Are you interested in applying for our CBTT program, when applications open?

Maybe you are aware of the buzz about teaching husbandry behaviours to animals and want to explore even more…?

We are bringing this course forward, for one, because it’s an awesome and important course, but also, for those wishing to continue with our CBTT program. This course is the perfect starter to get a taste for working with us and for immersing yourself in evidence based education.

Jump to:

• course overview & ethos
• course outcomes
• what do I get when I take this course?
• when is this course?
• where is this course?
• who is this course for?
• how long is this course?
• how much is this course?
• what will I learn about?
• what do I need to participate?
• APPLY!

Teaching husbandry behaviours to captive animals was very much inspired by Project Pigeon, a US government sponsored program teaching pigeons to guide bombs. This took Skinner’s operant shaping outside the lab and to another species. About a decade later, during the 1950’s some of his colleagues, the Brelands, began working with marine mammals in parks.

(Fernandez & Martin 2021)

The rest, as they say, is history but it took us quite a while to bring these principles from captive wild collections like zoos into the companion animal veterinary context.

The ever broadening popularity of programs such as iCatCare Cat Friendly and Fear Free continues to spread awareness, building on increasing interest in the welfare of our companion animals during husbandry procedures that’s been developing in the industry for last two or three decades.

Understanding this history is important as the evolution of this area has really accelerated. And that means we must scrutinise and carefully critically evaluate the approaches we take to avoid fads and social media hype.

Concepts such as “choice” and “cooerpative care” sound like something we want to add…but what does this really mean for our animal learners? Often times, when we use food and attempt to reduce force (from our point of view), we believe we are applying these concepts under a positive reinforcement umbrella. But, just because we want to provide choices and just because we use food doesn’t mean the animal’s experience is choice filled and cooperative.

How can we know if we are really doing what we intend?
Can our dogs really be ‘cooperative’ or give ‘consent’?

We will investigate this intensively during this course.

This thorough understanding allows us to develop husbandry interventions and programs…but we also must be able to apply this understanding.

And that’s why excellent mechanical teaching skills are emphasised too. If you are teaching cleanly and from a welfare-perspective, fuzzy concepts like “consent”, “choice” and “cooperative” care, are not required.

On this course, you also have free access to our Foundation Mechanical Skills program so that you are sure to have the support to apply your programs so that you learner is supported and learns efficiently. Teaching mechanics are a welfare issue!

What do I get when I take this course?

• 24/7 access to the course online area, from anywhere, for six months (& beyond)
• six remote course group meetings during which we will go through course content and set up you up for ongoing homestudy and teaching practice
• regular individual remote coaching sessions, as needed, and distributed throughout course delivery
• multi-media learning resources for viewing and downloading
• about 20 mini-lectures (in the form of written presentations supported by videos, images, exercises & multi-media resources) covering husbandry program development and related evidence presented in small-ish bites so that you can take time to process and analyse
• free access to our Foundation Mechanical Skills program which is packed full of practical information & demonstrations to help you apply clean & welfare-centric teaching
• comment facility at the online course area for participation, enquiries, interactions
• 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.

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.

When is this course?

This Deep Dive course opens on Monday 21st August and as soon as you have completed enrolment on or after this date, you will be sent the first of your course content so that you can begin!

Our first remote meeting is on Sunday 10th September and you much have completed enrolment by this date to join this run.

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 to your device so you can work even without an internet connection.

Who?

This course is for all trainers, teachers, behaviour pros, hobbyists and pet guardians with a keen interest in teaching our animal learners in the most welfare centric way, and in examining our applications of positive reinforcement based interventions.

To get maximum benefit, you should have a basic understanding of applying operant teaching, using markers (like clickers) and delivering reinforcement.
It’s particularly suited to dog care pros such as veterinary personnel, training/behaviour pros and groomers.

All are welcome, no matter how you teach or train. This course emphasises a reinforcement based approach to teaching and teaching approaches that maximises the learners’ control. As teachers, we are responsible for setting up our learners for success so application of punishers and aversives is minimised.

How long? 

This course consists of six remote meetings which act as cornerstones to guide your ongoing learning across six months.

However, we don’t put pressure on learners about deadlines so this is individual and can be discussed with each learner. 
More about Studying with AniEd here.

How much?

This course costs €220. 
You can pay the entire fee or discuss an agreed upon payment plan with us. (Simply ask by emailing info@anied.ie)

Course fees must be paid in full before you can access the online area. Please read the terms at application carefully before committing as there are no refunds, full or partial, for any reason, after you have been given access to course materials. 

What will I learn about? 

