Animal Behavior Professionals, LLC

01/10/2022

LOOKING FOR RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS FOR DOG EAR CLEANING STUDY - 5 slots left - please share
Owners must not be professional dog trainers (for now - we may open it up later)

Is your dog new to ear cleaning or has a mild negative reaction to ear cleaning? Do you want to train your dog to allow you to clean their ears? If yes to both of these, you may be eligible to participate in a research study training dogs to accept ear cleaning. This includes both wiping the inside of the ear as well as, optionally, getting ear drops into the ear.

If eligible, you will be provided with a specific set of training instructions you will follow. You will videorecord all sessions and submit your data. Training will use treats and/or toys as the main reinforcers and is expected to take ~10 min per day for several weeks. Owners who finish the study will be provided with $25 gift cards to Petco or Amazon. Owners will be responsible for providing their own ear cleaner.

To be eligible, dogs must:
• have been in the current household for at least 6 months
• have never previously tried to bite or bit the owner(s) in unreasonable circumstances and the owner has no concerns that the dog will bite the owner for any reason while engaging in the study, such as out of frustration, over food, or for any other reason
• have little experience having their ears cleaned, meaning they have either A) never had their ears cleaned or B) had their ears cleaned 5 or fewer times and did not do well but only had a mild behavioral reaction
• enthusiastically eat treats
• not have a current ear infection or any other issues causing pain in the ears.

To determine eligibility and schedule a time to learn more about the study, complete the eligibility survey at https://forms.office.com/r/hGrehjkNuY
This study is funded by Fear Free.

12/01/2022

Our newest podcast is up! For those of you interested in the intersection of animal behavior, behavior analysis, and academics, this is the perfect masters program for you. And did I mention that it's virtual?

I'm not kidding when I say that if this program had existed back when I was getting into animal behavior, I absolutely 100% would have enrolled.

Back when I was interested in learning more about animal behavior and possibly getting into as a career, I looked in vain for an animal behavior-focused Master’s program. Eventually, I gave u…

29/08/2021

It's been a busy summer! Today we are hanging at the annual gala for Greyhound Pets of America-Wisconsin.
https://m.facebook.com/gpawisconsin/

04/07/2021

I'm presenting for the first time at the PPG's Geek Week. I'll be giving two presentations: one on the use of functional analyses to identify the function of dog mouthing behavior and one on a protocol for identifying food preferences in dogs.
https://petprofessionalguild.com/geek-week-sessions

16/06/2021

Our newest podcast is up!

This month, we chat about everything we learned from the 2021 IFAAB Conference. In this intimate conference, everyone has to give a talk. Talks vary across research, behavior protocols, and field p…

05/05/2021

That moment when your vet says your dog's teeth are SO CLEAN even though the breed is known for gross teefers. 🦚 🦚 🦚 That's what brushing your dog's teeth 7 days a week can do (with some exceptions, of course).

Watch what Staale does when he hears his toothpaste being opened. This is the kind of response you want.

Although this training doesn't happen overnight, persistence, small training steps, and strong reinforcement can pay off big for your dog's behavior, your dog's health, and your own pocketbook.

P.S. We have the best veterinarian and clinic at Shorewood Animal Hospital in Wisconsin.

16/04/2021

After 4 years of hard work, our paper is finally published! We used a functional analysis protocol to try and identify the functions of mouthing behavior in dogs. In other words, why are they doing it? And then we used those results to inform interventions to put in place with owners.

We'll talk more about this in some detail on our next podcast but, in the meantime, it's time to celebrate a huge accomplishment!
Article is here: https://rdcu.be/cicT3

07/04/2021

04/04/2021

If you're someone who wants to learn about animal behavior from a relatively technical, scientific level, then this conference is for you! It's virtual this year, and it's only $110 to register ($50 membership plus $60 registration fee). All of these talks focus on animal behavior research, and the talks span across sciences, behavior types, and species.
https://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/2021/index.php

01/04/2021

Our newest podcast is up, and we chat about all the controversy surrounding Major Biden and his recent "biting" behavior.

This month we sneak in an extra podcast on the timely hot topic of the potential biting incidents with President Biden’s younger dog, Major. As of the posting of this (3/31/21), there have no…

22/03/2021

Behavior professionals often post wonderful exemplar videos of what good training looks like and the wonderful results. However, clients are often new to training complex behaviors, which will inevitably result in some failures.

I'm here to tell you a secret - we all fail during training at some point. The key to success is to learn from the failures and the successes. If you fail ,the answer is likely that you need to change criteria more slowly and break the steps down even smaller.

Here's a great example video. We occasionally do "bath behavior" with Staale to prep him for bathing. So far we've taught how to get into the tub, which you can see he easily does. But from there we often skip right to the bathing part. Today, we failed at training. Instead of getting frustrated with ourselves or saying that the training "doesn't work", let's look at the video and learn. Watch his behavior throughout all the steps of bathing.

