These workshops have been an awesome success, improving accessibility for all and not really reducing the impacts of learning this most vital information.
The feedback has been awesome and the participation no less than I expect in in-person groups, which is just brilliant too.
Here’s what just some of our participants have to say about our Online Canine First Aid workshops:
We have two more courses to offer in 2022, and these book up FAST!
These workshops are delivered via MS Teams; you can just follow a link that will be sent to you to join.
All times are Dublin (ROI) times and participants from all over are welcome.
October
For rescue folks, we have a FREE Online Canine First Aid workshop for you! It’s exactly the same as all the others, with the same great guidance and resources, but it’s free!
When you contact us to book your spot, we will send you a link to a form to complete. You must be available to attend both dates to be eligible.
We do our best to keep groups small so everyone gets attention and feedback to facilitate learning. Please do share with others you think might benefit.
November
Workshops open to all!
Book quickly so you will get a place. These are the last runs for this year and November’s courses would make great Holiday gifts too…
There are many normal, natural, necessary dog behaviours that don’t sit well with humans and we’ve come up with all sorts of ways to blame dogs, label dogs and chastise dogs for being dogs.
If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram, you will have seen an awesome check-in photo from Team Kairo:
Not only is this an awesome array of stuffables to keep Kairo happy, also note how he is an onlooker rather than interfering and trying to get to all these yummies.
When he arrived home, just two months ago, this guy was a well practiced countersurfer. But, countersurfing is normal, natural, necessary dog behaviour so there’s absolutely nothing ‘wrong’ with Kairo and this isn’t behaviour we want to stop.
Huh?
Countersurfing can be dangerous; dogs can grab foods or medications that might be poisonous to them or they might have an accident with a sharp knife, for example.
But it’s part and parcel of having a dog around; their closest “wild” relatives continue to be expert scavengers to this day.
Behaviour, once learned, is never really unlearned…it doesn’t leave your brain. Those pathways are strengthened with every rehearsal. Instead, we insert new behaviours and must practice to fortify those new pathways.
Countersurfing, like most behaviours we teach, isn’t really new behaviour to your dog. They already come with scavenging powers and know exactly how to do it! What we do though is teach them that under certain conditions, countersurfing works and is worth their efforts.
Yes, we teach them. Maybe unintentionally, but we teach them that countersurfing behaviours work to get them the good stuff!
Behaviour Works
Dogs do behaviours that work. This means learning helps animals gain access to things they like and avoid things they don’t like.
Countersurfing is a good illustration. Dogs are pretty opportunistic when it comes to food so if they come across food, they usually eat it.
Countersurfing behaviours function to get food that’s been left on counters and tables. Simples!
Behaviour doesn’t happen in isolation
When we analyse behaviour, we are not just looking at what the dog is doing. We also need to know when behaviour happens and why behaviour happens.
Understanding the conditions under which behaviour happens allows us to design behaviour change interventions to help because we can predict when behaviour will happen.
Kairo’s humans have kindly allowed me to share our program and the first part is to understand the conditions under which he countersurfed.
Kairo & Countersurfing
Whens:
Countersurfing happens when food was on the counter, when food was on the table, when humans were in the kitchen, when humans were at the counter and when humans were at the table. And also, if humans are not present.
Whats:
Jumping up at counters and tables, with front legs off the ground; under and at the feet of humans
Whys:
Eating food on the counter or table, eating food that falls on the floor, eating food that’s given, attention & interaction, sniffing and searching for food.
It’s not the food that’s reinforcing countersurfing behaviour, it may be the behaviours of eating, seeking & finding!
Behaviour functions:
New behaviour that we teach should, where possible, function as unwanted behaviour did, and be cued as unwanted behaviour was.
The whens and whys stay the same but we will insert behaviour incompatible with unwanted behaviour.
Instead of those whens cueing jumping up and countersurfing, they’re going to cue lying down. Kairo can’t countersurf or get in the way if he’s lying down!
Kairo’s new behaviour will continue to function as countersurfing did. He had his say, telling us what he wanted, so we listened!
We have the data, now what?
Now we know the structure of our plan, we gotta do the things!
Management means to prevent rehearsal of the whens-whats-whys combo because each practice run further strengthens it.
