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Behaviour Blogs
Ep. 10 Reactivity in Shelter Dogs with Micheal Shikashio
In this episode Tom is joined by Aggression and reactivity expert Micheal Shikashio as they discuss some key Reactivity topics. If you found this episode useful and want to see Micheal live coaching some dog to human reactivity clients a course can be found here...
Blue the GSP
This week we are looking at Blue a beautiful German pointer who has struggled with frustration since coming into the centre. When working with frustration I always consider the 3 Rs to help develop a plan. This is how we approached the three Rs with Blue. Risk...
A Dogs Rescue Journey- Assessing Behaviour
Perhaps one of the most important aspects of rescue work is appropriate assessments, and therefore there is often a lot of attempt to improve best practice. One thing that has been identified as an important part of the assessment process is early identification of...
Evaluating Factors for Returning Dogs
Evaluating factors influencing dog post-adoptive return in a Canadian animal shelter by J R Friend and C J Bench We have previously discuss the important of gathering information and data at the point of handover or return, in order to improve the sucsess of next...
Milo the Resource Guarding Spainel
This Week we are going to discuss Milo the cocker spaniel. Milo was relinquished to a shelter and subsequently rehomed twice, in both homes he had stolen items such as socks and kids’ shoes. When the adopters tried to collect these items from Milo, he showed...
UK Cat Welfare Considerations- An Approach for the Future
With approximately 11 million pet cats in the UK, they are possibly the UK's most popular pet. In 2022, Cats Protection, the UK’s leading cat welfare organisation helped 144,000 Cats and kittens, equating to a massive 400 cats a day. Estimated numbers of cats entering...
Dogs Rescue Journey- Gathering Information from Owners
Relinquishing a dog can be a challenging thing for owners to do and is often full of mixed emotions. Any information provided to us maybe of varied use due to: fear of judgment; concern about what will happen to the dog post relinquishment, particularly in the case of...
Difference between Adopted and Purchased Dogs
Rescue dogs show few differences in behaviour, cognitive abilities, and personality compared with non-rescue dogs. This study looked to determine any difference between behaviour and cognition of dogs from a rescue and non-rescue background. Cognitive tests were...
A Dog Rescue Journey- Intake
Where do our dogs come from? Dogs find themselves in rescue for a variety of reasons, data form the 2022 Dogs Trust annual review showed that Dogs trust, the Uk’s largest dog welfare charity received over 51,000 relinquishment requests. The most common reasons for...
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
"Let him sleep. For in dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own. Let him swim in the deepest ocean or glide over the highest cloud.” Albus dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I don’t know about you, but I often wonder what my dog, Jess, is...
A Thought on Canine Frustration
This week we have talked a lot about frustrations, today I just wanted to provide some further context about why it can be so prevalent in shelter. If we consider the oxford dictionary description of frustration “The feeling of being upset or annoyed as a result of...
Development of the Canine Frustration Questionnaire
This week I'm off to The Pet Professional Guild Homeward bound summit, to talk about frustration in shelter dogs, so frustration is going to be SSB theme of the week Questionnaire based Psychometric tools have been developed for assessing behavioural and emotional...
Shelter Cat Sociability
The suitability of rehoming cats from shelters hinges on their sociality towards humans. Often the Cats socialisation history is unknown and whilst there is a structured and validated assessment, it can take a lot of time. This study looked at piloting a quicker...
Development of a Cat Behaviour Issues Assessment Scale
Problem behaviours in cats, such as urine marking, scratching, fear, and problems of cohabitation between cats, can present a potential welfare problem for those affected cats and have a negative impact on the human–animal bond....
Ep. 09 Supporting Fraidy Cats and Socialising Kittens with Tabitha Kucera
In this episode of the podcast we are bringing cats to the party! The amazing Tabitha Kucera joins me to discuss Kitten socialisation and supporting Fraidy Cats in a shelter environment. There was tons of practical tips from Tabitha which can really help to support...
Ep. 08 Scent Work to Support Shelter Dogs with Jack Fenton
In this episode we talk about all things scentwork and how we can use it to support shelter dogs. Jack provided a range of practical suggestions to help everyone get started with scent work.Jack has a range of experience and qualifications, this is what he says on his...
Ep. 07 Behaviour and Operations Working Together to Maximise Success with Laurie Lawless and Lacie Davis
This week we are joined by Laurie lawless and lacie Davis. In this episode we discussed how we can make the most of our senior leadership teams to promote successful collaboration for the welfare of our dogs.BioLaurie Lawless is a certified expert in dog behavior with...
Ep. 05 Buckets Aren’t Just for Cleaning (and Other Discussions) With Chirag Patel
In tn this episode we discuss some of the fantastic videos and tools that Chirag Patel has developed over the years and how we can utilise these in shelter.During this episode we coveredDrop- https://youtu.be/ndTiVOCNY4M?si=MEmmmWWjvUd1VZXAThe counting game-...
Ep. 06 Open vs Closed Approaches to Shelter and Rescue with Sara Rosser
Join myself and Sara Rosser the Head of Operations at Hope Rescue in Wales as we discussed open vs closed models for intake, shelter design and adoptions https://open.spotify.com/episode/34xBoivRPyfjxSOjPG3hzA?si=VUw-FNBnSeiRutoHB9MReg
Ep. 04 Hey That’s Mine, Resource Guarding in Shelter Dogs With Jean Donaldson
In this episode we discuss resource guarding, what it is, how to assess it in a shelter environment and the basics of working with resource guarders. During the episode we discuss Jeans book mine...
Ep. 03 Supporting Overseas Shelter Dogs With Toby Craze
In In this episode I was joined by Toby Craze to discuss working with oversea shelter dogs.Toby Craze, began his journey with animals back in 2012 initially completing a diploma in Animal Management, before continuing onto university gaining a degree in Animal...
Ep. 02 ACEing Shelter Work. How Freework can Support Our Dogs, With Sarah Fisher and Racheal Landymore
In this episode we discuss using Animal centred education and free work to support shelter dogs. Including how to set up freework and the different ways we can utilise it. Check out our Tuesday tips video on Simplifying shelter behaviour facebook page to see free work...
Ep. 01 Social Facilitation and Play in Shelter Dogs with Trish Mcmillan
In this episode we discuss Shelter play groups, focusing on how dogs can help each other heal and progress in the shelter environment. Join myself and Trish as we take a deep dive into shelter play groups from start to finish, with some top tips around setting dogs...
Introducing the podcast!
We are excited to introduce the Simplifying Shelter Behaviour podcast, this is our short introduction ahead of our official first episode on the first of November with the amazing Trish McMillan. we have a number of great guests lined up so please follow the podcast...
Top tips for Reducing Cat Stress on a Shoestring
Stressing Meowt- Cats Protection conference. Top tips for stress on a shoestring- Juliette Jones and Sam Prior from Woodgreen Pets Charity have years of experience working with cats in Shelter. Together they presented on Stress reduction on a shoe string. ...
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