18/02/2024
Tickets on sale now...
***Cognitive Conservation Seminar***
Come and join Dr Simon Gadbois (Canada), Dr Kathy Murphy (UK) and Wesley Visscher (Netherlands )in person as they talk about Neuroscience, detection, tracking and trailing with a bias towards conservation, PLUS optional 2 days of working spots in tracking/trailing and 2 days of working spots in detection/scentwork with Wesley Visscher and Elliot Connor
Wednesday 19th June 2024.
Held at the Crichton Trust, Dumfries, SW Scotland.
Dr Simon Gadbois is a researcher in animal behaviour and behavioural neuroscience at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. Early in his academic career he integrated biology (ethology), experimental animal psychology and neuroscience within a post-cognitivist perspective. A generalist, he has studied olfaction, learning and social behaviour in species of insects, molluscs (slugs and snails), fish, reptiles, birds (pigeons) and mammals (rats, dogs, red foxes, coyotes and wolves). He has studied wild canids for over 20 years and established the Canid and Reptile Behaviour and Olfaction lab at Dalhousie in 2006, prior to that he had studied the behavioural endocrinology of social behaviour in wolves and behaviour patterns in foraging behaviours comparatively in foxes, coyotes and wolves. Since 2007 his lab has been engaged mostly in research on biomedical detection, diagnosis and assistance as well as tracking and trailing of species-at-risk with his wildlife conservation canines. The lab has an applied and methodological focus. Simon trains his own field dogs and is fascinated by the constraints of the field, including “odours in their natural environment”.
Dr Kathy Murphy (BVetMed, DPhil, CVA, CLAS, MRCVS) is a veterinary surgeon and neuroscientist. She graduated from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons UK in 1999, initially working in mixed clinical practice before studying for two post graduate clinical qualifications with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, in Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia, and Laboratory Animal Science.
In 2009 she was awarded a highly prestigious Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship to study for her PhD, in Behavioral Neuroscience, at The Queens College, University of Oxford, UK. She subsequently worked in the USA as Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Anesthesiology at the Icahn School of Medicine NYC, where her research into the long term effects of anesthesia on learning and memory contributed to a change to the safety advice for the use of general anesthesia in children. She moved back to the UK in 2013, to take up clinical-academic positions at the University of Oxford and subsequently Newcastle University, and concurrently completed a Residency in Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia with the European College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia, during which she became increasingly interested in how pain re-models the nervous system and this can manifest as behavioral problems in pets.
Alongside these positions Dr Murphy founded, and is now Director of, Barking Brains Ltd (a neuroscience outreach platform for the animal behavior and training community), which focuses on translating neuroscientific information into practical and useful information for people interested in animal behavior. In order to maximize the impact of her diverse interests and skill set, Dr Murphy teamed up with Behavior Vets LLC in 2022 when she took up the position of Chief Scientific Officer and has since been made Chief Executive Officer. She is now able to focus on her new found passion for science communication and providing evidence based, up to date, accessible, scientific information to clinicians, animal professionals and their clients, about subjects related to pain, behavior, neurobiology and the many interrelated factors.
In addition to Dr Murphy's primary career roles she was Trustee and Veterinary Advisor to the Rottweiler Welfare Association for 14 years; is co-founder of Ethics First (a collective which lobbies for ethical decision making in clinical practice); is an Oversight Committee Member for the UK Dog Behavior and Training Charter; sits on numerous National and International boards, working groups and ethical review panels; is an ad-hoc reviewer for neuroscience, veterinary medicine and anesthesia and pain journals; and continues to collaborate on research projects. Dr Murphy lives in the UK with her husband Elliot (retired Search and Rescue handler and now scentwork and mantrailing trainer) and their 5 dogs: Nancy a Rottweiler mix, Zebedee and Nela the German Shorthaired Pointers and Albi and Haggis the Weimaraners.
Wesley Visscher
is the owner of Scent Imprint for Dogs (SIFD) and Scent Imprint Conservation Dogs. His professional career spans over 17 years of operational experience.
Wesley also works for non profit as a Global Conservation Force Field Instructor, in which he gives field instructions to rangers and sponsors specially trained dogs for wildlife protection.
"I started as a dog handler for explosive and narcotic detection dogs. Through my passion for training dogs I decided to start my own company in 2014. I'm specialised in the training of detection and tracking dogs. I start training the dogs when they are 8 to 12 weeks old.
My dogs are operational all over the world including the US, Europe, and Africa. Police , military, border force units and private security companies are my clients . We train dogs in different disciplines for instance:
-Narcotics detection dogs
-Explosive detection dogs
-Currency detection dogs
-Cell phone detection dogs
-Fire arms detection dogs
-Wildlife detection dogs
-Tracking dogs
I'm also involved with several projects that fight against the illegal wildlife trade and train dogs for various anti-poaching units in Asia and Africa. We set up a new K-9 unit for International NGO’s where we train the local handlers to become operational dog handlers . We are also involved in a research project for endangered species in Africa , Asia and South America and our biosecurity dogs protect the local flora and fauna against invasive species and invasive plants
In the Netherlands we deploy our own operational Dogs in the disciplines of:
- Narcotics detection dogs
- Explosive detection dogs
- Leak detection dogs
- Invasive plant detection dogs"
The cost of this one day conference with world renowned speakers is £75 which includes tea/coffee and lunch.
It will be held at the Crichton, Grierson House, Bankend Rd, Dumfries DG1 4ZE.
The building is set in 85 acres of parkland so if you'd like to bring your dogs you can walk them in the breaks.
On the 20th-21st we are holding a 2 day tracking/trailing event with myself and Wesley Visscher then on 22nd-23rd 2 days of detection.
I am Scent Imprint for Dogs head instructor in the UK with the highest qualifications available in both tracking/trailing and detection, retired Search & Rescue, and a judge, trainer and ambassador for Scent Ops trials. We are keeping the amount of handler spots quite small with 6 teams for each instructor. You will get to work with both instructors during the 2 days. Spectators are also welcome.
Tracking/trailing 2 days £195
Spectator £85
Detection 2 days £195
Spectator £85
Book here for all 3 events: https://www.bionicbert.co.uk/events-1
