The Freedom of Choice
By Lara Joseph Abnormal repetitive behaviors (ARBs) are behaviors you do not generally see in animals living in the wild. A few examples of such ARBs are pacing, rocking, repetitive swimming patterns, nail biting, flipping, head swinging and rhythmic screaming. Over the years, I have done a lot of digging through research papers published by Elsevier, the academic publishing company for medical and scientific literature. Through this digging and experimentation, I have found that one common denominator for these behaviors is an unenriched environment that constricts the animal’s choice and… Continued
Ask the Experts: Optimizing Your Website
By Veronica Boutelle If people are finding your site but not reaching out once they do, you’ve got either a messaging problem or a usability issue. Studies suggest that people take two to three seconds to decide whether to stay on any given site they land on. Two to three seconds! That’s not a lot of time to convince someone they’re in the right place. So if someone can’t at a glance learn what you do and how it will make their lives better, you may well lose them. Take… Continued
A Long-Term Solution
By Lara Joseph …the mutilating behavior was getting worse. The keepers admitted they couldn’t give their attention to creating the foraging toys I had advised, and told me Abbey was now taking his food and placing it into the hole he had created in his chest. I understood the keepers’ inability to dedicate the time to the toys. Unfortunately, I also noticed a decrease in the ability to divert Abbey from his chest. The behavior had increased dramatically. I got him out of his cage, and even when standing on… Continued
Equine Social Structure
By Kathie Gregory In studies that have not been subject to manipulation, I have yet to find reports of dominance hierarchy. Disagreements are low key, with horses being tolerant of each other…When there are very small groups, it is likely that an older, experienced horse initiates more movement than younger ones. These factors make it look like horses have one specific leader, but this is unnatural equine behavior due to the influence of external conditions and incorrect to apply these findings to all horse populations. Studies by Rees (2017) show that… Continued
Getting on Their Level
By Emily Cassell Rabbits are well known for their ability to, well, multiply like rabbits. They are not however, well known for maternal care. Indeed, every spring wildlife rehabbers are plagued with baby bunnies that were “abandoned” and then “rescued” by well-intentioned animal-lovers. One of a mother rabbit’s strategies for protecting her young is to spend very little time with them in an effort to not draw attention to her nest. Does nurse their kits just twice a day, so many people assume that, because momma rabbit is nowhere near… Continued
Cool for Cats
By Tabitha Kucera We are all familiar with puppy socialization, but do not hear about kitten socialization anywhere near as often. In fact, however, it is as important for kittens to be properly socialized and trained as it is for puppies. The effects of poor socialization can result in cats who hide from visitors, fear other pets, adapt slowly to new environments, and they can also be fearful and aggressive with handling at veterinary visits. These cats are more likely to become stressed and/or fearful and start urinating out of… Continued
Reaching the Holy Grail of Training
By Yvette Van Veen Years ago, I taught our Kiki a formal recall using targeting. Systematically I proceeded to work through the exercise. Much to my delight, Kiki developed the most fantastic competition recall. People gasped at her speed and enthusiasm. Her formal recall never failed us over the years. You could say that it had behavioural momentum. Domjan, in The Principles of Learning and Behavior describes behavioural momentum as, “response persistence in extinction.” In non-technical language, behaviours with momentum are enthusiastic, despite distractions. They are highly resistant to extinction. … Continued
7 Ways to Get Behaviour
Guest Post by Karolina Westlund Ph.D There are two important questions to ask before teaching an animal a new skill. In another blog post, I discussed the first question, one that is extremely basic but often overlooked: “what is the cost/benefit of the behaviour”. Is it useful, useless, abuse or an ethical dilemma? Once a behaviour has been found to be useful, it’s time to consider how to best go about teaching it. The second question. Which is the best technique to teach the animal how to perform a new skill? You know the… Continued
Ask the Experts: But I Hate Marketing!
By Veronica Boutelle Part of the distaste around marketing for most positive reinforcement dog professionals is the seedy feeling of selling ourselves. But with strong content-based marketing like a newsletter, you don’t have to sing your own praises so much. Readers will be able to experience your professionalism and expertise just by enjoying the advice and insights you share. You can use newsletters to market more widely. Because you’re offering good, solid reading material, you can leave newsletters outside normal marketing channels. Put yours in dentist offices and hair salons and… Continued
A Positive Impact
By Pam Francis-Tuss A five-week program that meets three days per week, Adolescent Learning Powered by Humane Advocacy (ALPHA) pairs incarcerated teens at the Sacramento Youth Detention Facility with shelter dogs for the purpose of training. Twice a week, with the assistance of a team of volunteers, the teens work in pairs, at my direction, collaborating with one another to train their dog. The third day each week is spent engaging with guest speakers who work with animals to expose the youth to animal related careers such as shelter workers,… Continued
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
“No-Kill” Shelters Are Not Enough
An article I read recently in the New York Times (online) talked about a downside of a heavy emphasis on no-kill policies at shelters: By focusing on getting dogs and cats into new homes, the shelters might be neglecting the reasons many of those animals are in the shelter in the first place. Many people abandon their pets because they cannot afford to feed them or house them or provide needed veterinary care. I don’t for a minute think that that is the only reason animals end up in shelters, but… 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.
How to Make Your Training Work!
All dogs can learn amazing things. Sometimes it’s us (maybe more than sometimes!) who don’t allow our dogs to fulfill their full potential, for whatever reason – time, other commitments, know-how etc. I want to look at a few things here that can help you make your training work better, just little things that will make that difference. Use Positive Power This one kind of goes without saying! If you’re battling with your dog, using punishment, chastising him and relying on aversives, then you’re only serving to cause fear and… Continued
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
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