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Search Results for Cooperative care

Chat & Chuckle with Laura Monaco Torelli About Cooperative Care With Cats

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Join Laura Cassiday and Joanna Wachowiak-Finlaison as they chat and chuckle with Laura Monaco Torelli about cooperative care with cats. Laura Monaco Torelli is the founder of Animal Behavior Training Concepts in Chicago, Illinois. Her career began in 1991 with Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, where she was part of the animal care team for beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, river otters, and penguins. After nearly a decade at the Shedd, she moved on to the San Diego Zoo and then Brookfield Zoo as a lead supervisory trainer. During her time in the… Continued

Chat & Chuckle with Tabitha Kucera About Cooperative Care for Cats

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Join Laura Cassiday and Joanna Wachowiak-Finlaison as they chat and chuckle with Tabitha Kucera, RVT, VTS (Behavior), about cooperative care for cats—an important topic since significantly fewer cats than dogs see a veterinarian every year, and cooperative care can make vet visits less stressful and more comprehensive for cats!  Tabitha Kucera is an Elite Fear Free and Low-Stress Handling Certified Registered Veterinary Technician, VTS (Behavior), Certified Cat Behavior Consultant, and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. She is the owner of Chirrups and Chatter Cat and Dog Behavior Consulting and Training… Continued

Cooperative Care with Cora: A Case Study

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  by Jennifer Van Valkenburg Cooperative care is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. I have come to appreciate how important body autonomy and choice can be, especially when experiencing a painful and difficult medical diagnosis. Having some control over even small things can make a huge difference in our emotional state and comfort level. The same is true of our pets. The more they can participate in their own healthcare, the better for everyone involved. I started down the road of learning about cooperative care… Continued

Cooperative Care: It’s Not Just for Dogs!

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Horses, as a species, are prey animals. They are often space conscious and uniquely aware of their surroundings and sensitive to the elements within them. Physically large and robust animals, horses easily dwarf their trainers or handlers and are incredibly strong. Although these are important traits for livestock animals, their size and strength can result in a “heavy-handed” approach being taken to physically manipulate and coerce them into a specific behavior or position. This approach still pervades all aspects of traditional horsemanship and even extends to routine medical care or… Continued

PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Bunny Cooperative Care

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BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Multi-Species Workshop Events in Phoenix, Arizona Session Details: Presenter: Emily Cassell Session Title: HusBUNdry Basics: Language, Observation and Behavior in Bunny Cooperative Care Session Type: Arizona Humane Society Workshop (1.5 Hours) HusBUNdry Basics workshops will build on themselves throughout the week at Best Friends. All learners will be exposed to the basics in body language, observation skills, and common behavior objectives in rabbit cooperative care. As prey animals, rabbits often have different behavioral tendencies than dogs and cats, so learning to build… Continued

PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Growing Collaborative Care and Your Business

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BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Workshops in Phoenix, Arizona *Early bird discount available if you register before January 31, 2020! Session Details: Presenter: Tia Guest Session Title: Growing Collaborative Care and Your Business Session Type: Lecture (1 Hour) It is an exciting time to be a dog trainer as the concept of collaborative care grows to reach pet owners, veterinarians, vet staff, and others involved in caring for our pets. It is also a perfect time to position ourselves as a resource. By offering training services… Continued

All About Puppies & Kittens

Your Two-Day Virtual Event May 24 and 25, 2025 Learn About Preventing Problematic Behavior From the Onset Two Tracks – 16 Sessions – 14 Presenters Continued Education Units – Pet Professional Accreditation Board Puppy Track 8, Kitten Track 8, Both Tracks 16. CCPDT. Puppy Track 10, Kitten Track 8. IAABC Kittens Only  8 CEUs, Puppies Only 10 CEUs, Puppies & Kittens 16 CEUs Your Event Sponsors – Click Here To Learn More About Them Join us for a live two-day virtual event with Dr. Daniel Mills headlining a group of… Continued

Meet Kim Monteith of the British Columbia SPCA

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Kim prioritizes the well-being of both animals and people in her work. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you first get into animal behavior/training or pet care, and what you are doing now? With over 25 years in animal behavior and pet care, my journey began with a pet-sitting business and then volunteering at the British Columbia SPCA in various roles, including trainer and dog walker, which ultimately led to a paid position as an animal care attendant. During this time, I also had the opportunity to… Continued

Help Your Pet Enjoy (not just tolerate) Brushing and Nail Trims!

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You can help your pet enjoy basic care, such as brushing and nail trims, at home. Here are our tips so that some common husbandry procedures can be pleasurable for everyone involved. Cooperative care and basic home pet care activities that help to keep pets healthy like grooming, bathing and nail clips have come a long way from the days of just ‘getting on with it.’ We now give our pets much more control and choice over these procedures so that they find them enjoyable. Brushing Your Pet Brushing your… Continued

Meet Laura Cassiday of Pawsitive Vibes Cat Behavior and Training

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  Laura Cassiday takes cat owners from hopeless to hopeful using her feline expertise and force-free training techniques.   Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you first get into animal behavior and training, and what you are doing now? I studied English and professional writing in college and grad school, and worked a couple of writing and editing jobs. In 2017, I was so bored and miserable that I just quit without any real plans. I took some time to figure out what I wanted to do with… Continued

Thinking Outside the Shelter

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By Melissa Taylor  Like many shelters, my shelter, Friends For Life Animal Shelter in Houston, Texas, relies heavily on volunteers to meet the needs of program animals. In 2019, our volunteers donated 21,046 hours – enough to replace 10 full-time employees. Every day, these generous individuals spend shifts walking dogs, playing with cats, and cleaning kennels, but they also devote much of their time to behavior-related duties. Behavioral services for companion animals can be so resource intensive that shelter administrators may consider in-house behavior programs to be a luxury rather… Continued