When we are not teaching, Kairo doesn’t have free access to the kitchen, table or food related spots.
We close doors, put up baby gates, have the dog on lead.
Definitely no food is left out and available. This is human training!
The dog’s behaviour is information – Kairo’s behaviour tells us of his need for searching and scavenging. So we are not just going to prevent him countersurfing when it might be dangerous, inconvenient or unhygienic – we can’t stop countersurfing.
Kairo is going to have lots of scavenging outlets and learn lots and lots of behaviours to access food, interaction, sniffing and searching.
With reduced motivation to countersurf and decreased access to countersurfing contexts, we can install more effective and efficient behaviours in those contexts for food.
What to do instead?
There really is no point applying punishers on a reactive basis for countersurfing. Once the dog has got the food, the function of countersurfing, the when-what-why combo has been strengthened and you’re too late with aversives.
Instead, we get in there before the whens start, and add in another behaviour to get those whys. Teach behaviours that you would like to see and make sure they function as unwanted behaviour did.
Kairo’s humans had already been working on a default-down so he was throwing himself into a lying down position as this had been so well reinforced in all sorts of contexts functioning for the dog to get food, attention and access to all the fun stuff.
Nobody was asking him to lie down, when he wanted things, he tried lying down and that worked!
We started with lying down making hotdog happen in countersurfing places. Each time he offered his default, humans produce hotdog!
With lying down predictable, we could add in new cues for that behaviour: food on the counter or table, food prep happening, people at the counter of table.
We have lying down quietly functioning as did countersurfing behaviours, which have now become irrelevant, ineffective and inefficient.
It’s far easier to lie down and have food come to you, rather than jumping up to try to reach it!
Team Kairo have had great success building duration between rewards so that they can apply these behaviours to real life.
Here he is, lying quietly on his mat while not just his humans but also guests have a meal together. Given that he’s a new dog to the home and how arousing guests can be, that’s a pretty awesome achievement:
This did not happen over night. We started working on this when he was a week or so home and his humans have been DILIGENTLY practicing, managing and providing Kairo with a fully enriched life and world.
When you can’t, or don’t want to teach, just manage by having the dog elsewhere, or playing The Floor Is Magic:
The dog’s behaviour is information. If they jump up, your rate of reinforcement is too low. Increase that to establish behaviour and when that’s consistent, rate can drop again, carefully.
Get practicing! Make sure your dog’s behaviour functions for them to access the things they like, in a manner that you like too. Balancing needs and providing two-way reinforcement will be the keys to relationship building – the start can feel like a lot, but it’s not forever and you will get there. Just ask Team Kairo!
Teaching our non-human animal learners is presented in all sorts of ways, but for us, the central focus must be on the learner.
Learning is stressful; think of stress as challenges that the body and brain face. But that doesn’t mean our learners should be exposed to any extra stress during learning. How we teach is a welfare issue.
Often times our learners are blamed, but as teachers, we take on responsibility for our skills and the effects that has on our learners.
This course starts your journey recognising the importance of your skills and knowledge for your learner’s welfare.
The Mechanics of Teaching includes the skills you need to teach cleanly and efficiently. This involves you being able to handle your learner, set up an appropriate learning environment, monitor the environment to maintain safety, monitor your learner to ensure their comfort, all while making sure that your behaviour allows your learner to develop behaviours that you are teaching and develop pleasant associations with the learning process. That’s a lot of multi-tasking!
To be able to do that, your behaviour, i.e. the signals you send to your learner, must be well practiced so that you can monitor everything else!
Most of the time, when we are talking mechanics, we are talking about how cleanly you present training stimuli; signals that help your learner develop the behaviours you are teaching. This is a complicated business and most people believe that you have this as some sort of ‘natural’ skillset. That’s not true. Teaching is first about developing mechanics that anyone can learn, with practice.
This program is all about you and your mechanics, rather than your learner. The danger with that is that you can become a little robotic, but that’s ok at this stage. Once you have mechanics drilled and underway, you can begin to inject some more personality into your teaching interactions. Get your mechanics drilled first!
Your mechanical skill gets your knowledge and experience from your head translated into your body movements. But you don’t develop any of your skills in isolation. Your knowledge and understanding, your observation skills and your mechanical skills develop, each supporting one another.
