As pet professionals, we often battle compassion fatigue, burnout, and overwhelm. In this webinar, we will discuss emotional triggers, how to identify these triggers in ourselves, teammates, and clients, and how to address and manage said triggers. You no longer have to choose between your passion for your work, the welfare of animals, and your own well-being. Join Colleen Pelar, PCC to learn about tools that will support you in being your best self at work, working more effectively, and loving what you do again.

In this webinar, you will:

• Define emotional triggers
• Reflect on your own emotional triggers & those of your teammates and clients
• Learn how to identify emotional triggers within yourself, your teammates, and clients
• Gain tools to manage emotional triggers for more effective work

About the Presenter

Dogs and people have always fascinated Colleen Pelar. When she was a dog trainer, her favorite part of the job wasn’t teaching the dog, but improving the relationship between dogs and their people. Both are social species, hard-wired to connect, and she loved offering simple, practical tips for building those connections. With over 25 years of dog training, Colleen has also spoken at scores of veterinary and training conferences, and wrote three books to help parents and children have successful relationships with their dogs. After losing her joy for her work, Colleen restored that spark by studying strategies for combating burnout and compassion fatigue and earning her certifications as a professional certified coach (PCC), master NLP practitioner, applied positive psychology practitioner, and resilience skills trainer. Her new-found knowledge led her in a new direction: sharing effective, science-based tools that help veterinary and animal behavior professionals feel valued, supported, and energized.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_csI1g7WHTbqJMcDUcnrSgA

Come ask The National Kitten Coalition’s kitten experts, Susan Spaulding, aka ‘The Nation’s Kitten Mom’ and NKC’s Rosemarie Crawford, LVT, your most pressing kitten diarrhea questions!

You can submit your questions during the registration and during the webinar. You can also submit questions before the webinar using this link – https://forms.gle/WsxxyrtwuZ1bvVVq8

Presenters: Susan Spaulding & Rosemarie Crawford, LVT

WEBSITE LINK:  https://kittencoalition.org/event/ask-nkc-qa-session-on-diarrhea/

Little is known about the social behavior of cats living in group housing at shelters. In a series of studies, we recorded all the social behavior occurring between cats living in group housing and compared cats who were introduced at the shelter versus those who were surrendered together. We then followed up by specifically examining social behavior between cats who were labeled as bonded pairs or adopted together. Cats who were labeled as bonded pairs had a longer time to adoption, but the relationship between this designation and social behavior was weak. Recommendations will be provided for identifying bonded pairs.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify positive social (prosocial, affiliative) behavior in cats
2. Understand that being surrendered together is not adequate evidence for bonding
3. Recognize the link between behavior and social bonding in cats

Program Agenda:

• General overview of social behavior in cats
• Review of research regarding social behavior in group housed shelter cats and the impact of bonded pairs on adoption times
• Limitations of identifying bondedness in cats
• Recommendations for identifying bonded pairs

This one-hour webinar will be recorded and has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association. It has also been submitted for approval for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval.

Zoom registration link: https://maddies.fund/MIwebcasts

MPF discussion thread: https://maddies.fund/MIwebcastsBondedPairs

About the Presenter:

Malini Suchak, PhD, Professor & Chair, Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation at Canisius College
Malini Suchak, PhD is an award-winning associate professor of animal behavior, animal cognition (how animals think and make decisions) and animal wellbeing at Canisius University in Buffalo, NY. Her research explores how nonhuman animals think about other individuals in their social group and make decisions about their social relationships. She previously worked with chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys, and currently explores these questions in companion animals like cats and dogs. She is particularly fascinated with how companion animals navigate a multi-species world, interacting with others of their own kind, other pets, and their human companions.

Dr. Suchak also looks at how social interactions with others can impact an individual’s welfare, such as the impact of group housing on cats living in animal shelters. Cats are not known for being the most social creatures, so it is important to understand the impact of different housing systems on their well-being. Dr. Suchak and her research team routinely present the results of their research at local and international conferences and have published numerous papers on this topic in peer-reviewed journals.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://maddies.fund/MIwebcastsBondedPairs

Positive Reinforcement Training is not all about bribing! Using this training method, we are teaching our pets what to do in a fun and less stressful way. Remember, behavior that is rewarded is more likely to reoccur.