There are six parts to this course, each part examined during each remote meeting.

Part 1:

• examining fuzzy concepts
• giving the animal “control”
• principles of husbandry teaching
• history & evidence

Part 2:

• understanding the veterinary experience for all stakeholders

Part 3:

• Level 1 Husbandry Interventions & Programs
• Setting the Scene

Part 4:

• Level 2 Husbandry Interventions & Programs
• Teaching coping/management skills

Part 5:

• Level 3 Husbandry Interventions & Programs
• Husbandry at Home

Part 6:

• Level 4 Husbandry Interventions & Programs
• Teaching husbandry behaviours

Anne Rogers will be your tutor on this course. Here she works with her beloved Decker on some ear husbandry:

Clip link

More about this procedure here.

What do I need to participate?

• 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, social media, and if you wish to participate to the fullest, be able to record and upload short demonstration clips, 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 or animal learner.
  While most discussion is dog-focused, all animal learners may participate.
• Means to video yourself and upload your clips for guidance and feedback and to submit assessment work. You will be required to upload video assessment work, according to assessment guidelines, to a video sharing site, such as YouTube. 
• Access to 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 meetings for group meetings and private coaching sessions.
• You will need general training/handling equipment, markers, reinforcers, husbandry tools such as brushes or grooming equipment appropriate to your chosen procedures & programs. It is recommended that you purchase toy or mock veterinary equipment, such as children’s doctor or vet kits that include toy stethoscope and so on.
  Having access to a safe table or elevated surface on which to work with your learner, such as a grooming table or sofa, for example, is helpful too.

APPLY!

Are you up for this challenging and rewarding course? Join us today!

Apply here by completing this form and enrolment requirements.

If you would like to discuss this course further, discuss payment plans or discuss entry requirements, please get in touch by emailing info@anied.ie

Summer’s here and we have a new and shiny service we are trialing for just a month.

I am desperate to get back to spending time with dogs. I get to do so little of that now, with so much work remote and with students. I still love all that, but I need my fix only available in hanging out with cool dogs.

This is a private and fully individualised service and of course, I will be caring for your dog as I do my own. I will be able to bring my expertise, which is behaviour, to keeping your dog as comfortable as possible, and enriching their alone time.

Full details here.

What happens during in-home care visits?

To help maintain your dog’s comfort, I will establish a somewhat predictable routine for your dog with me. Your dog will always be handled, and interacted with, compassionately, according to their preferences and at their pace. 

When dogs are alone and a person visits, they can get quite excited. That’s normal and to be expected. By supporting your dog in working through their excitement, I will be able to help them to settle better. We do this with Rollercoasters; combinations of activating and pacifying activities and interactions.

It is expected that your dog’s behaviour may be different while you are away and there’s a different person caring for them. We keep a visit log and will share that with you at handover when you return home. It will take some time for your dog to settle back into your routine after you return home and we will discuss their behaviour at handover. 

Although there will be individual adjustments, and I will always do my best to accommodate your individual dog, the following provides a general overview:

Morning visit:

• this is usually the longer visit of the day to get your dog set up and ready
• we will go on a longer outing during this visit, if that’s appropriate to your dog, as it’s generally cooler in the mornings
• I will make sure that your dog has plenty of opportunities to toilet
• we will include lots of activities that exercise your dog physically and mentally so that they can relax until our next visit
• your dog will be fed most of their meal during the morning visit, or in a toy, when I leave, if that’s appropriate

Day-time visit:

• this is usually the shorter visit of the day to provide your dog with a break and ample opportunities to toilet
• we may go on short outings, but this may be limited by the heat of the day
• this visit will be about lots of sniffing games and training games and lots of fun!
• I will make sure your dog is comfortable and settled for the evening ahead
• the bulk of their food will be fed during the first two visits of the day so that they are not too full overnight

Night-time visit:

• for their last visit, we will go for a short outing as appropriate for your dog
• I will make sure that your dog has plenty of opportunities to toilet
• we will concentrate on winding down during this visit
• I will hang out with your dog to help them settle and relax for bedtime 

Check out our free program, 100 Days of Enrichment, for a glimpse of all the fun your dog and I will have!

I am so looking forward to helping dogs feel comfortable while their humans are away, and I can’t wait to get to know new dogs. If you or someone you know might enjoy this service, please do let me know.

I don’t really follow other trainers online so I’m often out of the loop when it comes to the latest and greatest in trainer-town.

As a result, I was recently called out on the use of the term “neutral” to describe dog-dog interactions, and in its use to describe ‘neutral dog walks’. I had no idea the term neutral could be so contentious…

Trainer Terminology

This illustrates a real challenge in our industry, that is, terminology.