Bob Bailey says, “Training is a mechanical skill! It is what you do, not what you think or know, that counts.”
When? This course starts on Monday 17th October, 2022. As soon as we receive your full payment, you will be sent access to the course website and away you go!
Where? Anywhere, any time! This course is entirely online so you can participate when and where you like….from your sofa…in your PJs… You will have access to all the course materials to download so you can work anywhere.
Who? All our courses are evidence based but as this is a foundation level course, this information is presented in a very digestible manner, split in bite-size chunks to support your moving through the coursework.
Although these foundation mechanics are not the sexy-stuff, and application of these skills is sorely lacking in the training & behaviour industries.
This course is essential for those starting out and entering professional training, but may also be eye-opening for those already working with dogs.
We take a reinforcement based approach to teaching, but this course is not a place for ‘trainer-wars’. These are the foundations to teaching, regardless of dogma.
How long? This is a self-paced course and you will have access to the online course area for 4 months. Starting in October 2022, you will have continued access until the end of February 2023.
How much? This course costs €150 You can pay the entire fee or in installments via bank transfer or PayPal.
Course fees must be paid in full before you can access the online area. Please read the terms at application carefully before committing.
What will I learn about? This course program is all about your skills acquisition, so there are plenty of practical games for you to practice!
This program is made up of three course components that you work through largely at the same time.
Course content:
Set-Up for Success!
no extra stress for your learner
session set up
session planning
reinforcers & reinforcement
the learner is in control
introduction to the A-B-C of learning
2. Clicker Mechanics
learning is in the environment
mechanics of reinforcement
clicker mechanics
3. Fundamentals
fundamental teaching skills
effective teaching
You get:
24/7 access to the course online area, from anywhere, for four months
multiple media learning resources for viewing and downloading
comment facility at the online course area for participation, enquiries, interactions
access to a private Facebook group for real-time feedback and guidance
regular live online meetings scheduled to suit group participants
ongoing online interaction with fellow-students and your tutor as we take this journey of discovery together
Submission of final assessment work is optional but you are encouraged to work through assessment and self-evaluation to support knowledge development and skill building. As this is a self-paced course, the level of participation is up to you. There may be times when you are more available and other times when you have less availability. Obviously, to get the full benefit, we encourage the fullest possible participation.
After successfully submitting completed final assessment work, you will be awarded an AniEd certificate of achievement.
Ethos & Transparency
AniEd provides pet-owner services too. We apply these same skills and knowledge on a daily basis with our human clients and their dogs.
Our approach is needs based; the dog’s behaviour tells us about what they need. We recognise the dog’s behaviours, even that which is problematic for owners, as being indicative of behavioural needs that must be addressed. This includes ethological considerations particularly in relation to breed/type related needs.
We take primarily a functional approach – what does the dog gain by doing unwanted behaviour, what do they lose when we manage, what can we install in place?…and so on. What skills does this dog need to be able to live in their world, access reinforcers and experience a high standard of welfare?
We recognise the importance of assessment of the topography of behaviour, particularly signaling, as indicators of the dog’s emotional responses and affective states, while also emphasising an understanding of the contexts and conditions under which behaviour happens.
Tinbergen’s Four Problems forms part of the basis for our ethological analysis of behaviour. Functional behavioural assessment (FBA) and where possible, Functional Analysis (FA), will form the approach to analysis of behaviour and best interventions.
We recognise that behaviour is often problematic for people and that when it impacts the animal’s physical health/welfare beyond environmental intervention, veterinary/medical collaboration is required.
Our programs emphasise owner-support and education, recognising the importance of their participation in maintaining and improving the welfare of their dog. The owners’ needs and participation are recognised as central to applying our programs, and developing relationships between pets, owners, and professionals.
All of this is further discussed during the course.
Once payment has been received, you will be provided with course access. There are no refunds, whole or partial, available for course fees once you have accessed the online course area.
Often times, due to the vocational nature of our industry, we aren’t so hot on the business aspects of our businesses! It’s no lie, running a small business is challenging and certainly not for the faint hearted.
