Simplifying Shelter Behaviour

in this episode join me and world leading veterinary behaviourist Dr. Chris Pachel as we discuss simplifying the use of behaviour medication in shelter dogs. This is often a controversial topic but it’s an important consideration for our toolkit when considering welfare and behaviour modification! Dr Chris Pachel, DVM, Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorist (DACVB), Certified Animal Behavior Consultant (CABC), and Owner of the Animal Behavior Clinic. Dr. Pachel lectures worldwide, teaches veterinary schools courses, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for dvm360. He is also a Vice-president of Veterinary Behavior for Instinct Dog Behavior and Training, as well as co-owner of Instinct Portland, which opened in the fall of 2020.

In this episode Tom is joined by Aggression and reactivity expert Micheal Shikashio as they discuss some key Reactivity topics. If you found this episode useful and want to see Micheal live coaching some dog to human reactivity clients a course can be found here https://school.grishastewart.com/courses/aggression2020?ref=352ff9. MICHAEL SHIKASHIO CDBC

Michael is sought after for his expert opinion by numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, New York Post, Fox News, The List TV, Baltimore Sun, WebMD, Women’s Health Magazine, Real Simple Magazine, and SiriusXM Radio. He also hosts the popular podcast show “The Bitey End of the Dog” where he chats with the foremost experts on dog aggression.

He is a featured keynote speaker at conferences, universities, and seminars around the world, and offers a variety of educational opportunities on the topic of canine aggression, including the Aggression in Dogs Master Course and the annual Aggression in Dogs Conference.

In this episode of the podcast we are bringing cats to the party! The amazing Tabitha Kucera joins me to discuss Kitten socialisation and supporting Fraidy Cats in a shelter environment. There was tons of practical tips from Tabitha which can really help to support our cats. Below are some links to some of the resources we discussed.

Cat FAS- https://fearfreepets.com/resources/fear-free-store/fear-anxiety-and-stress-spectrum-cat/.

https://chirrupsandchatter.com/resource-library/

https://chirrupsandchatter.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/FearfulKittenSocialization-2020.pdf

Guest Bio

Tabitha Kucera is an Elite Fear Free and Low-Stress Handling Certified Registered Veterinary Technician, VTS (Behavior), Certified Cat Behavior Consultant, and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. She is the owner of Chirrups and Chatter Cat and Dog Behavior Consulting and Training in Cleveland, Ohio. Her teaching credentials include lecturing on the regional and national levels and lecturing at multiple veterinary technology programs. She enjoys helping people better understand and relate to their animal companions which leads to a stronger bond and a more gratifying relationship between animal and human. She is a Fear Free certified speaker and coach, a Fear Free Practice Certification Consultant, is the host of the podcast, Tails from a Vet Tech, and serves on the board of Pet Professional Guild’s cat committee. Tabitha has helped to develop training and behavior programs for various veterinary hospitals and shelters and works as a consultant for many shelters and private veterinary practices.

In this episode we talk about all things scentwork and how we can use it to support shelter dogs. Jack provided a range of practical suggestions to help everyone get started with scent work.

Jack has a range of experience and qualifications, this is what he says on his website

• BSc Psychology and Continued Professional Development

For over six years I have extensively studied both human and canine development and behaviour. I'm currently working towards my Bsc in Psychology, and have over five-hundred hours of continued professional development on topics such as recall and loose lead walking, reactive and anxious dogs, nosework and more.

Over my six year career, I've worked with over six hundred dogs of different breeds, ages and abilities. I'm an expert in working with Gundog breeds, and have trained as many breeds as you can think of.

I've not just worked with pet dogs - I've rehabilitated severely reactive dogs via my behavioural programmes, worked with sports dog handlers to get their dogs ready for Nosework competitions, and spent my early career training over one hundred assistance dogs for disabled people.

My work has recognised by my peers and by my students. I won an Animal Star Award in 2020, and have lectured for a variety of dog training organisations including the Dog Training College and Pet Professional Network. I have been asked to speak at dog training conferences, performed at pet shows such as Discover Dogs, and have written extensive works for magazines and websites such as Dogs Today

Find out more about Jack here https://www.thedorsetdogtrainer.com/about

And his new scent work for anxious dogs course here https://www.anxiousdogacademy.com

Teaching an indication - https://youtu.be/clyRVx8x-E8?si=ZPWsRWc4HGmrFt_Lb

This week we are joined by Laurie lawless and lacie Davis. In this episode we discussed how we can make the most of our senior leadership teams to promote successful collaboration for the welfare of our dogs.

