Your Questions about the Joint Standards of Practice

On September 11th, 2018, IAABC, APDT, and CCPDT announced an agreement called the Joint Standards of Practice. This document, adopted by all three organizations, lays out the principles we believe...

By The IAABC Foundation Editing Team

Spay and Neuter Surgery’s Effects on Dog Health

Twenty-odd years ago when I first started practicing veterinary medicine, if a client asked when they should spay or neuter their dog, my response was “6 or 7 months of...

By David Lane, DVM

Cooperative Care With a Cat: Using a Fun Trick to Facilitate Easy Nail Trims

This video series shows the training of my cat, Spree, to willingly accept nail trims by using a previously learned behavior of “shaking hands.”

By Cheryl Kolus, DVM

The Use of a Startle Test to Determine the Differences Between Hot-Blooded and Cold-Blooded Equines – Is the Stereotype True?

The performance of your horse is dependent upon both their physical capabilities and their temperament. Performance is optimised when the right match is found between the horse and rider. With...

By Zoe Braybrook

Helping Dogs in High-Rise Living Situations: Beyond Skills Training

For the past decade, I have been training dogs in Chicago’s busy South Loop and the surrounding neighborhoods.

By Judit Arroyo

Setting Everybunny Up for Success! Helping Rabbits Succeed in Their Adoptive Homes, Part 1: At the Shelter

One of the world’s most popular pets, rabbits are known for their adorable ears, noses, and cotton tails, but little is commonly understood about their behavior.

By Emily Cassell

Pig behavior in videos on social media: Cute, but concerning

I’ve been working with companion pigs for years, and I find them endlessly fascinating.

By Laura Bourhenne

Calgary Bird School: An Obedience Class for Companion Parrots

In a little city in Canada, owners are meeting once a month for a dog training class. Except there are no dogs in this class, only parrots! Birds in class...

By Robin Horemans, KPA-CTP

The Relationship Between Feeding Routines of Dog Owners in the U.K. and Food-related Problem Behaviours in Dogs

Control over a dog’s diet and feeding routine is at the discretion and choice of the owner. There are many contributing factors and influences that will determine what, how, where,...

By Kate Livesey and Stella Chapman, DVM

What Can Street Dogs Teach Us About Socialization?

By Gail Fisher There are certain truths we all hold as self-evident. One is that basic training is essential for all dogs. A dog whose behavior is “civilized” is able...

By Gail Fisher

What We Need to Learn About Missing Dogs

The Missing Animal Response Network is an international network of lost-pet recovery specialists (volunteers and professionals) who are interested in learning as much as we can about the behavioral patterns...

By Kat Albrecht & IAABC Editing Team

Environmental Enrichment for the Horse: The Need to Forage

The most commonly used definition of environmental enrichment is by Shepherdson (1998): “an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing...

By Louise Nicholls

Hunting Enrichment for Indoor Cats Part 1: Indoor Activities

When one thinks of “enrichment” for cats, typically food-based activities such as treat balls come to mind, along with cat toys. A few cats are unmotivated by the treat ball,...

By Kathryn Weil

From Foes to Friends: Using Positive Reinforcement to Teach a Cat and Dog to Happily Coexist

Si is an approximately 6-year-old domestic short haired tabby cat. He was found as a stray when he was about a year old. At the time, our home consisted of...

By Tori Ganino, CDBC, CPDT-KA

Tort Reform: On Training a Tortoise in Nose Work

I began training dogs as a teenager almost 40 years ago, and my interest in other species has been expanding as I continue to learn and grow as a professional....

By Linda Brodzik

Special Challenges of Senior Cats in Shelters

For over a decade, I have volunteered in the cat areas at Dallas Animal Services (DAS), a municipal shelter which has the fifth highest intake volume of animals in the...

By Molly DeVoss, CFTBS

What is Cooperative Care?

Cooperative care involves training an animal to not only tolerate handling and husbandry procedures, but to be an active, willing participant in these experiences. Cooperative care is quite common in...

By Sarah Dixon, CDBC, Lauren Fraser, CHBC, and Stephanie Edlund, CPBC

Teach Your Bird to Play Family Games!

In my childhood household, you weren’t an actual human until you could play the card game Rummy. Our family comprised two parents and four kids, and my poor youngest brother...

By Jennifer Cunha

Issue 10 | November 2018