This becomes even more challenging in our industry where we don’t have a lot of standards defined; it can be hard to know which way to turn. Never fear, this course will provide you with straight-forward advice and tons of support resources too.
When? This course starts on Monday 17th October, 2022. As soon as we receive your full payment, you will be sent access to the course website and away you go!
Where? Anywhere, any time! This course is entirely online so you can participate when and where you like….from your sofa…in your PJs… You will have access to all the course materials to download so you can work anywhere.
Who? While we talk a lot about the practicalities of managing a pet business, we also emphasise discussions of ethics and devising professional codes. We are concerned for the direction of our industry in a number of capacities, including in the sometimes misguided nature of services presented as a way of improving animal welfare.
For example, services that prioritise large numbers of dogs in groups may not be conducive to canine welfare at levels that make good business sense. We discuss these topics and encourage those interested to participate so we can develop approaches to maintain business and welfare.
This course is perfect for those starting out and for those with established businesses looking for a boost and some further structure.
How long? This is a self-paced course and you will have access to the online course area for 4 months. Starting in October 2022, you will have continued access until the end of February 2023.
How much? This course costs €150 You can pay the entire fee or in installments via bank transfer or PayPal.
Course fees must be paid in full before you can access the online area. Please read the terms at application carefully before committing.
What will I learn about? This program is made up of three course components that you work through in order.
Course content:
Business Planning & Management
business planning
day to day operations
2. Introduction to Marketing for Pet Pros
marketing planning
marketing strategies
marketing methods
3. Business Operations, Policies & Procedures
health & safety
animal related legislation
management responsibilities
4. Responsible Dog Business
responsible business practice
our industry, roles & responsibilities
You get:
24/7 access to the course online area, from anywhere, for four months
multiple media learning resources for viewing and downloading
comment facility at the online course area for participation, enquiries, interactions
access to a private Facebook group for real-time feedback and guidance
regular live online meetings scheduled to suit group participants
ongoing online interaction with fellow-students and your tutor as we take this journey of discovery together
Submission of final assessment work is optional but you are encouraged to work through assessment and self-evaluation to support knowledge development and skill building. As this is a self-paced course, the level of participation is up to you. There may be times when you are more available and other times when you have less availability. Obviously, to get the full benefit, we encourage the fullest possible participation.
After successfully submitting completed final assessment work, you will be awarded an AniEd certificate of achievement.
Once payment has been received, you will be provided with course access. There are no refunds, whole or partial, available for course fees once you have accessed the online course area.
We have been running a science based Canine Nutrition course since 2011 so we have been working on it and refining it for a decade! In that short time, more and more valid evidence has become available on canine nutrition and our approaches to feeding dogs. This is a growing and exciting area of research and our course will help you to apply that expanding knowledge to feeding individual dogs.
When? This course starts on Monday 17th October, 2022. As soon as we receive your full payment, you will be sent access to the course website and away you go!
Where? Anywhere, any time! This course is entirely online so you can participate when and where you like….from your sofa…in your PJs… You will have access to all the course materials to download so you can work anywhere.
Who? This is a science and evidence based course; we do not endorse any particular approach to feeding dogs. On this course you will learn more than nutrition; we spend a lot of time discussing evidence, critically analysing information, reading research papers, critiquing the science, all of which is applicable to other areas. The quality of the evidence is our foundation, so we will not be elevating gurus and social media “nutrition experts” merely due to their profile or letters after their name. If you are so attached to a feeding modality that you may find it difficult to consider other approaches, this may not be the course for you. And if you are looking for confirmation of your current understanding of canine nutrition, this course may cause you discomfort.
We don’t promote or condone any particular diet type or approach to feeding dogs and believe that different diet types can be designed to provide appropriate nutrition for individual dogs.
This course is for anyone who has a keen interest in really understanding how canine nutrition works, how best to look at what we know and apply that to individual dogs. You don’t need to have a science background and you will have plenty of time to digest (!) the information, with our full support. It’s particularly suited to dog care pros such as veterinary personnel, pet retailers, training/behaviour pros and groomers. But if you have in-depth interest in science and nutrition, this might just be the course for you!
How long? This is a self-paced course and you will have access to the online course area for 7 months. Starting in October 2022, you will have continued access until the end of May 2023.