Building a Feline Behavior Volunteer Program…from Scratch

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By Melissa Taylor and Alese Zeman There’s no way we at Friends For Life Animal Shelter can handle all of Houston, Texas’s feline behavior needs, but sometimes it seems like there’s no avoiding it. Not a single day goes by that we aren’t called by a desperate adopter, completely at their wits’ end. What’s even more alarming is knowing that the ones who reach out are just the tip of the iceberg: only a fraction of pet caregivers tend to contact behavior professionals, even though doing so reduces the risk… Continued

Fear at the Vet: Examining Risk Factors

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BARKS: How important is the behavior of the guardian in the context of attending the vet; was this found to have any influence on the dog’s behavior/emotional state? Petra Edwards: Behavior of the guardian wasn’t investigated in the above study (Edwards et al., 2019b), however Csoltova et al. (2017) found that guardians patting and interacting with their dog in a positive and supportive manner had dogs that showed fewer signs of fear than guardians who did not interact with their dog. I love this because it also beautifully discounts that… Continued

BARKS Podcast with Sara McLoudrey: February 19, 2021

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Join Niki Tudge, Sara McLoudrey of Synergy Behavior Solutions as they chat about dog training and behavior consulting. Listen to the Podcast here on your preferred platform. Or simply click ‘Play’ below. Sara McLoudrey CPDT-KSA, FearFree Level 1 and Certified Trainer, Low-Stress Handling Silver Certification, FitPaws-MT, TagTeach L3, is the behavior modification and training coordinator at Synergy Behavior Solutions, a veterinary behavior practice in Portland, Oregon. She has been a professional animal trainer since 2004, founding ROOT Dog Training in suburban Chicago. ROOT started as a single proprietor in-home training business, that grew… Continued

Getting Willow: How the Loss of One Dog Taught Me How to Grieve and Love Again

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By Sonya Bevan *This post is the Pet Professional Guild Australia winning entry in our Geek Week 2020 Writers’ Competition* I lost the love of my life on my birthday. I chose the day to sit by her side and say farewell. Although it felt like I had no choice. Zuri, my Rhodesian Ridgeback and keeper of my heart, was dying of cancer which had spread mercilessly to her lungs and abdomen. Every decision I had made up to this point was meant to prevent this. I was shocked to… Continued

How I TRAINED My Dog to Take a Pill

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By Eileen Anderson Most of us have used the “hide it” method at one time or another to get our dogs to take pills. In fact, I wrote a whole post about some ways to sneak pills into dogs. But there’s a better way. What if you never had to hide a pill again? What if your dog would take a pill almost like a human? Instead of washing it down with a drink of water, your dog would get a favorite treat afterward instead. Pill-taking can be trained as a behavior. It… Continued

Sponsor All About Puppies & Kittens

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Chat & Chuckle with Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey) About Play and Enrichment for Cats

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Join Laura Cassiday and Joanna Wachowiak-Finlaison as they chat and chuckle with Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey) about tricks, games, and enrichment for cats! Sassafras Patterdale (Lowrey) CPDT-KA is an award-winning author whose books have been honored by organizations ranging from the American Library Association to the Dog Writers Association of America. Sassafras’ books include Tricks In The City, Healing/Heeling, and Chew This Journal: An Activity Book For You And Your Dog. Sassafras is also the author of the Cat Writers Association Finalist book, Claw This Journal: An Activity Book for Cat Lovers. Sassafras is a Certified Trick Dog… Continued

Eye Drops for Dogs, the Premack Principle, and Stationing on the Stairs

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Students often ask me, “When can I stop training my dog.” That’s when I reply, “I never stop training.” By continuing to train, I keep my dog engaged, her life enriched, and my skills sharp. For example, my continued training with Muppy helped me quickly address a new behavioral challenge related to her health. Last spring Muppy was seen by an eye specialist and was prescribed eye drops that she requires every morning. Dr. Blackwood explained that one of the drops might sting and could cause Muppy to be less… Continued

Chat & Chuckle with T Hamboyan Harrison About Strategies for Handling Fearful Cats

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Join Laura Cassiday and Joanna Wachowiak-Finlaison as they chat and chuckle with T. Hamboyan Harrison of A Cat’s Purrspective about strategies for handling fearful cats. T Hamboyan Harrison is a cat behavior consultant at A Cat’s Purrspective, LLC. As a disabled person, T especially enjoys helping cats with chronic medical conditions. T has spent over a decade volunteering with cats in local rescues and shelters, and has several cats of their own at home. T has certifications through IAABC (CCBC, ACSB-C) and Fear Free Pets (FFCP, animal trainer) and is… Continued

British Isles Chapter

Dayle Pierce with PPG Staff Member Phoenix Your chapter co-leader and a member of PPG’s Steering Committee Email Dayle Nathan Watson Your chapter co-leader and a member of PPG’s Steering Committee Email Nathan Tom Candy Member of PPG’s Steering Committee representing the British Isles Chapter Email Tom At its heart, the UK Dog Behaviour & Training Charter™ is a code of conduct, ethics and methodology. More than that however, the Charter is a collaboration of many of the UK’s leading behaviour and training membership organisations who for the first time… Continued

Expert Opinions

DR. KAREN L. OVERALL Karen L. Overall is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behavior (ACVB) and is certified by the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) as an Applied Animal Behaviorist.World renowned animal expert Karen Overall has spoken out over many years of the ineffectiveness and ill that results when electric shock is used as a training tool on dogs. “As a specialist in veterinary behavioral medicine I have been advocating for banning the use of shock collars of any kind for years. There are now ample published data… Continued

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