The Three C’s of Enrichment
By Lara Joseph Shaping challenges in an animal’s environment is something I see caretakers struggle with on a regular basis without even realizing it. Any environment can get stagnant over a period of time if it does not change. In my experience, the more an animal’s environment stays the same, the less he tends to interact with it. The less he interacts, the less he manipulates outcomes, and the less he manipulates outcomes, the fewer choices he makes. What effects do these restricted choices have on the animal and his… Continued
The Miracle Mutt
By Gail Radtke …when [Lanie] was a year old, I applied to the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program in Maple Ridge, BC. This is a Canada-wide program that involves certified handlers and dogs volunteering their time to visit hospitals and senior care homes in their area…The conditioning process in a graded-task approach was vital to having a dog who can work with noise, yelling or anything startling. We had to ensure that we worked below Lanie’s startle threshold and maintained a positive association with whatever we were exposing her… Continued
Performance Anxiety
By Kathie Gregory People such as the vet and the farrier need to get the job done in a timely manner. They do not have a lot of time, and waiting for as long as it takes for a horse to respond is not always viable; something we are well aware of. But knowing this creates a problem because we think our horse must do what is needed immediately. We are now in a state of anxiety, and sometimes embarrassed at the thought of not being good enough to achieve… Continued
Think Outside the Cage
By Amy Martin Parrots thrive in an environment worthy of investigation. In fact, healthy parrots require this. No matter how large a parrot’s enclosure is, it is still basically a modified jail cell. There needs to be a variety of ways for each species of parrot to play and actively engage with their environment as they would choose to do in the wild. Consider how the parrot could safely navigate his world inside and outside of his enclosure. Not only could many parrots benefit mentally and physically from time outside… Continued
Slowly Does It
By Patience Fisher There are many challenges for shelters in finding adoptive homes for cats. As an adoption counselor, I always found it disheartening to have a cat returned to the shelter for not getting along with the resident cats. During the adoption process, the concept of slow introductions was explained, but upon the cat’s return we often found out that the introduction process had been rushed. As a result, I saw a need for a very simple, short, how-to brochure for introducing a new cat to a resident cat.… Continued
Aggression from Hearing Impairment?
By Morag Heirs In the case of early or late-onset deafness where the presenting dog was not born deaf, but has become deaf due to ear infections, trauma or deterioration in old age, we may find that a change in behavior is attributed to the deafness…In fact, an interesting paper by Farmer-Dougan, Quick, Harper et al. (2014) reported that, based on a sample of 461 dog-owners, hearing- or vision-impaired dogs were less likely to show aggression among other undesirable behaviors. With this in mind, I am going to present a case… Continued
August 28, 2018: UK Kennel Club’s #BanShockCollars Campaign Comes to Fruition
The United Kingdom Kennel Club has announced the successful outcome of its 10-year campaign to ban the use of electric shock collars in animal training, adding that, with an estimated 5 per cent of dog owners curently using electric shock collars, “a complete ban on their use across the UK should mean half a million dogs will be saved from being trained by these highly aversive devices.” Read article.
Pet Professional Guild Responds to the UK Government’s Decision to Ban Electronic Shock Collars in Pet Training, Care, Behavior Modification, and Management
The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) fully supports and applauds the Government of the United Kingdom’s decision to implement a nationwide ban on the use of remote control electric shock collars for the training, management, and care for pets. Further, PPG is in full agreement with the U.K. Kennel Club (2018) that “the use of electric shock collars as a training method has a long term negative welfare impact on dogs.” There is a growing body of peer-reviewed, scientific research that shows, whether discussing dogs, humans, dolphins or elephants, that electric shock… Continued
August 27, 2018: British Veterinary Association Welcomes England Shock Collar Ban
The British Veterinary Association hails “big win for animal welfare in England” and calls for similar legislation in Northern Ireland and a “UK-wide ban on the sale and import of electronic training devices.” Read article.
August 26, 2018: England to Ban Electric Shock Collars for Dogs and Cats
UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove is set to announce a nationwide ban on the use of electric shock collars as training devices for dogs and cats this week. The collars have already been banned in Wales, while Scotland initiated moves towards stop dog owners using the devices earlier this year. Read article.
August 23, 2018: New Study Tests Parrots’ Ability in Economic Decision-Making
The study, Economic Decision-Making in Parrots, tested the ability of four different species of parrot to weigh up differently beneficial alternatives to maximise payoff, sometimes forgoing “their desire for immediate satisfaction.” Read study.