How much? This course costs €250 You can pay the entire fee or in installments via bank transfer or PayPal.
Course fees must be paid in full before you can access the online area. Please read the terms at application carefully before committing.
What will I learn about? There is some introductory work to go through and then course content is split into eight parts, with some wrapping-up to do at the end too. It is the most in-depth component course we have ever developed and covers all sorts of topics directly and indirectly relating to canine nutrition.
Course content:
Introduction:
Overview
Evaluating evidence
Part 1 Canine Digestion
Anatomy, physiology
Energy
Anatomy & dietary needs
Part 2 Nutrients
Everything is chemicals!
Nutrients
“Functional Foods”
Supplementation, antioxidants, microbiome & related
Part 3 Feeding Dogs
Choosing diets
Food safety
Energy
Lifestage requirements
Part 4 Canine Diets
Commercial Diets
Alternative Diets, RMBD
Human Diet Trends
Part 5 Nutrition & Behaviour
Eating Behaviour
Food in training
Food related behaviours of concern
Brain, behaviour & nutrition
Microbiome & Behaviour
Part 6 Malnutrition
Canine Overweight/Obesity Status
Undernutrition
Overnutrition
Part 7 Adverse Food Reactions
Part 8 Special Dietary Considerations
PARNUTs & nutrition
Wrap-Up
Goals of this course
to develop an understanding of the scientific and biochemical bases for nutrition including digestion and nutrients
to appreciate, interpret and apply nutrition information from reliable and valid evidence based resources
to communicate about canine nutrition objectively and without sensation
to develop awareness of the wide range of canine diets and approaches to feeding domestic dogs, from an evidence based perspective
to consider the relationships between nutrition and behaviour, and nutrition and wider health
to apply your developing knowledge and understanding to special dietary contexts including malnutrition and dietary sensitivities
You get:
24/7 access to the course online area, from anywhere, for seven months
multiple media learning resources for viewing and downloading
about 200 mini-lectures (written presentations for reading) covering a wide array of nutrition and related topics presented in small-ish bites so that you can take time to process and analyse
free access to our short course, Science & Studying Animals, to give you a foundation in understanding this evidence-based approach to learning more about animals
comment facility at the online course area for participation, enquiries, interactions
access to a private Facebook group for real-time feedback and guidance
regular live online meetings scheduled to suit group participants
ongoing online interaction with fellow-students and your tutor as we take this journey of discovery together
Submission of final assessment work is optional but you are encouraged to work through assessment and self-evaluation to support knowledge development and skill building. As this is a self-paced course, the level of participation is up to you. There may be times when you are more available and other times when you have less availability. Obviously, to get the full benefit, we encourage the fullest possible participation.
After successfully submitting completed final assessment work, you will be awarded an AniEd certificate of achievement.
Ethos & Transparency
This topic is fraught with difficulties when it comes to discussion and application of evidence. You will have probably seen mere mentions of canine nutrition, especially on social media, descend into all sorts of faulty arguments and polarisation. That is definitely NOT what we will promote, facilitate or allow on this course.
Throughout all discussion, I will be there to guide you so that we can remain on track. We take an R+ (positive reinforcement) approach to learning and teaching, and all advice and guidance will be provided with this in mind. We must feel safe in our discussion so that we can create an environment conducive to learning for all to benefit.
We all have the same goal: to make sure we can maximise the health of our pets through careful feeding. Let’s stick together and learn together!
Transparency
This course is not supported by or promoted by any feed manufacturer or industry member; we are not selling a book or a dogmatic agenda. AniEd does not sell or recommend specific feeds and we never have.
Anne has worked for a major international feed manufacturer (about 20 years ago) as a nutrition advisor and has worked in pet retail and in veterinary, selling and promoting a range of feeds, too (more than 20 years ago).
Her current dog, Decker (10.5 year old entire male AmStaff), is fed raw, home-cooked, wet (tinned) and dry food, sometimes all in the same day. Over his life, he has eaten a wide range of brands without loyalty to any one particularly.
We are only interested in doing the very best for our dogs. No matter what you have fed your dog before, or even currently, you are doing your very best for your dog. And no matter, your dog loves you for that.