Early on, when he jumps out of the tub filled with water and then hesitates about going back, that's a huge flag that we've gone beyond his behavioral capabilities. It means anything after this point is likely to be somewhat stressful and that his behavior is likely to break down further, making the bath more difficult than it should be and reducing the opportunities we have to reinforce him for great behavior - an ugly cycle. From this point on we were doomed, and we should have stopped there.

What should we do next time? Make a list of all the small steps involved in a bath: jumping in the tub, listening to water fill the tub, stepping in the water, standing in the water, having water touch his back, getting water poured on his body, etc. And then work on each of those steps, one at a time, in the absence of a time crunch so you don't rush through the steps. Also, it helps to record the training so you can check in on your dog and read how each step went before moving onto the next.

As for Staale, he got an extra long walk today and a promise that we'll be more proactive about training bath time before the next one.

07/03/2021

Positive reinforcement training often, but not always, utilizes treats or food as a reinforcer for a desired behavior. Many owners are rightly concerned about the weight of their dog in the context of these additional treats. But I am here to tell you, as a dog owner who uses treats every day for training on walks and in-home, that thoughtful use of treats does not result in weight gain. Picture for proof below.

Some good tips for using treats are to:
1. Use high-quality ingredient treats.
2. Keep the treats as healthy as possible while also ensuring they are high enough value for the behavior you are reinforcing.
2b. Use kibble where possible. For example, kibble can often work just fine as a reinforcer for low effort behaviors.
3. Reduce the amount of kibble your dog gets as part of their meals.
4. Keep your training focused and efficient. I don't actually do this, but it's good advice nonetheless. 🙂 We just mostly have fun.

28/02/2021

I was recently on a Facebook live talking about our dog mouthing prevalence data and how it opened my eyes to the fact that we, as a society, really don't agree on the definition of some basic, but really socially important dog behaviors. Specifically, "biting" and "mouthing" seem really clear cut to most people... but are they really?

07/02/2021

I have a soft spot for senior dogs, both personally and professionally. Partially because it is a true honor to work with a senior dog and their devoted family, and partially because behavior problems in seniors often require unique interventions.

For example, if a family has a new, young dog with a clean bill of health and who has never liked being touched, I might work with the family to get the dog used to (and even enjoy) being touched/petted*. To grossly oversimplify, petting may be paired with other reinforcers, such as treats/games, and then over time the petting itself may feel good enough to become a standalone reinforcer. (*with the dog's permission, of course.)

But I recently had a case with a senior dog who used to somewhat enjoy pets from family members for several years but recently stopped tolerating much contact. Nothing major had changed in the household, and their vet found no significant medical issues. Overall, this suggested that the value of petting had decreased for this dog, potentially due to minor physical changes. Using the protocol for the puppy (above) of petting = treats for this senior dog could be a huge mistake if petting is now aversive due to physical reasons. Instead, we put a protocol in place to very clearly "ask" the dog if she wanted pets, only pet her in quiet places/moments, and give her a comfortable bed of her own so she wasn't jostled, startled, or bothered in any way while snoozing.

All this is to say, seniors are special and often require interventions tailored to their unique behavioral functions. And to the families who see and respect the needs of their senior dogs, I see you and give you so much credit.

28/01/2021

A different kind of podcast this month! One looking at the environmental costs of pets.

Pet ownership, although rewarding, does require a significant level of dedication from caregivers. This investment ranges from immediate requirements like time spent exercising our companions to mo…

23/01/2021

Just here to point out that for all our collective hang ups around using food with our dogs, we, ourselves, have used food for centuries as reinforcement, as comfort, as bonding, as tradition, and as connection with each other.

We pass down family recipes, we keep returning to our favorite restaurants, we cherish holiday dinners with loved ones, we watch cooking shows and read food blogs, we gather and socialize over food, we cook meals and bake as self-care, we bring dishes to sick neighbors, we cook to carry on our culture, the list goes on.

I personally will spend hours baking because I find sharing what I made with others deeply reinforcing. Somehow I never wonder whether my family loves me just because I bake for them. Food doesn’t define our relationships, but it’s often a joyful part of them.

And I have zero reservations that my dog comes to me, chooses to be near me, or responds to my cues “just because of food”. I have the relationship I have with him and have built the behaviors I’ve built because I know what drives behavior and I’m generous with reinforcement. I’m also the source of wonderful things for him, including food.

So, let’s get over our hang ups and start being more generous with our dogs.

20/01/2021

I always love chatting with Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, who is a leader in the field of applied animal behavior research.

Separation anxiety is a leading cause of surrender for dogs. Although this term has been applied to a broad group of behaviors that may or may not actually be separation anxiety, the reality is tha…