At Dogs Playing for Life’s Stranger Danger webinar, hosted by Aimee Sadler, CEO and Founder of DPFL, you will learn how to work with dogs that are wary of strangers by building their confidence and helping them develop new skills which will enable them to meet new people (and potential adopters) happily and successfully! Even for the private dog trainer or dog owner, the skills taught in this webinar will help support your stranger danger dog to expand their comfort level when meeting new people at home!

This webinar will demonstrate:
— DPFL’s Assess and Progress approach: fluttering between assessing and influencing behavior to determine how a dog might respond WITHOUT proper human support to determine what training is necessary for successful placement
— Comprehensive Tool Selection: determining what tool will best support the dog while keeping the handler and others safe during the learning process
— Principles vs. Methods: determining what approach will teach the dog as efficiently and effectively as possible
— Creative Proofing: conducting training with the goal of solid generalization of new skills so that dogs are able to work for multiple handlers with clarity and confidence

Come learn how to safely and effectively reach this segment of the canine population through in-depth behavior analysis, dynamic video examples, and practical approaches designed for anyone who is trying to find solutions for the dogs who need this extra human support.

This is a 1.5-hour presentation followed by a Q&A session. This webinar will NOT be recorded and is scheduled on EASTERN TIME.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aWzso2CZR2SGE3cCPiDxdA

We will review how to be successful in a prosecution of a pet store in your locality.  We will hit the highlights of investigations and the pitfalls which can be avoided.  We will also illustrate how to get a jury or judge to take cruelty to pocket pets seriously and how to frame your case and arguments in a way to be successful in a cruelty case against a reptile or parrot.

This webinar has been certified by the National Animal Care & Control Association and is approved for 1 Continuing Education Unit. Please refer to your NACA membership portal for current CEU submission process. Current NACA Members who attend the live presentation or watch the recording will be able to download a jointly issued attendance certificate that includes the National Animal Care & Control Association logo. Visit the NACA training page for a complete list of future trainings.

About the Presenter:

Michelle Welch is a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Director of the Animal Law Unit at the Attorney General’s Office.  She is charged with taking all animal law questions in Virginia.  She is called on by agencies all over the Commonwealth to act as a special prosecutor in animal cruelty and animal fighting cases.  She frequently gives advice to local law enforcement authorities and prosecutors all over Virginia, across the nation, and internationally.  She also trains prosecutors, animal control, and law enforcement officers on the state of Virginia animal law.  She is a board member of the Virginia Animal Fighting Taskforce.  Ms. Welch serves as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia to aid in animal fighting and animal crime prosecutions.

She is a senior faculty member for the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA).  She is the Chair of the Animal Law Curriculum Advisory Committee for the APA.  She serves as adjunct faculty for Animal Law at the University of Richmond Law School and William & Mary Law School.  She has testified before a Congressional Caucus examining the enforcement of animal laws and the cooperation between state and federal partners. She has trained other countries on animal crime, including Greece, the United Kingdom, and Spain and she has advised on animal criminal cases in Columbia and Belgium.

She has received many honors for her work on behalf of animals.  In 2022, she received the Ellen Glasgow Award for Humane Service from the Richmond SPCA for her work on behalf of abused animals.  In 2020, she received the Humane Law Enforcement Award from HSUS for the seizure of zoo animals from a neglectful zoo (one of the first times in twenty years that law enforcement has intervened on behalf of zoo animals).  In 2019, HSUS gave her and her Unit the Humane Law Enforcement Award for bringing to justice wildlife trafficker, resulting in the closing of 5 fox pens.  In 2018, the Norfolk SPCA honored her with The Thomas M. Ammons III Animal Welfare Award.  In 2014, she was named Prosecutor of the Year by the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.   In 2013, she was named one of the Top 10 Animal Defenders in the Nation by Animal Legal Defense Fund.  She was presented with the Albert Schweitzer Medal for her work on behalf of the animals in 2012 by the Animal Welfare Institute.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://www.justiceclearinghouse.com/webinar/pocket-pets-and-beyond-investigation-and-prosecution-of-pet-stores/

Challenging behaviour in animals can range from inconvenient to embarrassing to exasperating – to the people who have to live with them.

To the animals involved, those behaviours are often not problematic at all, but rather their solution to a problem that they’re experiencing – and our task is often to help the animal find another solution that’s less annoying to us – or to remove the animal’s problem altogether.

This webinar will provide a framework for how to approach behavioural challenges. Using a holistic perspective involving ethological, affective and behaviour analytical approaches, we will discuss the following:

• how mood states influence perception, decision making and behaviour, and how we can help change the animal’s mood.
• how emotional reactions to triggers in the environment affect behaviour, and how we through carefully addressing those triggers can change emotions.
• how understanding the function of the behaviour can help explain what’s going on – and how we can change that function.
• by changing mood states, emotional reactions to potential triggers and the function of the behaviour in the challenging context, the animal will in turn change his behaviour.

The different techniques and perspectives used at each of these three levels of approach will be outlined in the presentation.

CEUS Pending – IAABC; CEUs – PPAB 1, CCPDT 1, KPA 1, and PMCT 1

About the Presenter

Karolina Westlund helps pet lovers and animal professionals get happier animals that thrive in the care of humans. She grew up pining for a kitten for several years, and pestering her parents until they gave up. The green-eyed black half-siamese cat that she got for her seventh birthday became a true friend who lived to be 21 years old, but an easily startled cat who often went into hiding when there were visitors.

Karolina had grand ideas about becoming a field biologist, but that never came about – the closest she got was working as a trekking travel guide in France and Madeira. Instead she majored in Ethology and developed a passionate interest in animal welfare seen through a multidisciplinary lens, including Behaviour Analysis and Affective Neuroscience. She is now an Associate Professor of Ethology at the University of Stockholm, mostly teaching how behaviour management can be used to improve animal welfare.

She offers live seminars, free online webinars and masterclasses in addition to more extensive online courses, as well as the occasional blog post or scientific publication on the topic of enrichment, animal training and wellbeing. She lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with her husband, two kids, and, hopefully soon, another cat.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://petprofessionalguild.com/event-5367938

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