Each one of our dogs eats a better diet than most of the humans on this planet.
Dogs are incredibly adaptive and most are able to survive on even poor quality feeds. We are, of course, aiming for more than survival, we want our dogs to thrive. But, let’s keep all this in mind, even when discussion becomes intense.
All of this is further discussed during the course.
This course is for those really really interested in nutrition; we will (hopefully) challenge your current understanding and knowledge, supporting you as your passion for study grows.
Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into before you pay. To help, you can download some course materials samples, selected from across course content, here:
Once payment has been received, you will be provided with course access. There are no refunds, whole or partial, available for course fees once you have accessed the online course area.
It’s that time of year again, and once the dust settles on getting the kids organised to go back to school, it’s time for you to get back to it too!
Truth be told, we’ve been out of this for the last two + years, essentially, but now we’re opening up some short courses for new applicants. Finally!
These courses are excellent standalone courses for you to upskill, revise or get started. And also, if you are interested in completing our CBTT (Canine Behaviour & Training Technician) program (which is starting back up in March 2023), this is the perfect taster and way to get started (your fees will be balanced to reflect having completed some course work, according to T& Cs.).
All courses are starting Monday 17th October, 2022.
Canine Nutrition (Deep Dive)
This has always been one of our most popular courses, forming part of our Canine Healthcare Program. We have been running evidence-based canine nutrition programs for over a decade so this is well tuned, and we are always updating it to keep up with our learners and advancing canine nutrition science.
We don’t endorse or promote any food brand or diet type, and believe that we can use evidence based resources to design the right diets for individual dogs. This course provides you so much more than nutrition information and resources, but also understanding of canine anatomy & physiology, behaviour, disease and how to critically analyse the evidence.
Who?
Evidence based information about canine nutrition is vital for all dog pros, and for interested pet owners too!
How long?
This is a self-paced online course and you will have access to the course materials for at least seven months. Starting in October 2022, you are looking at the end of May 2023 to be wrapping up.
How much?
This course costs €250 payable in full or by installments.
Where?
This course is all online so you can participate from anywhere at any time! There will be online meetings twice a month (and as dictated by the group), that are optional, and a helpful, supportive Facebook group community for discussion and help.
What’s covered?
Introduction to Canine Nutrition
Part 1 Canine Digestion
Part 2 Nutrients
Part 3 Feeding Dogs
Part 4 Canine Diets
Part 5 Nutrition & Behaviours
Part 6 Malnutrition
Part 7 Adverse Food Reactions
Part 8 Special Dietary Considerations
Foundation Mechanical Skills
This program is all about the skills and knowledge you, the teacher, must develop to ensure your learner can learn happily, safely, efficiently, and most importantly of all, while their welfare is maintained throughout.
This is not the sexy stuff and by the looks of things, this is sorely lacking in dog training….but this course will systematically support you in building those skills. Everyone wants to do the “advanced” stuff but in truth, the advanced stuff is just the foundations done really really well!
Who?
This one is for anyone wanting to really clarify their teaching mechanics and is vital for dog trainers, professional and hobbyist, and behaviour pros.
How long?
This is a self-paced online course and you will have access to the course materials for at least four months. Starting in October 2022, you are looking at the end of February 2023 to be wrapping up.
How much?
This course costs €150 payable in full or by installments.
Where?
This course is all online so you can participate from anywhere at any time! There will be online meetings once a month (and as dictated by the group), that are optional, and a helpful, supportive Facebook group community for discussion and help.
What’s covered?
This program is made up of three component courses that work together:
Set Up For Success!
Fundamentals
Clicker Mechanics
You work on all three at the same time to round out your knowledge and understanding.
Pet Business Management
Often times, due to the vocational nature of our industry, we aren’t so hot on the business aspects of our businesses! It’s no lie, running a small business is challenging and certainly not for the faint hearted.
This becomes even more challenging in our industry where we don’t have a lot of standards defined; it can be hard to know which way to turn. Never fear, this course will provide you with straight-forward advice and tons of support resources too.
Who?
If you’re thinking about starting a pet business or relatively new to running your own business, this one’s for you!
How long?
This is a self-paced online course and you will have access to the course materials for at least four months. Starting in October 2022, you are looking at the end of February 2023 to be wrapping up.
