Animal Behaviour Consultations

22/03/2023

Hi everyone!

I was recently invited to chat with the lovely Andrew Hale over in the Dog Centred Care Facebook group about attachment in dogs (see link to video below). I've had a lot of requests for more information, so I've put together a webinar series expanding on the things we covered in our talk 😁

It’s about making your relationship with your dog the very best it can be, and using the relationship therapeutically to treat behaviour problems.

There will be four sessions, each from 1:30pm to 4pm:

• Saturday 8 April 2023

• Saturday 15 April 2023

• Saturday 22 April 2023

• Saturday 29 April 2023

Each session will be recorded and you will have permanent access to the recordings.

You will gain a thorough understanding of attachment and why it is so important in dog-human relationships. The series will guide you through recognising your dog's attachment style, supporting dogs with different attachment styles, building a secure attachment and using that to 'therapeutically re-parent' dogs who have experienced trauma, fear, anxiety and stress. The webinars will be illustrated with real case studies throughout.

Tickets are only £125 for all 4 sessions! Available here:

https://www.caninetrauma.org/store/

Here is a link to my chat with Andy if you missed it, you'll get an introduction to what we will cover!

https://youtu.be/CRF2gyYaKnM

I hope to see you then 🙂

Rach

21/03/2023

Need A Dog Behaviourist?
I’m an animal behaviour clinician with over 18 years of experience, and I specialise in trauma and aggression. I have a Master’s degree in animal behaviour so I only use ethical, kind and evidence-based methods. I used to run a degree in applied animal behaviour teaching students the knowledge requirements for certification as clinical animal behaviourists and set up a referral practice so students could get practical experience. I’ve been consulting ever since, and I still teach by delivering webinars and conference talks for organisations such as the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors, the Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians and the Trauma in Animals Conference. I work with trainers and other behaviourists on a consultancy basis and mentor trainers and behaviourists in trauma-informed care. I work as part of a team of professionals so if you’re working with a trainer they are very welcome to sit in on consultations! I have a book coming out next year on psychological trauma in dogs 😊
I can help with:
- Aggression
- Fear-related behaviour
- Reactivity
- Separation anxiety
- Trauma
I do lots of work with charities with dogs from the dog meat trade, puppy farms and foreign rescues.
The way I work is an all-inclusive package (£350) and that includes everything, from start to finish, no matter how long it takes:
- Initial video assessment to take the history
- Initial home visit to complete the assessment and demonstrate techniques
- Treatment plan
- Liaison with vet
- Fortnightly follow-up support sessions (combination of video and home visits as required) for as long as needed
This is payable at the time of booking to secure the first 3 appointments (we book them on a rolling basis thereafter).
I also do video consultation packages (with the same level of support) across the UK and internationally.
To book a FREE discovery call, message me on WhatsApp: 07967601394 or you can PM me in messenger 😊
Thanks so much!
Rach
(Pic of my Finn just because I love him 😂)

05/12/2022

27/05/2022

Part of emotional well-being is the opportunity to enjoy natural, pleasurable and fulfilling experiences. For the pups we do scatter feeds, rabbit ears, snuffle mats and licki mats (as well as more complex scent trails and puzzles) and free work. We stick to a cycle of play activity, feed related activity (which lowers arousal post play and follows the natural hunt - eat - sleep cycle from their evolutionary history) then sleep to set them up for success (and therefore avoid problems).
For the cats we use food related activities like these amazing mice from to stimulate natural behaviours and fun!
For Jesse the rescue parrot it’s especially important because he came plucking his feathers from stress. It’s all about looking at each species’ ethology so for Jesse it’s plenty of browse that he can enjoy shredding, some toys he can manipulate with his beak and some with his feet, and foraging activities.

04/03/2022

It’s all gone a little bit wild! Here are a few of Jesse’s highlights 😁

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sad-parrot-who-fell-mute-26388211

https://inews.co.uk/news/parrot-jesse-potty-mouthed-refused-speak-owners-death-finds-voice-1498461

https://metro.co.uk/2022/03/04/depressed-parrot-who-stopped-talking-tells-new-owner-to-f-off-16215433/

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2022-03-04/depressed-parrot-who-missed-his-owner-finds-loving-home-in-aberdare

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-60616404

Jesse the African grey parrot struggled with grief after his owner died and began plucking out his own feathers before finding his forever home in Wales. | ITV News Wales

03/09/2021

This was really fun! Thanks so much for having me Puppy Coach!!

