by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | General
As animal behavior professionals, we should all be committed to keeping up with the scientific basis for our practices, and we want to know when new discoveries about how animals think, perceive, and learn are made so we can critically appraise them and decide how to...
by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | Working Animals
Michele Pouliot is widely credited with introducing positive reinforcement-based training to the guide dog world and promoting the expansion of Clicker Training internationally within the guide dog field. Before she started working with guide dogs in 1974, Michele was...
by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | Cat
Multi-cat homes where all the cats live indoors are growing more and more common in today’s feline world, as shelters, breeders, and behavior consultants recognize the benefits of bringing more than one cat home. In fact, most people who have cats have two or...
by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | Dog
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease commonly seen in pet dogs. It has been found that 80% of dogs over the age of 8, and 20% of dogs over the age of 1 have osteoarthritis to some degree, with complications of arthritis being one of the leading causes of euthanasia in...
by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | Cat
Recent research (Chalkowski et. al 2019) into whether outdoor access was a risk factor in the spread of 19 different pathogens, some of which transmit to humans and wildlife as well as to other cats, revealed that cats with outdoor access were 2.77 times more likely...
by Joshua | Oct 31, 2019 | Parrot
A few years ago, I had the privilege of attending a weeklong workshop at Natural Encounters, Inc. in Florida. I signed up for it on the advice of and endorsement by several other trainers and was thrilled at the prospect of spending several days in Florida with...
by Joshua | Oct 30, 2019 | Dog
Dog trainers and behavior consultants tend to spend a lot of time helping our learners – the clients, not their dogs – develop new skills to help manage their canines. Yet early in my career I had observed that the majority of our professional development tends to be...
by Joshua | Oct 24, 2019 | Dog
Winner of the 2019 Rebecca Park Scholarship It is my slogan to help people understand animals mindfully and sympathise with their needs and feelings based on scientific knowledge. Our companion animals have their own needs and feelings. All animals are unique and...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | Shelter
Building a relationship with your local rescue can not only be a way of improving the welfare and rehomeability of many dogs but can also help with expanding your client base and business. Time is a hugely important and often stretched resource and therefore the idea...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | contents, contents, Working Animals
Anna and I were standing at the back of a queue of woolly bottoms. Anna is my German shepherd dog, and the woolly bottoms belong to my 200 Poll Dorset sheep. We all work together on a small farm in Dorset, U.K., where we study traditional herding techniques,...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | General
In this regular column, we ask animal behavior consultants how they approach some of the most common challenges in working with clients. This issue, we’re covering two subjects. Lisa Ackerman discusses her approach to working with a family where one or more members...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | General, Reptile
Environmental enrichment and focus on animal welfare are now common practice for many pets. Some companies have started producing toys specifically designed for foraging. It’s even becoming standard in zoological facilities to provide such opportunities for many of...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | Horse
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard (or seen on social media) someone say “I’ve had all the physical checks so it must be behavioural” when referring to a behavioural problem. What exactly are “all the physical checks”? A...
by Joshua | Oct 22, 2019 | Dog
The concept of mat work or place training is nothing new in dog training. However, it remains one of my favorite behaviors to teach because it is very useful for pet owners and extremely versatile in behavior modification work. This involves teaching a dog to go to a...
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