Animal behavior consultants come from all walks of life. One of the most common questions IAABC gets is about how to get started working with pets and their people. The truth is, there’s no set career path, and no single qualification that prepares you for this uniquely challenging, endlessly fascinating work. In this series, we’ll be talking to each of our IAABC division chairs about how they made their love of animals into their profession.
This issue we interviewed our Parrot Division chair, Stephanie Edlund, about how she became Sweden’s only professional avian behavior consultant.
When did you decide to pursue behavior as a profession?
I’m not entirely certain when I first decided that working with behavior specifically was what I wanted to do – but as for deciding to work with animals, that was pretty early on! My aunt has an interview with me back from when I was 5 years old, in which I proudly stated that I would be a zoologist or marine biologist when I grew up. For someone who feels a bit all over the place most of the time, I guess I’ve been pretty goal oriented after all! I think wanting to work with behavior as a career was something that slowly grew as I learned more and had the chance to practice my new skills at home, and at my work as a zookeeper. It was very addictive and just the kind of work I’ve always been best suited for: a mix of theoretical knowledge, nitty-gritty practical application and problem solving.
One of my first clients that really sticks out was a board-and-train case. It was this lovely old African Grey that belonged to a very sweet old lady. She loved him but couldn’t handle him at all, and this bird hadn’t left his cage in many years, sadly. She was going away for a couple of weeks, so we figured he would stay at my place and I would start working with him. We got very far in that short amount of time; he learned how to step up and regain some trust, learned how to forage for his food, and eventually dared to spend a bit of time outside his cage. I learned so much from that case, and seeing how much positive influence I could have over both the parrot’s and the person’s lives was really thrilling, and it definitely left me wanting more.
How did you get started in your behavior education?
My first real experience with animal behavior in a more professional setting was back when I started studying to become a zookeeper at a school here in Sweden. (Which I guess would be the equivalent of American high school, although our system is generally very different!) I got the chance to study ethology and do a lot of practical behavioral studies. I was especially interested in animal welfare and enrichment, and did a lot of work on those topics.
During my last year of that three-year program I was lucky enough to meet Susan Friedman and attend a weekend version of her Living and Learning with Animals class here. I had been doing a bit of clicker training with birds before that, but when I was introduced to ABA properly in her course, I felt like I finally found that piece of the puzzle that was missing, and my infatuation with understanding animal behavior definitely became even stronger. I would say it took off for real about then, which was around seven years ago now. Since then I’ve spent a great deal of time and money on education. Learning new things and getting to work them into what I do is probably my favorite thing about this business. And I think it kind of has to be if you want to become good at what you do.
How you got started in developing practical skills?
At first I was mostly self-taught. When I started training parrots, I didn’t know of any trainer near me, except in a zoo, who actually worked with training birds or did it in any kind of professional manner, or even just well. I was pretty young and mostly tried stuff I found on email lists and online forums about clicker training birds at first. As I learned more I tried recording myself training as much as I could, but it was pretty tricky—camera phones weren’t very common yet, so I only had a webcam on a desktop computer to do it with! Later I was lucky enough to attend a lot of workshops and get much-needed practical feedback. When it comes to the hands-on aspect of dealing with behavior cases, I just did my best to translate what I knew about the theory and what I had learned from the available experts overseas so that it would work in practice. It would definitely have been a lot easier and initially more successful with a personal mentor!
How did you know when you were ready to take on private clients?
I didn’t! In hindsight, I wasn’t ready at all when I first started, and ironically I think I felt on top of things in the beginning, but gradually started feeling less and less ready as I did more and more work. I’m the only professional parrot behavior consultant I know of in my country, and definitely the only certified one. Since there really weren’t many people to turn to for hands-on help, and I had such a big interest in behavior, I received a lot of questions about it. I helped many people try to problem-solve in a less structured manner for quite a few years before I started offering more formal services. At first when I tried it out as a business I only took on less severe cases on a paid basis, but still helped with some more difficult ones free of charge, since there simply weren’t that many other options for people to turn to most of the time. Not an ideal beginning at all, and I probably made a lot of mistakes that could have been avoided under different circumstances.
What do you wish you’d known when you were starting out?
How much I didn’t know! But also, to be a bit contradictory, that you can’t know everything when you start, and that it has to be okay as long as you are humble about it to yourself and your clients, and do your best to continually fill in the gaps in your own knowledge and skills. And of course, it’s important to reach out for help when you need it. Assessing your own competence is really tricky, which is why organizations like the IAABC are so important.
And the importance of people skills, definitely! Knowing how best to work with the humans as well as their animals was probably my biggest obstacle early on. Also knowing that professional people skills are something you can learn and practice, not something you are born with.
Any challenging times where you questioned your decision to pursue behavior as a career? What did you do to overcome them?