Bio

Laurie Lawless is a certified expert in dog behavior with extensive hands-on experience and a successful career in both private consulting and sheltering.

Laurie provides guidance for shelter operations and team leadership, and develops or enhances behavior programs already in place. Laurie enjoys working right alongside staff to bolster knowledge and skills assessing and working with complicated dogs. She truly believes in getting more dogs into playgroups and other social actives, increases welfare and decreases length of stay.

Laurie has worked alongside top behavior and shelter professionals in the country, serving as a behavior lead with the ASPCA’s Behavior Science Team. She has directly helped many survivors of dog fighting, puppy mills, and hoarding situations overcome their past and prepare for life with a loving family.

In 2019, she opened a training and behavior center in Vermont, serving hundreds of dogs in the community and mentoring and sponsoring the certification of 5 dog trainers through the CCPDT. Laurie closed Dogs Rock! Vermont in 2022 to pursue her dreams of helping shelters.

Lacie Davis, MS is a sheltering expert, with 15 years of working knowledge in the animal welfare field. Currently serving as an adjunct professor for University of Florida, Lacie specializes in shelter operations for large-scale field responses. Previously, Lacie served as the Shelter Manager for the ASPCA's Field Investigations and Response Team and as the Executive Director for her community SPCA. Lacie's enjoys improving programs and streamlining shelter operations, while also ensuring that the compassion for the animals, staff, and the community they serve never waivers. Lacie supports socially conscious sheltering models, and hopes to help more shelters realize their potential to have a great impact. Lacie holds a Masters, a Master's Degree in Shelter Medicine from the University of Florida, and a BS in Sociology.

Join myself and Sara Rosser the head of operations at hope rescue in wales as we discussed open vs closed models for intake, shelter design and adoptions

In this episode we discuss some of the fantastic videos and tools that Chirag Patel has developed over the years and how we can utilise these in shelter.

During this episode we covered

Drop- https://youtu.be/ndTiVOCNY4M?si=MEmmmWWjvUd1VZXA

The counting game- https://youtu.be/Ra8TKCwTDbk?si=mkqgaJE4qDOTeQwY

And

The bucket game- https://youtu.be/GJSs9eqi2r8?si=OP5Tg-PjnaUKqxKd

https://youtu.be/6mgo8SlugGM?si=lUjd7XX84yybemIx

You can also learn more about cooperative handling here-

About Chirag Patel

Chirag entered the field professionally in 2004 and has since become a leading figure in the profession internationally. He consults on the behaviour management and training of all animals living under human care (including domestic and wild ones). He is highly sought after for work with high profile private clients, organisations as well as teaching workshops and presenting at conferences. Chirag has been an expert on a number of TV shows including on BBC 1’s TV Series Nightmare Pets SOS and more recently 5 Stars’ Cats and Dogs at War has given TV interviews worldwide.

Chirag is passionate about the application of ethical behaviour change science to improve the life of animals living under human care by teaching animals to be active participants in their own daily and veterinary care in a low-stress manner. The goal is to empower all learners including the human ones.

Chirag earned his BSc(Hons) in Veterinary Sciences from the Royal Veterinary College in London and a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Animal Behaviour from the University of Lincoln, UK. He also holds an Advanced diploma in practical aspects of companion animal behaviour and training from the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology. In 2005, Chirag completed an internship in dog behaviour and training with a focus on aggressive behaviour under the mentorship of Jean Donaldson at the San Francisco SPCA and developed his understanding and skills in puppy training under the mentorship of Ian Dunbar PhD, BVetMed, MRCVS. Chirag has taken various classes and courses in Applied Behaviour Analysis and currently continues to do so in the fields of Applied Behaviour Analysis and Clinical Animal Behaviour.

Chirag is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK (00923) and has previously served on their committee. He has also been invited and accepted as a Certified Parrot Behaviour Consultant (CPBC), with the International Association of Animal Behaviour Consultants (IAABC). And is registered as an Accredited Animal Behaviourist with The Animal Behaviour and Training Council (ABTC). He was invited to join the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), Animal Training Focus group as the scientific officer and external consultant in 2015, which he did until 2021.

Chirag’s currents and previous clients include A-List celebrities, other high profile clients and leading organisations such as Guides Dogs for the Blind Association UK, The Kong Company, various police dog units, humane societies, research facilities, zoos and aquariums.

Instagram: @ChiragPatelConsulting

Facebook: www.facebook.com/chiragpatelconsulting

Twitter: @ChiragP06714840

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/chiragpatelconsulting

In this episode we discuss resource guarding, what it is, how to assess it in a shelter environment and the basics of working with resource guarders.

