by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | Cat
Veterinarians must do the impossible to preserve the physical and emotional health of their patients. Advising owners on how to transport their pets in a vehicle is essential, since it is common for dogs and cats to travel for clinical consultation by car, where if...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | Dog
Case information: Name: Remy Age: Approximately 7 years old Breed: Texas heeler (Australian cattle dog/border collie/Australian shepherd mix) Sex: Female, spayed History Presenting complaint: Human-directed aggression while being toweled off. Acquired from and age at...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | General
As trainers, one of the key skills we have to learn is reinforcement delivery. It looks like the easiest part of training but, in fact, it’s one of the parts that can cause the most frustration for teacher and learner! Errors in delivery can reinforce the wrong...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | General
Readers were introduced to Boo, a male grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horriblis), in the Winter 2018 and Winter 2019 issues of the IAABC Journal. Born in 2002, Boo weighs around 550-600 pounds in the spring, and up to 750-850 pounds in the winter before hibernation. We...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | Parrot
I applied to the Natural Encounters Inc. (NEI) professional animal training course in April. I spent the rest of the year eagerly anticipating the course. I figured January was a great time to head to Florida, especially since I’m from cold Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | General
With great enthusiasm, I traveled to Mexico City to participate in CICA 2020. I arrived two days earlier to meet my IAABC Mexico colleagues and to finally get to know some members of our volunteer team in person. Along with Sandy Guevara, Paola Morali, and Hugo Bravo,...
by Joshua | Apr 27, 2020 | Shelter
The concept of socially conscious sheltering (SCS) as an approach to sheltering was developed in Colorado by shelter leaders Apryl Steele, DVM, Jan McHugh-Smith, Lisa Pederson, and Judy Calhoun. Three of these shelter leaders co-authored an article, “Crisis in Animal...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2020 | Shelter
This is a reflection on a distemper outbreak/quarantine from a behavior perspective, as opposed to an operations, medical, or management review. Our shelter Maricopa County Animal Care and Control is located in Phoenix, Arizona. We have two shelter locations known as...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2020 | Parrot
Many of our clients have been told not to pet their parrots. Don’t touch your bird here, don’t touch your bird there…but of course they (and we!) still want to, and can’t always resist. This leaves the question: What can we do, and what should we tell our behavior...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2020 | General
What is pain? Pain, simply defined, is an aversive sensory experience. In general, it can be broadly categorized as either nociceptive or neuropathic. Nociceptive pain is caused by a noxious stimulus, associated with actual, or in response to potential, tissue damage,...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2020 | Dog
Early puppy socialization classes can have the most beneficial effect on the future success of a dog’s life. Good classes teach owners how to better understand their puppy, while introducing the puppy during their most critical learning period to all the things they...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2020 | Working Animals
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official position on the topic of the organization he is working for. There is a huge variety in service dog tasks, and there are some core skills every service dog should...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Horse
I have been working with dogs and their humans for over 20 years. In the last two to three years I have been practicing the use of training with applied behaviour analysis using positive reinforcement with species other than dogs. Applying the science of learning to...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Dog
Having a desire for balance between life and work is something that most people can easily relate to. Being in academics can be challenging in and of itself. Add in work and your own dogs, and it can feel pretty daunting at times. This is my story as a PhD candidate,...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Cat
Have you done cat reintroductions for clients, where everything was going fine until they removed the gate? Perhaps a cat chased the other one once the gate was removed. Or a cat just turned and hid when there was no gate. Or one cat played in a manner that was too...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | contents, contents
There’s a conundrum when it comes to the training and behavior management of animals in zoos: Training may be considered important for the management of animals but is often viewed as a luxury. It’s not uncommon to hear keepers make statements such as, “I’ll train if...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Shelter
As a professional working in animal behavior and training, I have always enjoyed the partnership of human and non-human animal, and what a better way to embrace that than to start teaching young people to respect and love animals. That was my inspiration to create a...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Small Animals
Although hedgehogs have been domesticated for a significant period of time (dating back to B.C. times), they remain for the most part the solitary, relatively unsocial creatures that they are in the wild.1 Despite their rise in popularity, especially in recent years,...
by Joshua | Apr 20, 2020 | Dog
In a world where human beings claim to be the superior thinking creature, some of us are convinced that dogs, our lifetime partners, possess cognitive capabilities far more sophisticated than we ever imagined, abilities that we, for thousands of years underestimated....
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