How much?
This course costs €150 payable in full or by installments.
Where?
This course is all online so you can participate from anywhere at any time! There will be online meetings once a month (and as dictated by the group), that are optional, and a helpful, supportive Facebook group community for discussion and help.
What’s covered?
This program is made up of four component courses that work together:
Business Planning & Management
Introduction to Marketing for Pet Pros
Business Operations, Policies & Procedures
Responsible Dog Business
You work through each one in turn, as they build upon one another.
To participate, you will need:
Email address/account, a suitable device and internet access; course materials are presented in MS Word, PDF and links for downloading. You should not have difficulty on most devices and OS.
Stationary for note-taking (if that’s the way you work).
You need to be able to use the internet, blogs, Facebook groups and if you wish to participate to the fullest, be able to record and upload short demonstration clips (for a very small number of assessment works), complete assessment work in Word documents, PDFs and other basic computer skills.
To complete some assessment work, and get the most out of most of our courses, you will need access to at least one dog.
Means to upload your work or clips for guidance and feedback and to submit assessment work.
Access to social media such as Facebook (for groups) and MS Teams (we will send you a link, you don’t even need an account, just an email address), and a device that allows you to participate in online video chats and similar.
What’s next?
We will be providing more specifics on each of these courses shortly and sharing application forms. Right now, if you are interested, message or email us (info@anied.ie) to register. We need your full name and email address right now to add you to the list.
We are taking registrations early so that people can have time to save up for fees, given the financial strains we are all under.
Applications will open soon and we will send you a link with further information and the application form for your chosen courses.
We can’t wait to get back to providing courses and supporting professionals in making our industry even better, and ultimately, making life better for people and their pets!
We have been having a great time with our Online Canine First Aid workshops. It’s hard to imagine how such work can be so successful remotely, but that it is!
It’s largely down to just how awesome & enthusiastic our participants have been and keeping our groups small. Feedback has been wonderful, with everyone reporting that they have learned lots!
We’ve had participants from all over the world – all these times are Irish time!
So, we’ve added yet another round of workshops so that we can reach even more pet-people, giving them lifesaving skills and knowledge…all in the hopes of never having to use them.
We would love for your to join us for our September workshops, and share with any others who might benefit. It may not be possible to run another set of workshops this side of the New Year; it gets tricky to organise courses in the run up to Christmas and Holiday celebrations.
We cover an insane amount of information, with lots of opportunities to practice skills, get feedback, ask questions and discuss the topics. Here’s some of what we cover:
emergencies, urgent situations
functions & principles of first aid
assessments, communication & safety
CPR, related assessments & skills
shock
choking
bleeding, wound care, bandaging, burns
fractures, suspected spinal injuries
seizures and neurological conditions
electric shock
water related emergencies & urgent situations
heat related illness
GDV (Bloat)
facial, head emergencies & urgent situations
pain
foot, pad & nail injuries
stings, bites, allergic reactions
ingestion emergencies
preparing first aid kits for your dog and for the contexts in which you will need them
skills to practice & document at home
Most importantly, we provide only evidence based and up to date guidance – we bust myths so that you will have the right tools to help dogs.
Not only do you get access to in-depth information about ALL that + more via an online course area (this is your first aid manual and guide) but more importantly you can download over 40 quick reference guides, covering these topics. We advise you save the really important ones directly to your phone so you always have the right advice in an emergency, when you really need it.
You can participate in the workshop as much you like, but we do encourage you to join in so that you can hone your skills. All is very friendly and fun – we are all learning, afterall.
Do you want to update your skills and awareness of canine emergencies & urgent situations? Drop us a line to book on for September!
It sure has been a long time coming, but now we’ve just launched the Irish Veterinary Behaviour Association or IVBA. I’m vice-chair of this fledgling organisation and we want to bring an emphasis on behaviour, and its role in healthcare, to the forefront.
I am committed to the idea of reaching the veterinary community as an effective way to improve the welfare of pets and their people.
Through this work, we hope to elevate the importance and recognition of behaviour as an integral part of animal healthcare, and support vet pros and allied professionals in doing an even better job!
Our first big event is coming up soon and is all about the role of behaviour awareness in helping ortho patients.
