Ep. 39 Research to Support Welfare with Dr. Lisa Gunter 

In this episode we dive into some of the amazing research of Dr Lisa Gunter and her Colleagues. Dr Gunters contributions to the field have a massive positive impact on dogs in shelter and rescue, from improving perception and rehomability to reducing stress there’s some great practical implementations of research to take away from this episode. 

About Dr. Lisa Gunter 

Lisa Gunter, PhD, MA, CBCC-KA is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the School of Animal Sciences and directs the Companion Animal Research & Education (CARE) Lab. Lisa’s research explores the behavior and welfare of companion animals, specifically our interactions with them, as it relates to animal sheltering, behavioral issues, and training.

Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Coastal Carolina University and the Maddie’s Fund Research Fellow at Arizona State University and managed the ASU/VT Maddie’s Nationwide Fostering Study. Lisa earned her PhD and MA degrees in the behavioral neuroscience and comparative psychology program at Arizona State University in the Canine Science Collaboratory.

Over her academic career, she has investigated owner-support programs that provide temporary care for pets; weeklong fostering, temporary stays, & short-term outings for shelter dogs; canine housing, social interaction, and barking interventions in the animal shelter; behavioral indicators of canine welfare; relinquishment and post-adoption interventions; and the genetic breed heritage and breed labeling of shelter dogs. 

Before beginning her graduate studies, she worked for nearly a decade with pets in animal shelters and with dogs and their owners. She was a behavior consultant and trainer in San Francisco, teaching group classes and consulting with owners experiencing issues of fear, anxiety, and aggression with their dogs. Her interest in canine behavior began in 2002 as an animal shelter volunteer, training dogs in basic skills and assisting in shelter dog playgroups. That interest grew into a professional career where she managed the behavior programs of several shelters throughout the West.

Her academic and professional experiences led Lisa to co-found Wagfield Academy, an online dog training and behavior resource for owners (which was acquired by the Humane Society of the United States Pets for Life program), and the Institute for Shelter Dogs with Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, where they combine the latest in shelter research with the current best practices in workshops for staff and volunteers. Seven years ago, she founded and annually organizes the Canine Science Symposium in San Francisco, which disseminates the latest applied canine science to practitioners from across the country.

Links 

Lisa’s Website https://www.lisamgunter.com

Lisa’s Research https://www.lisamgunter.com/research

Virginia Techs Program https://sas.vt.edu/academics/graduate-program.html

Canine Science Symposium https://www.caninesciencesymposium.com

Ep. 38 Supporting Rehoming to Homes with Children with Michelle Stern.

This week we look at what we can do before, during and after rehoming, to support a dog moving from shelter or rescue into a home with children. Wether existing children or a growing family join myself and Michelle as we discuss green and red flags for the dog and the homes. How to best prepare a dog and how we can support the transition with the aim of a happy life for all of the family

About Michelle Stern 

Michelle Stern cares about supporting parents, supporting kids, and helping dogs feel safe emotionally and physically; these three passions position her perfectly to work with families who are integrating their dogs into homes with children. This episode will support any listener who is, or plans to, integrate their dogs and children together in a way that is healthy and balanced.

Michelle Stern is a certified professional dog trainer, dog behavior consultant, certified family dog mediator, mom, and former classroom teacher. Her podcast is the Pooch Parenting Podcast, and you can learn more at PoochParenting.net.

Links and resources 

Free Workshop for Shelters and Dog Rescues: Successful Dog Placements in Families with Kids: https://poochparenting.net/workshop-for-rescues-placement-with-kids/

New Adoption Dog Handbook for Families with Kids: https://poochparenting.net/adoption-dog-handbook-for-families/

Reward charts 

https://fb.watch/zzswT-tYAT/?

In this episode I’m joined by Dr Findy Wills, a vet behaviourist with a passion for shelter and rescue dogs. Findy joins the pod to talk about differing attachment styles and how we can support these in shelter and rescue, and gives us some insights into her PHD studies that are currently underway,

About Findy

Dr Findy started as a small animal veterinarian in Newcastle NSW after graduating from the University of Sydney with first class honours. She has since been servicing the area for the past 15 years. In 2017, Dr Findy furthered her studies in animal behaviour with the University of Edinburgh, UK and graduated with a Masters degree in Clinical Animal Behaviour.

Let's Talk Paws Veterinary Behaviour Services was established with the goal of supporting human-animal relationships by providing owners with an understanding of behaviour from an animals' perspective and options for additional pharmaceutical support.

​Apart from seeing private patients, Dr Findy has extensive experience in shelter rehabilitation work and regularly provides her consultancy and post adoption services to RSPCA NSW and Greyhounds as Pets NSW.

