with UW and Woodland Park Zoo, he started the Behavioral Enrichment Animal Research (BEAR) group, which conducted welfare research with the African and Asian elephants, hippos, Humboldt penguins, grizzly bears, sun bears, sloth bears, Sumatran tigers, jaguars, African wild dogs, meerkats, golden lion tamarins, and ostriches located at the zoo. Eduardo also continues to run the Animal Reinforcement Forum (ARF), a former listserv and now Facebook group, which is dedicated to group discussions on animal training and behavior from a scientific perspective.

CEUs: PPAB 1.5

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Re-think Trigger Stacking - Shedding some (candle) light on triggers for behaviors we wish to modify or change

Edie-Jane Eaton has shared her ‘candle’ concept for many years.  We may all be aware of the term ‘trigger stacking’ but Edie-Jane’s brilliant analogy helps canine guardians look more closely at the multiple ‘candles’ that may be burning for a dog that is struggling to learn or cope with his environment and human led activities.

Several candles may be alight due to internal problems such as pain, patterns of tension through the body, the environment at home including slippery floors, noise sensitivity, the games that are played and the way a dog is touched long before more candles are lit once out in the big wide world. 

Whilst it may not be possible to blow out every candle, there is a lot that we can do to help our clients snuff out the flames, reducing ‘ heat’ and enabling a dog to settle and learn. 

This webinar presentation will also include the following learning objectives

1. The link between posture and behavior
2. Introduction to ACE Free Work
3. Simple leash handling techniques to reduce body tension

About The Presenter

Sarah Fisher

Tilley Farm, Farmborough,

Sarah Fisher is a canine and equine behavior advisor. She has worked with animals for over twenty years and incorporates some of the elements of the Tellington TTouch method in her work. She is experienced with a wide range of breed types and teaches staff workshops for many of the UK’s animal welfare organizations including Battersea. She has also worked in Europe teaching staff workshops for shelters including SPCA Malta and GIA (Romania) and has taught workshops and clinics for dog trainers and behaviorists in Holland, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, South Africa, Ireland, Romania and Poland.

Sarah gives presentations on a variety of topics at dog training and behavior seminars in the UK and abroad, and is a regular speaker at the annual Dog Behaviour Conference (UK). She also conducts behavior assessments for private clients, animal welfare organizations and court cases.

Sarah is a published author and has participated in numerous television and radio programs over the years including the recent Nightmare Pets SOS for BBC1. She runs courses under the name Animal Centred Education (ACE) for trainers, groomers, veterinary nurses, physiotherapists and animal behavior counsellors who wish to broaden their expertize by learning detailed observations combined with Free Work, and techniques inspired by other professionals working in the world of animal welfare and behavior.

CEUs: PPAB 1

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How can we learn more about the animals we work with and help them overcome challenges when we have so many other responsibilities and things to do on a daily basis? We will explore how everyday interactions with animals is a learning experience not only for them but also for us to learn more about their individual needs and increase their adoptability. Each interaction we have with the animals in our care is an opportunity for us to better understand who they are and by understanding and implementing functional assessments we are better equipped to not only understand individual animals but address behavior challenges as needed. Whether we are entering a dog’s kennel to leash them for a walk or we are opening a cat’s kennel to clean their litter box, how they behave in these and other daily situations informs us of how we can help them better handle being in a shelter while developing life skills until they are adopted. In this session, attendees will learn how to be aware of each animal’s behavior, understand what that behavior means, and help the animal’s overcome challenges as soon as they are recognized with techniques to easily implement into daily routines. By doing this, we are setting them up for success both in the shelter and in their future home.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand what functional assessments are and how to conduct them.
  
• Learn about the importance of recognizing behaviors and how to do so quickly after admission.
  
• Understand how to implement basic techniques to manage and overcome undesirable behaviors.
  
• Learn how to implement lifesaving techniques and programs into daily routines.
  

CEUs: PPAB 1

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Emotional Dog -

Riding the canine emotional roller-coaster in our chaotic human world

For those of us compassionate about animal welfare, we want our dogs, and the dogs we work with professionally, to trust us and to be fundamentally ‘happy’ in their day-to-day lives. But what does ‘happy’ actually mean? Over the last 2 decades there have been huge steps forward in our understanding of emotional states in other animals, and much of the more recent research has used dogs as the model because they are easy to study and, like us, have rich emotional lives. We now know what emotional states we humans share with other animals and we also know the emotional states that are most likely to be unique to us. We know where they are generated in the brain, how they work and what happens when they go wrong.

Canis lupus familiaris is the victim of its own success. The process of domestication has led to a number of modifications to the functionality of the core emotional systems that has left dogs more vulnerable to developing mental illness akin to those of humans. In this webinar, Robert will show you where these weaknesses are located neurophysiologically and emotionally, and why you need to know about them in order to fix them. This knowledge is hugely important for anyone working with dogs and are concerned about their welfare, including dog owners, trainers, behaviourists and veterinary professionals. The knowledge you will gain will change how you see dogs forever. This is a bold statement, but it is true.

 

Key Learning Objectives

1. Understand the functional organisation of the canine self.
2. Understand the influence of genetics on canine emotionality.
3. Understand the vulnerability of emotional systems to trauma.
4. Understand the roles of epigenetics and neural plasticity in emotional repair and restoration.

About The Presenter

Dr Robert Falconer-Taylor BVetMed DipCABT MRCVS

Dr. Robert Falconer-Taylor was veterinary director and head of education of the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology (COAPE), the first organisation in the UK to develop government-regulated courses to degree level specifically in companion animal behaviour and training. COAPE also developed the renowned EMRA system used by behaviourists and trainers all over the world, now summarised in their book – EMRA Intelligence: The revolutionary new approach to treating behaviour problems in dogs.

He teaches and consults around the world along with writing for the veterinary and other professional press. He is also author of the informative EMOTIONS-R-US Blog, published on the Emotions-R-Us website, which has been taken up and endorsed by many training and behaviour organisations all over the world.

He is an international consultant to the pet industry where he has engaged in the development and risk assessment of pet ‘toys’ targeted specifically at promoting the welfare of pets and their relationships with their owners. He has been actively involved in the development of the ‘The Puppy Plan’, first launched in February 2012 and updated in 2014, a collaboration between Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club. He is also a member of the International Cat Care Behavioural Advisory Panel.

His primary academic interests include companion animal cognitive science and emotionality, nutrition and its effects on behaviour, and applied neurophysiology, pharmacology and therapeutics in companion animal behaviour therapy.

He promotes the idea wherever and whenever he can that – “The key to better animal welfare is through education and better understanding of the rich emotional lives our pets share with us”.