How do we detect pain in animals? That’s right, via their behaviour! How do we assess injury in animals? That’s right, via their behaviour! How do we evaluate an animal’s experience and welfare? That’s right, via their behaviour!
Thankfully, an interest in the pain experienced by dogs, and other animals, is becoming more and more recognised. And September is Pain Awareness Month; we feel that this should be extended to veterinary medicine too, from a One Welfare point of view.
I will be talking at this event! My talk looks at the ways we can prepare pets and their people for the challenges to behavioural health when elective ortho surgery is required.
What happens after a dog has had knee or hip surgery, and can’t move about too much for months during recovery? As you would imagine, and may have experienced, this can have huge impacts on behavioural health, currently and in the future. But there are lots of things that can be done to support pet owners and their pets to help mitigate these effects.
Of course, I will be talking a whole lot about entertainment through enrichment planning too…cos that’s kinda my thing!
Will you help spread the word about IVBA?
I would be most grateful if you would mention this organisation and our event to your vet, RVNs, support staff, rehab pros, training & behaviour pros so that we can spread the word about how we can support behavioural health for animals being treated for physical disorder.
We can’t really separate the two from one another, so while the emphasis is often on the physical side in veterinary, we want to build awareness, skill and knowledge to support the behaviour side too. A collaboration that can only benefit more pets and their people!
Maybe your would like to join? It’s just €60 for the remainder of 2022 and all of 2023 so well-worth it! Plus with membership, you can come to our conference for just €120 (5.5 CVE points).
I am happy to answer any questions or queries you have about this big move for Ireland!
A surge in dog ownership and ongoing Pandemic effects on an entire generation of dogs, plus the changes experienced by older dogs, have impacted dog behaviour, and owner interactions, in the veterinary context (Brand et al, 2022).
These dogs have experienced changes to the world that have rocked them, and with two years of vet visits on their own without their humans behind them, may be impacting their comfort and stress related behaviour during vet visits (Williams 2022). The absence of their human during veterinary examinations is associated with the dog demonstrating increased distress related behaviours (Csoltova et al, 2017) and repeated exposure to the veterinary context is associated with sensitisation of fear responses (increasing in response), rather than habituation (getting used to the context) (Doring et al, 2009).
You can see that it’s been a bit of a recipe for disaster…
Happy Visits are a foundation to counterconditioning to vet visits and setting dogs up to be more comfortable. A Happy Visit should consist of a visit for the dog as far into the process with which they are comfortable.
Can that dog remain somewhat comfortable as far as the car-park? That’s the starting point. Visit the car-park regularly, have a treat-party, hang out when all is calm & quiet, and go home.
Can the dog just about enter reception willingly? That’s the starting point. Have a treat-party in the car-park, scatter some treats to snuffle in reception and go home.
Happy Visits don’t start with meeting staff or having cuddles. This doesn’t need to be a part of this process. We consider the function of the dog’s behaviour and stress related behaviour functions to escape the stressor.
Dogs likely experience fear in anticipation of going to the vet’s.
Counterconditioning is one approach to help improving their feelings and attitude. We take a version of the scary thing and associate that with pleasant things, such as yummy food and safety. The scary thing predicts the availability of the yummy things!
But counterconditioning is just one part of the puzzle; by keeping exposure long-duration-&-low-intensity, we are also incorporating some desensitisation, habituation and social learning.
With increasing comfort, the dog can be taught to step up onto the weighing scales willingly, something that many dogs find daunting and associate with coercion.
Guiding dogs onto weighing scales can be done simply, with our hands-off approach as much as possible and is a great way to get them into playing the cooperative-game.
I think if you’re reading our stuff you are a dog person and probably a full-on dog nerd!
Anne from AniEd regularly contributes to a free, awesome, Irish podcast all about dogs: Bark Side of the Moon. You can listen where ever you get your podcasts.
So far, I have contributed to discussions on:
car comfort
separation related behaviours
visitors & guests
working from home (with your dog)
adolescent dogs
dog-dog “play” & interactions
baby prep
kids and dogs
enrichment
multi-dog homes
Give it a listen and if you have any questions, or even ideas for further podcasts, let me know!
AniEd Ireland 