Pet Professional Guild announces junior membership and accreditation program
New levels aim to ensure next generation of pet professionals is educated in force-free, ethical, scientifically sound training methods; first 20 to register sign up for free NEWS RELEASE – WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. – Aug. 22, 2018: The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) has launched a junior membership program to help educate the next generation of pet professionals in the application and practice of humane, scientifically sound training methods. As such, membership is now open to children, teenagers and young adults in order to help them learn and understand the fundamentals of pet care, behavior and… Continued
The Best I Can Be
By David Shade Unfortunately, I have seen firsthand what happens to a dog when a misinformed or unaware owner practices what one might politely call questionable training techniques, such as alpha rolling and positive punishment (a.k.a. aversives). As professional trainers and PPG members, we are aware that many dog owners have good intentions but simply do not realize that the application of outdated dominance theory can be incredibly damaging to a dog’s psyche. Indeed, when owners try to establish so-called dominance over a dog to prove themselves to be the… Continued
Project Trade at Work
By Susan Kendrick As a network, our goal is to teach, guide and coach animal caregivers how to use force-free methods, rewards, and respect to build a bond of mutual trust and love with their pets. I am happy to say we stayed busy all day with interested pet parents wanting to learn more about modern, scientifically sound training methods…As soon as people saw our no pull, no pain alternative for enjoying a walk with their dog, they were sold. People willingly wanted to do the right thing for their pet,… Continued
Dogs Don’t Write Checks
By Mary Jean Alsina I think it would be fair to say that most trainers get into dog training because they adore dogs and want to spend as much time as possible with them. However, unless dogs acquire credit cards, bank accounts and opposable thumbs, trainers must learn to work in tandem with humans. Forming relationships and connections with humans and being able to communicate what to do with the dog is an area in which trainers need to excel in order to be successful in the dog training arena. As… Continued
A Language for All Species
By Beth Napolitano I continued to observe my new baby’s behavior during several daily play sessions to make sure she was feeling amenable and having fun. We took turns mock chasing each other, sometimes with my hand and other times with her personal small stuffed toy. If she hunched up her back and intermittently hopped around or chased my hand, I knew she was enjoying it. Usually play lasted a few minutes and I let her tell me when it was over. If she stared or backed away, that was… Continued
Agility with a Difference
By Morag Heirs There are many successful deaf dogs taking part in fun agility, weekly training sessions and competing at all levels. In most cases, spectators would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the deaf dog and the hearing dog…Says Gibbs: “Horus and I started agility within a couple of months of his adoption as a 2-year-old, solely because I thought it would help us communicate and bond. There was never any intention of competing. I thought it would be impossible with a highly reactive deaf dog. Entering… Continued
The Long Way Home
By Lara Joseph It became clear to me that, during Koko’s time at the zoo his interactions with humans had commonly been paired with aversives, so I agreed to take on the challenge of working with him. It was my goal to get him out of his cage and make it a pleasurable experience for him…I was not comfortable putting my hands near Koko without cage bars between us or without him having his beak targeted between the cage bars. I had observed that he was not comfortable with large… Continued
The Equine Play System
By Kathie Gregory Play enables an animal to practice and project emotional states in safety, without intent. We have all seen play get out of hand, and that would seem to be the result of play turning into actual emotional states that take the mind out of the play circuit and into other emotional systems. These actual emotions then need to be processed and addressed, hence the change from play to seriousness. Play deprivation results in intense bouts of play when the opportunity arises. Panksepp (2014) states that the urge… Continued
Lost and Found
By Paula Garber Sabi and Wabi are 7-year-old long-haired Russian blue neutered male siblings. When their previous owner, an elderly man, died suddenly, they were left alone in their home for several months “fending for themselves.” Family members stopped by once a week only to put out food and water. Although the family described them as affectionate, the cats had become extremely fearful. When a local shelter was called in to remove them from the home, they “went wild” and had to be captured. Both Sabi’s and Wabi’s fur was badly… Continued
Lulu’s Lottery: Life Lessons from a Boxer
By David Shade I was one of many returning warfighters who had to walk this difficult path of transitioning back into society…I still felt like I had to keep my guard up around the clock. And Lulu would also help me with this. She showed off her skills as an organic alarm system, always letting me know whenever someone approached our house. When I was asleep at night and there was a noise, she would immediately alert me of the impending danger. For some people, this might have been irritating.… Continued
Distinguishing Night from Day
By Debbie Bauer Some people living with blind/deaf dogs report that their dogs have trouble staying asleep all night. Often their dogs will wake them during the night and can’t seem to settle back down to sleep. If your blind/deaf dog is unable to distinguish between light and dark, it may be challenging to help her tell the difference between day and night. This can make it challenging for you to get enough sleep on a proper schedule. Keeping a bedtime routine can be helpful. Create as many clear cues… Continued
Dog Owners Appreciative of Gear Swap
By Kathy Reilly In April, we participated in Pet Palooza, a local event which was sponsored by the Charlotte Humane Society…In order to attract people to our booth and really begin to change their minds about aversive training devices, however, we planned a trade-in program. Much like PPG’s gear switch program, Project Trade, we offered free harnesses to anyone that would trade in their shock, prong, or choke collar. The result was amazing…If a dog passed our booth wearing a shock, prong or choke collar, we would approach (with harness… Continued
Canine Professionals and Court Testimony
By Daniel Antolec “Overaggressive marketing of training services can result in liability based on false expectations about a trainer. If you hold yourself up to possess special expertise in an area, then you will be held to the same standard as an expert in that area. I am thinking specifically of the term ‘behaviorist’ to describe a trainer. If you are not an accredited applied animal behaviorist or a veterinarian who is board certified in animal behavior, my recommendation is do not use the term ‘behaviorist’ to describe what you do.… Continued
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