During the episode we discuss Jeans book mine https://www.dogwise.com/mine-a-practical-guide-to-resource-guarding-in-dogs/

This paper which discussed outcomes for shelter dogs who resource guard https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4494295/

And Chirag patels method of teaching drop https://youtu.be/ndTiVOCNY4M?si=PaD4Ls36ClUTYCG-

About Jean Donaldson

Jean is one of the top dog trainers in the world and has lectured extensively in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. She is a four-time winner of The Dog Writers’ Association of America’s Maxwell Award, and her seminal book The Culture Clash was named number one training and behavior book by The Association of Pet Dog Trainers. Her other titles are Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs, Fight! A Guide to Dog-Dog Aggression, Dogs Are From Neptune, and Oh Behave! Dogs From Pavlov to Premack to Pinker.

Her most recent book, Train Like a Pro, was her first written training guide for a lay audience. In 2017, Jean authored and instructed Dog Training 101 for The Great Courses, another resource for dog guardians.

Before transitioning full-time to pet dog training, Jean competed in dog sports with dogs of various breeds, earning numerous titles and wins including OTCh, HIT, TDX, and FDCh, as well as a CGC. She ran a successful training school for fifteen years, and spent six years doing primarily referral aggression cases. She holds a degree in comparative psychology and is a keen student of evolutionary biology.

https://www.academyfordogtrainers.com

https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/jean-donaldson

In this episode I was joined by Toby Craze to discuss working with oversea shelter dogs.

Toby Craze, began his journey with animals back in 2012 initially completing a diploma in Animal Management, before continuing onto university gaining a degree in Animal Conservation Science in 2018. After graduating, Toby began working with rescued elephants, not dogs, in Northern Thailand until the start of 2020. It was Toby’s experience meeting street and village dogs during this time that started his love for working with foreign rescues. In 2020 Toby started a role as an adoption coordinator at Love Underdogs (a rescue specialising in the rehabilitation and rehoming of European street dogs), where he learned dog behaviour firsthand, becoming a IMDT accredited trainer in 2022. Growing within this role Toby became the team leader and head trainer and behaviour consultant for all things post-adoption support. Toby also runs his own successfully Instagram page, craze dog training and will be starting his own business in 2024.

During this podcast we discuss:

• the benefits of an intake based overseas rescue vrs moving dogs directly into homes.

• Supporting owners with expectation setting

• Supporting overseas rescue dogs with transitioning into homes

• How training videos can help our discussions with adopters

• And Toby’s three top tips for Simplifying overseas shelter dogs

During the podcast we mentioned

• Chirag Patel’s counting game - https://youtu.be/Ra8TKCwTDbk?si=i-uO6SORAVEhtdme

• Leslie McDevitt 123 game- https://youtu.be/YEkYXk1skU0?si=mweLgtDhtJInljMV

• Red amber green pyramids- Tuesday tips, simplifying shelter behaviour 12-12-23 https://fb.watch/oVcsa_FC86/?

Simplifying Shelter Behaviour- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550613461377

In this episode we discuss using Animal centred education and free work to support shelter dogs. Including how to set up freework and the different ways we can utilise it. Check out our Tuesday tips video on Simplifying shelter behaviour facebook page to see free work in action!

Animal Centred Education (ACE) is an integrated approach to animal wellbeing and education. It incorporates methods that were developed by Sarah Fisher at Tilley Farm such as ACE Free Work, Sarah’s passion for detailed observations and building calm foundations on which further learning can be established. ACE also includes techniques inspired by animals and other professionals working in the world of animal education and welfare.

Sarah FIsher is the founder of ACE, having worked with animals for over 30 years. She has a passion for sharing tips and techniques that can add to existing knowledge. Sarah teaches online and in person ACE courses for trainers, groomers and other animal professionals and has been lucky enough to work closely what Battersea and other shelters across the globe. Sarah is a published author, regular speaker at a number of conferences and seminars and has participated in numerous TV programs including Nightmare pets SOS for BBC1.

Rachael Landymore is an ACE advanced instructor and a graduate of the VSA academy as well as being a Victoria Stilwell positively dog trainer. Racheal runs the Haven Dog centre in north Devon, sharing her knowledge of behaviour and ACE with private clients and local shelters. She is looking forward to hosting workshops and seminars in her newly refurbished training barn.

You can find out more about ACE and Sarah At

• Tilly farm.org.uk

• (Ace connections) https://m.facebook.com/groups/332134427492077/?ref=share

• (Ace Mission Rescue) https://m.facebook.com/groups/583094449716898/?ref=share

You can find out more about Rachael

• havendogcentre.co.uk