Preventing and Reducing Fear in the Shelter Environment. Presented by Dr. Karolina Westlund

In this webinar, Karolina discusses how to recognize the subtle signs of fear in cats and dogs. She talks about why it’s important to nip fear in the bud, what makes animals fearful and how fear learning may impact the animal’s personality, behaviour and welfare. Also, how we can prevent and reduce fear through addressing the animals’ learning as well as making changes to the environment.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize fearful behaviours in cats and dogs
2. Name common innate fear stimuli
3. What is fear learning and why is it important
4. What is latent inhibition and how can you use it
5. What is counterconditioning, how can you use it – and what are the common mistakes that people make?
6. Why systematic desensitization is better than flooding
7. How you can arrange the environment to prevent and reduce fear

Your Presenters- Dr. Karolina Westlund

Karolina Westlund helps pet lovers and animal professionals get happier animals that thrive in the care of humans. She grew up pining for a kitten for several years, and pestering her parents until they gave up. The green-eyed black half-siamese cat that she got for her seventh birthday became a true friend who lived to be 21 years old, but an easily startled cat who often went into hiding when there were visitors.

Karolina had grand ideas about becoming a field biologist, but that never came about – the closest she got was working as a trekking travel guide in France and Madeira. Instead she majored in Ethology and developed a passionate interest in animal welfare seen through a multidisciplinary lens, including Behaviour Analysis and Affective Neuroscience. She is now an Associate Professor of Ethology at the University of Stockholm, mostly teaching how behaviour management can be used to improve animal welfare.

She offers live seminars, free online webinars and masterclasses in addition to more extensive online courses, as well as the occasional blog post or scientific publication on the topic of enrichment, animal training and wellbeing. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with her husband, two kids, and, hopefully soon, another cat.

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