Issue 10 | November 2018
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...
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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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.