Because professionals enter our industry from diverse backgrounds and we lack standardised & validated terminology, trainers can make up names for approaches to teaching dogs. That means terms may be poorly defined and applied less accurately.

I am clearly guilty of this too!

My neutrality faux pas

Upon being made aware of my possibly unsuitable use of the term, I did a little digging to reveal the errors of my ways.

Apparently “neutrality walks” or some version of that concept, have become quite a popular tool among UK trainers, and possibly elsewhere too. What I found does not represent how we do things at all and certainly doesn’t portray what I would consider neutral social responses from the dogs involved.

I don’t really like to discuss what others might do in the name of training, and instead, prefer to discuss what we do.
But for clarity, these “neutrality walks” often appear to consist of groups of dogs, with their humans, being walked in close proximity to one another, on pretty tight leads, with many showing lowered heads, appearing check out, with tense movement.

That doesn’t seem like neutrality to me!?

Night & Day

In my defense, in using the term, I was describing something very different.

On our Neutral Dog Walks:

• there are no more than three or four teams
• dogs are on long lines and are free to move about
• we use distance and engagement to maintain everyone’s comfort
• we pay close attention to each individual’s space bubble over time and across contexts
• we are in enriching and interesting environments so the presence of other dogs and their humans is somewhat diluted
• each dog’s preferences are considered – some dogs might want to meet or be closer to a compatible individual, but some might not and this is not prioritised
• they get opportunities away from one another to engage in their interests with their human, without the pressures from other teams

What do we mean by ‘neutral’?

The difficulty with the term neutral is that it may be interpreted as the dog not reacting or responding. Maybe this conjures up images of robot-dogs, which can be very attractive to many pet owners, who, understandably just want a “good” dog, but is so often achieved through pretty heavy social pressure, intimidation and coercion.

Neutral is a label and like all labels, it’s only useful when it’s understood across users, through clear and agreed-upon definitions.

And of course, we are not labelling dogs as “neutral” but more so responses. Problems arise when we start with “the dog is —” as we should be describing behaviours and the conditions under which they happen; what the dog does, rather than what (we think) the dog is.

Neutral responses are “whatever!” or “so what!” responses.
The dog perceives some interesting occurrence such as another dog, a cyclist, maybe even a squirrel, and they have enough time and space to make some choices about their next move.

It doesn’t mean that the dog has no response (if they’re alive, they’re responding!) but that they are able to respond and recover, without too much stress.

Goals

Our outings are goal oriented, but the outcomes for each dog will be individual and evolving.

The humans are developing skills in managing their dog’s exposure by adjusting distance, reinforcing engagement and participating in their dog’s exploration with them.

The dogs are learning to feel safe and are developing skills in these contexts that don’t require swings of excitement and escalations.

We try to have a model dog present too, a dog whose responses are well known, pretty predictable and generally low-key. Decker is very environmentally sound and doesn’t have any interest in interacting with other dogs. The way he navigates his world may be a helpful model for other dogs who might find things exciting or worrying.
And to make sure he is able to do that, everyone understands his preferences, just as we make sure everyone else’s preferences are respected.

Our outings are based in engagement. The dog learns to choose to engage without cueing, leash jerking or tightening or nagging. We adjust their world rather than attempt to mould or coerce them.

The dog’s behaviour is information. If they are having difficulty recovering from stress or their owners feel the need to use a tight lead or other coercion, then we need more distance and an updated plan.

Our ultimate goals are happy, loose dogs, confident humans and lots of team-work.

And now, it looks like we have to come with a new name…ideas welcome!

The sun’s out (yay!) and that means that you’ve probably been inundated by posts and images and information about “heat stroke”.

I deliberately schedule our Online Canine First Aid workshops around this time of year so we get to talk about evidence based approaches to detecting, preventing and administering the right first aid for HRI (Heat Related Illnesses). This is emphasised on this workshop because there is so much BS spread about dealing with HRI, some information is inaccurate but some is downright dangerous.

We talk about so much more but while HRI are on everyone’s mind, and timelines, at this time of year, join us for our next Online Canine First Aid workshop. You might just save a life some day!

This fun workshop with in-depth resources costs just €50.00 but if you volunteer with a recognised rescue organisation, you can join in for free!

Doing an online workshop won’t detract from your experience or skill building at all. Check out what our participants say:

Read all about this workshop here and join us!

You can message, email (info@anied.ie) or apply via the website link. If the June/July dates don’t work for you, join us on another workshop. Book today!