Learning Objectives

• Find out the different types of consequences and why they matter!
• The 4 Quadrants of operant conditioning
• Why punishment can be difficult
• What is an extinction burst- Currency for dogs
• Building Fluency

Presenter: Shannon Riley

CEUs: PPAB 1, IAABC 1, CCPDT 1, KPA 1, & PMCT 1

WEBSITE LINK:  https://petprofessionalguild.com/event-5345630

Learn Good Posture, Walk The Way Your Body is Designed, and Prevent On-The-Job Injuries

Most adults need help to walk correctly. Years of bad habits have created sore and aching bodies that no longer move seamlessly like our bodies were designed. Too many hours at a desk, poor posture, loss of core, and aching older joints!

This is a light hearted and  fun interactive webinar on Zoom. Come prepared to move around, learn and practice your walking mechanics and have some giggles.

Come and Learn Good Walking Mechanics & Eliminate Injury. Walking can also be restorative, helping alleviate aches and pains

If you experience the following, you will benefit from a Walking Reset session!

• Foot problems
• Knee problems
• Hip and back problems
• Leaning from the waist when walking
• Looking down
• Walking like you are kicking a ball forward
• Slouchy posture
• Loose hanging arms

ChiWalking encourages participants to use good posture, have loose joints, engage one’s core muscles, and relax the peripheral muscles of the arms and legs.

This approach to walking makes it more efficient to move with fewer injuries.

Come and join us for this live webinar

You will learn the following.

• Body Alignment – Both lower and upper body
• Arm positioning & Swing
• Locating and moving from your dantien
• Structured form focus exercises to build new habits
• Supplemental learning
• Shoes and equipment
• Cadence
• Getting out the door

Presenter: Niki Tudge MBA PCBC-A CABC CDBC. Six Sigma Certified Black Belt

WEBSITE LINK:  https://petprofessionalguild.com/event-5343572

This webinar is the second in the Your End of the Leash series, which focuses on helping handlers become the best possible partners for their dogs.

No matter how smart your dog may be, no matter how much he knows or can do, he still depends on you as his partner.

Would you want a partner who was tense with gritted teeth and tight breathing? Or would you prefer a relaxed partner, whose movements and expression showed enjoyment in working with you?

This webinar focuses on the simple but oh-so complicated basic of life itself: breathing. We’ll cover:

• Breathe! Why in and out is the best choice
• Breathing as communication – what you tell your dog (maybe without meaning to)
• Effects of breathing on learning & performance
• Observing breathing patterns in yourself and others
• Coaching others

You’ll learn practical techniques to help yourself (and your students) create greater awareness about breathing, along with ways to practice here, there and everywhere.

Bonus: what you learn in your quest to become your dog’s best partner turns out to be helpful in the rest of your life! Breathing awareness can help you relax, reduce tension and stress, and understand how your breathing can affect others.

Presenter: Suzanne Clothier 

CEUs: PPAB 1, CPDT 1, KPA 1, PMCT 1 & IAABC 1

WEBSITE LINK:  https://petprofessionalguild.com/event-5282460

You’re all ready to train; you have the plan, the dog, and the treats. Your dog seems attentive during your warm up, but as you get into the session, things start falling apart. It starts with the dog getting distracted and goes downhill from there.

What happened? Your dog seemed ready to work, but here you are, with your dog sniffing the ground or staring at a distraction.

Sometimes dogs who have appeared to opt in might not be as ready as they seem. The signs aren’t always clear, but dogs will often let us know if they aren’t 100% in the game. This webinar will show you how to recognize those subtle signs that give you a clue to the dog’s state of mind, so you don’t start training with a dog that’s not quite ready.

Occasionally dogs will be all in, but something happens to change that. Perhaps a new distraction showed up, or the dog made a mistake and struggled to recover, or maybe the handler asked for too many repetitions of a behavior. We’ll cover this scenario too – how to get the dog back. There are many options for handling a situation like this, and you’ll learn how to find one that works for your dog.

When your opted in dog opts back out, you have options! Join me as we explore this topic deeper so you know just what to do when it happens to you.

Presenter: Nicole Wiebusch

WEBSITE LINK:  https://www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com/index.php/self-study/webinars