⭐️NEW PODCAST: TRAUMA ⭐️
This week I chat to the incredible Rachel Leather, trauma specialist and founder of the Dogs Impacted by Trauma group and Animal Behaviour Consultations . We got a chance to cover many areas of canine trauma, how it affects our dogs from a scientific and behavioural perspective and the implications for modern dog owners including steps you can take to work with professionals if you recognise signs of trauma in your pet. For a chance to get really immersed in this fascinating area, search for Puppy Coach wherever you get your podcasts or follow the link below 🐾

https://puppycoach.podbean.com/

27/08/2021

Tiny Budget - humongous impact.

As part of our education displays at events and clinics, we use a very practical visual method of displaying what is an acceptable method of tethering and an unacceptable / inappropriate method of tethering. Whilst we do not promote the use of tethering, it is a practical solution to many whom use tethering as a method for horse management, temporarily.

There is much discussion on tethering . It always raises lots of emotions.
We educate without judgement, in a practical visual way to gain high impact.

27/07/2021

Still time to register 😁 I’ve listened to my colleague’s talks and they’re brilliant, well worth grabbing tickets if you can ☺️

https://conference.controlthemeerkat.com

All talks now available for you to Watch, Digest and to think of many questions for our Live group panels in a weeks time :-)

Still time to get your tickets for £130

All Panels will also be recorded and available for you to watch for a year.

We cannot wait to see you there and also at our delegates evening on Friday 30th where we have some self care and more discussion topics lined up for you

02/06/2021

I’m very excited to be doing a talk for the Fellowship of Animal Behaviour Clinicians about engaging owners with trauma-informed care 😁
It’s open to non-members too so you can get tickets here if you’re interested and there’s a list of all the other brilliant webinars they’ve got coming up too:

Book our brilliant events and webinars. FAB Clinicians aim to showcase work at the cuting edge of the animal behaviour field.

12/05/2021

This is exciting!! I can’t wait!

08/05/2021

Interesting, but not surprising. We have such a responsibility towards these amazing animals, I’m the glad the science is helping us understand just what a special bond it is 🐾💕🐾

New study published in Scientific Reports found that when a dog sees their caregiver many of the same brain regions are activated as when a child sees their parent.

Similarities in the dog-caregiver and child-parent bond, sometimes called attachment relationships, have been reported in previous research. This study set out to investigate the mechanisms underlying the bond.

Dogs, 17 of them, were trained to lie still for an fMRI scan. While in the scanner, they were shown images of their caregiver, a familiar person and a stranger, showing happy or angry facial expressions.

The study also included an eye-tracking experiment where dog's line of vision was recorded when shown pictures of their caregiver, familiar person and a stranger.

The brain scans revealed that when dogs see an image of their caregiver, whether happy or angry, regions of their brain were activated which are associated with attachment relationships (e.g. parent-child) in humans.

However, when dogs saw the stranger, brain regions related to visual and motor processing were activated - not those related to an emotional response. And when a familiar person was shown, their was little brain activation at all.

For the eye-tracking experiment, dogs looked longer at their caregiver than a familiar person, but not longer than a stranger. This could be because of dog's interest in novelty.

The study shows dogs have a preference for their caregiver's face. The brain scanning experiment suggests the emotional response to seeing their caregiver is not dissimilar to the response of a child seeing their parent.

Paper: Exploring the dog–human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures, Scientific Reports, Dec 2020
Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79247-5

04/05/2021

This will be a fantastic course, Rachel Bean is amazing. I’ve been thinking for ages I want to do a canine first aid course, it’s peace of mind knowing what to do in an emergency 🐾

This course is for everyone, Dog Owners, Dog Walkers, Dog Daycare staff, Dog Groomers, Home Boarders, Dog Trainers, Kennel Staff, Behaviourists

30/04/2021

Finn sometimes gets distracted by ducks and forgets to move his legs when he’s swimming (or, more accurately, sinking)... so this happened 😂

29/03/2021

There’s a new horse riding arena Fferm Ty Newydd above Treherbert that you can book as an exercise option if your dog can’t be around other dogs, has certain dogs they play well with and you need an area to do that safely without the risk of unknown dogs appearing and we can book for rehab sessions with my dogs too (£10 an hour for up to 4 dogs) 😁
Much needed for so many dogs 🥰
The website to book is:

01/03/2021

This is a great session from LifeLine Dogs - South Wales explaining why management is an important tool. There are live sessions every Monday at 11am 😁

15/02/2021

This is such a great example of what we can do to minimise fear, anxiety and stress around going to the vets 🥰

06/02/2021

So looking forward to this, and feel very honoured to be asked to speak!

05/02/2021

This is a fab free course from On Cloud K9 - Dog Training & Pet Services

Dog and Puppy Training