Issue 2 | November 2016
The Human-Avian Bond
According to the 2015-2016 American Pet Products Association survey, 6.1 million American households own an estimated 14.3 million birds, making birds the fourth most common pet following dogs, cats, and...
Enrichment for Small Animals and Birds in Shelters: Often Overlooked But Much Needed
Animal shelter staff members often find themselves caring for (and rehoming) many animals besides cats and dogs.
A Circle of Friends Makes the Difference for Chiquita: A Video Case Study
Chiquita was living with two other under-socialized dogs in the previous home. Their owner was starting cancer treatment, and could no longer care for all three dogs. We ended up...
Case Study: Raisin
An abandoned, adolescent, block-headed terrier mix arrived at the shelter with little impulse control, biting at clothing and jumping on people as they passed by. Reactive to other dogs, barking...
The Future of Compassion Fatigue Education: Working Partnerships with Mental Health Professionals
The concept of compassion fatigue (CF) has received increased attention in the animal care and welfare professions in recent years. This is a positive trend. Today, thanks to courses such...
Case Study: Linda and Joe – Part Two
The first part of this case study, covering Joe’s initial presentation, background, and history was presented in the June 2016 issue of the IAABC Foundation Journal. The following information covers...
Drama-free DRA for Barking
A dog barking and charging at the front door is by no means a new or unexplained phenomenon. Many of them do it with encouragement from their owners as “protectors,”...
FeBARQ: Applied Research on Domestic Cat Behavior
Over 10 years after the release of the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (CBARQ), cat owners finally have a feline version of this behavioral assessment tool available online. The...
Health And Welfare Benefits Of A Varied Diet For Horses
The New Forest pony is a native breed of the British Isles. Many of them are domestic horses that are ridden and worked, but free to roam and graze across...
Interview With Dr. Alexandra Protopopova
“I was actually planning to be a veterinarian.” And so were declared the earliest professional aspirations of Alexandra (Sasha) Protopopova, PhD, a scientist whose work is finding a varied and...
Interview with Brennen McKenzie, the SkeptVet
Complementary and alternative veterinary medicine is a multimillion-dollar industry that encompasses everything from reiki to ...
The Science of Finding Lost Pets
If you were to ask me to spend the day searching a remote, wilderness area like the Cascade Mountains for a missing person, but you gave me no details about...
Writing for the Internet
The Internet has offered us a wonderful means of communicating with each other. Whether you want to write for pet dog owners or other dog trainers, or even produce more...
Best Practices in Husbandry and Handling
It has been a very busy and exciting time since the inaugural journal issue. Video submissions have been pouring into my email from talented trainers and veterinary professionals from around...
How Do You Spell Behavior? At Darwin’s Dogs, We Use Gs, Cs, Ts, and As.
There are approximately 3 billion bases—represented by the letters G, C, T, or A—in a dog genome. A majority of these are the same across all dogs—these are the bits...
The Ethics of Medicating Dogs with Behavior Issues in a Shelter Setting
Each year, millions of pets are surrendered to humane societies, county pounds, and private rescue groups. While a survey of the research shows broad variation nationally, it is fairly well...
Why Do We Train Sit? Should We Reconsider Its Relevance?
As far as I can tell, training a dog to sit originated in regulations formed for competition obedience around the 1920s. Before then, dogs were primarily used for sporting and...
Pet Rabbits: Further Research Warranted on Behavior and Husbandry
The domestic rabbit is a popular choice among keepers of small and exotic companion animals.
Service Dogs: Ethics and Education Part Two—Certification, or Common Sense?
A persistent myth exists that service dogs have been granted rights to access places where pets are not allowed. No government agency grants such access rights to dogs; it is...
IAABC News for October 2016
This Summer we’ve been focusing on developing high quality educational resources for animal behavior consultants, animal trainers, and the general public.
An Interview with Tara Gifford
It’s simpler to ask Tara Gifford what type of animal she hasn’t trained—from dogs and horses to sharks and tigers, Tara has worked with them all. Currently, she owns a...
Pawsimony: Oh, Deer
A Facebook group shared this video claiming the deer “intuitively” knew to keep still so that the man could rescue it.
Sit Means Play!
It was a second training session with an adorable Labradoodle puppy and his family. He lay patiently at their side while we began talking through solving the issues that come...
Panic and Pain as Complications of the Cat-Dog Relationship
You have—or your client has—a dog who is completely non-reactive to the household cats; in fact, she may even appear to love them.
Case Study: Dog-directed Food Aggression
A three-year-old neutered collie mix dog had recently aggressed to a level three bite onto two other dogs while in a home boarding facility. The family also reported were two...
Therapy Animals
One of the very first things I learned when I started visiting hospitals with a therapy dog was that the people I visited were touched by what they perceived as...
Equine Video Ethogram
Understanding body language is one of the core skills anyone living with animals needs in order to make the best decisions about their care.
Clicker Training for Horses: A Video Series
Clicker training is slowly gaining ground in the equine world. Please join me in a series of videos that discuss and demonstrate foundational lessons for both horse and human.
Rehabilitating an Umbrella Cockatoo
I adopted a male cockatoo from an animal shelter in February 2007. His name was Charlie, and he had obviously been neglected physically, emotionally, and socially.
Canine Neurobics: A Curriculum to Improve Brain Health
Canine problem behavior can stem from issues related to anxiety, impulse control, and boredom. Applied animal behaviorists often
What Is Clicker Training Horses Actually Good For?
Clicker training is one of the recent success stories of equestrianism. It makes use of a bridging signal to indicate the moment of the
Stats Trek II: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
The next few articles in this space will deal with the dissection of scientific papers, and how YOU, dear reader, can make ...
What Do Trainers Know About How Horses Learn?
When the June 2016 issue of the IAABC Foundation Journal ran an article on eliminating the use of aversives in equestrian training, I felt inspired to offer a summary of...
Human Centered Design as a Framework for Successful Canine Treatment Plan Implementation
As the applied animal behavior profession continues to grow and innovate, how can human-centered design methodologies be applied to increase the implementation of successful canine treatment plans?
Compliance and Manipulation in the Dog Training World
As behavior consultants, we know that it’s important that our clients get on board with the plans we make, and follow through with what we’re trying to teach them. Usually,...
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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.