This continued interest in post adoption support has motivated her to undertake a PhD candidature with the Psychology Department at the University of Sydney, researching the role and application of attachment styles in the rehoming of shelter dogs. ​

You can find out more about Findy Here

https://www.letstalkpaws.com.au/about-dr-findy.html

In this episode I’m joined by Jess Feliciano to look at how using food in training maybe more complicated than it seems! Off the back of her amazing presentation at Micheal Shikashios’ aggression in dogs conference, we discuss four main ways that’s treats might be the enemy! As well as the great friend we know they can be.

We look at

backward conditioning and poison cue

Oops moments

false sense of security

Reinforcement of undesirable behaviour

And how these four categories can affect our use of treats in shelter and rescue to maximise success.

About Jess

Jess started out her career by volunteering at a local, crowded shelter in NJ in 2004. She was immediately drawn to the aggressive and fearful dogs – the ones who sat in their cages because no one wanted to touch them. She wondered why the dogs acted that way and how she could change their behavior to make them more adoptable. From there, a passion grew.



Jess has continued to work as both a staff member and a volunteer at a number of different shelters and rescue groups in NJ and FL. In addition, she's worked in the veterinary field as a nurse since 2006. The combination of these two careers has allowed her to gain experience working with THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of dogs of various breeds and personalities.



Her private training career started in 2006 where she continued her passion for working with aggressive and fearful dogs, particularly ones who were at risk of being euthanized. Although she loves all dogs (and all animals in fact, as she's vegan!) she holds a special place for nationally blacklisted breeds such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Wolf Hybrids, Pit Bulls, Akitas, Dobermans, Chow Chows, etc. These misunderstood dogs are the ones who need an advocate the most!

Links

Michael shikashio vip- https://aggressivedog.thinkific.com/bundles/the-aggression-in-dogs-ultimate-access-membership

Jess insta - https://www.instagram.com/rotndogtraining/

Jess website- https://rotndogrehab.wixsite.com/rotndogtraining

in this episode Carm Aufderheide Joins me to talk about how we can become conflict Olympians. Working in shelter and rescue can often lead to difficult, emotionally charged situations. Being able to handle these to the best of our abilities can really aid welfare by gaining a better understanding of struggles, pressure and behaviour from the owners point of view.

Carm discusses how we can create safe environments for people, Understand our own emotions and those of others and how we can support ourselves as well as owners.

About Carm

I’m Carmaleta Aufderheide, but I mostly go by Carm. Before working with dogs, I had a rich NICU nursing career and raised a family. I then returned to graduate school to earn my master’s degree in conflict and dispute resolution (CRES). During my time in CRES, I conducted research investigating the impacts of the human-animal bond with vulnerable populations that sealed my future as a professional dog trainer.

After completing CRES, I graduated from the Karen Pryor Professional Dog Training Academy (KPA-CTP), and soon after earned my Certified Professional Dog Training credentials (CPDT-KA).

Since 2016, I’ve helped improve communication and repair strained relationships for hundreds of people and their dogs. After 6 years of helping clients and their dogs reach their training goals ranging from obedience, therapy prep, canine good citizen prep, and fear reactivity...it was separation anxiety cases that continually held my attention. The difficulty of these cases was unparalleled with poor resolution.

Traditional training often fell short and I wanted more for my clients, so I invested in more education and earned my Certified Separation Anxiety Training credentials under the mentorship of Malena DeMartini, a world leader on separation anxiety.

Ep. 34 Smelly Toys are Best with Skylar Howard.

In this episode Skylar joins me to discuss her recent paper looking at if scent improves dog’s interactions with toys. Improving the use of toys is a great way to improve enrichment but also in terms of where to focus resources and funds! Skylar investigated this topic as part of her master’s degree and breaks down the paper and results for us to see the practical impact the study can have!

About Skylar Howard

Skylar is the dog behaviour coordinator at the Lewis and Clark humane society, where she is able to successfully utilise the knowledge gained on her MS Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare master’s Degree which she studied with Dr. Lisa gunter and Dr Erica Feuerbacher at Virginia Tech.

Links

LCHS-https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=lewis%20and%20clark%20humane%20society

The paper- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159124002314?dgcid=author

In this episode were joined by Devan Amundsen to discuss successful ways of introducing our shelter and rescue dogs to adopters dogs. Introductions can be tricky, often with a lot of pressure attached due to the potential loss of a good home, accidental fights or unsuccessful re-homes .Devan does an amazing job of exploring the multifaceted aspects of this topic and provides great tips for making doggy dating a success.

About Devan

https://www.animalwelfareunited.com/about_1/about-devan

Ep. 32 cross collaboration and community programs with Beverly McKee

Ep. 31 Prognosis Setting for Behaviour and Welfare in Shelters with Dr. Wailani Sung

Ep 30. Holistic Approach to Reactivity with Dante Camacho