Oh, definitely. I have a bad habit of being very critical towards myself, so I tend to question if I have what it takes pretty often. It does happen less and less with experience, though. Caring too much is an ongoing challenge that I think most consultants can relate to, too. That is probably the biggest one for me, so developing (mostly) healthy coping strategies is really important.
What resources are available now that you wish you’d been able to take advantage of back in the day?
The IAABC! And good camera phones. Definitely good camera phones.
If you’re interested in pursuing a career as an animal behavior consultant and you’d like to learn more, our series of articles, “Animal Behavior Consulting 101,” covers all the most common questions. For a thorough introduction to the knowledge and skills you need to be successful, consider signing up for IAABC’s Animal Behavior Consulting: Principles & Practice online course—check out the syllabus on our website.
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Mike is an emerging animal behaviorist sitting in Minnesota in the US. He carries an MSc in social science research methods (U. of Kentucky) and brings a passion for understanding how the methods we favor shape the knowledge we privilege. Coming from careers in teaching and non-profit program evaluation, he found companion animal behavior by accident helping anxious feline friends in a unique shelter in Ohio. It is a privilege and a joy to combine these and advance the journal in this exciting time of growth.
Alexandra is a certified dog behavior consultant and holds a PhD in neuroscience. She has spent over a decade in academic research and is author of numerous scientific articles on different aspects of brain development, including olfaction, neurogenesis, and memory formation. Her work as a behavior consultant focuses on creating trusting relationships between humans and their dogs through communication, respect, and science-based knowledge. Alexandra is very dedicated to promoting more science within the dog training world. She supports dog guardians and professionals to build a solid understanding of scientific principles and provides guidance on how to apply these to life with dogs. She runs Canine Mindscape in Alicante, Spain.
I’m an Argentinean-Italian dog trainer and CSAT who spent eight amazing years in Brazil learning and working with dogs. Now based in Europe, I volunteer with the IAABC as a translator and, in my free time, help rehomed dogs settle into their new families. I love bridging languages—and hearts—between people and their dogs.
I’m a translator, editor and journalist, as well as canine educator for children and families, specialized in canine body language. I am part of the IAABC Family since 2019, as Language Director at the IAABC and Translators Team Lead at the IAABC Foundation, at the moment. I volunteer at local shelters and promote bite prevention and animal welfare at schools and events all over my country, Uruguay.
I’m a Chilean veterinarian and certified dog trainer, based in Madrid and working at a veterinary clinic. I’ve been volunteering with the IAABC and the IAABC Foundation for over seven years. In my free time, I help dogs and their guardians strengthen their bond, and I love spending quality time with my own dogs.
Master’s Degree in Natural Sciences, with a strong interest in environmental sustainability and the protection of natural ecosystems. Passionate about writing and science communication, she collaborates with multidisciplinary teams on research projects, such as Equine International, and with non-profit initiatives in the environmental and cultural fields. She is writing for different magazines, including IAABC Foundation. Her major goal is to improve horse’s welfare through behaviour research and empirical practice.
Adrienne Hovey is the copy editor for the IAABC Foundation journal and the owner of 
I believe that knowledge from a wide range of disciplines fosters a more empathetic, curious, and engaging world. I am passionate about social, environmental, and minority rights issues (both human and non-human), and this has invariably led me down the road of multi-species anthropology. Perpetually curious about the world we live in, I hope to contribute towards making the world a kinder place for all of us earthlings to live on!
Beckie Wheldon is based in England, UK, and has been supporting the IAABC Foundation Journal team as a volunteer journal content editor since early 2025. She has a BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour and Welfare, and has recently completed a MSc Clinical Animal Behaviour. With a passion for both practical and theory, Beckie is proud to be a part of the journal submission journey and support the process of applied animal behaviour information and research getting from our writers to the readers. As her full-time career, Beckie is currently part of the UK veterinary charity, PDSA, as a Learning and Development Business Partner for Veterinary, where she supports the professional development of people in their Veterinary Hospitals. Her last position was with the rescue charity, Dogs Trust, as a Canine Behavioural Welfare Manager, where she worked on embedding evidence-based behavioural welfare best practices throughout policy and practices, with both internal and external professional stakeholders, such as the police and military. With a varied background in kennels, caregiver education, and charity dog training classes, Beckie is also an accredited Animal Training Instructor (APDT UK) and an Associate Clinical Animal Behaviourist (APBC).
Erin Jones, PhD, IAABC-ADT, CDBC, CPDT-KA, CANZ-ATI, CANZ-ABC, is the Journal Director of the IAABC Foundation Journal. She holds a PhD in Human–Animal Studies, an MSc in Anthrozoology, a PG Dip in Animal Welfare, and a BSc (Hons) in Anthropology and Psychology. An international presenter, editor, writer and mentor, Erin’s writing bridges research and practice with a focus on the intersection of philosophy, ethics and dog-centered behaviour practice. She is the author of Constructing Canine Consent and co-editor of Topics in Non/Human Coexistence and numerous academic and trade journal publications.