Pet Transports – The Pluses and the Perils

Pet Transports – Transporting pet dogs into locations that have not yet solved their own homeless pet population problems fuels a heated controversy. There is a great deal of history and politically fraught discussion about the movement of dogs from shelters in southern states to other shelters and rescue organizations in the north. Hurricane Katrina left a powerful emotional footprint in its wake – giving birth to the pet transport phenomena, as we know it today.

Adopters take pride in identifying their pets as “Rescues” as though the dog is one of a new and highly fashionable breed. Searching the academic literature, scarce evidence suggests that statistics exist on placement success rates. Nor is there yet literature on any constellations of behavioral issues typical of “rescues” or other important data regarding behavior issues that foster or undermine success rates for the dogs being transported long distances to find new “forever” homes. Academic research is badly needed.

Dogs travel via cars and vans driven by members of organized, volunteer, transport relay teams; private and commercial airline pilots, and on commercially operated, climate controlled 18-wheelers carrying 100 or more dogs at a time. The best of those big trucks, although run by for-profit businesses, work in harmony with volunteer rescue organizations. The reputable trucking companies are dedicated to quality care for the dogs and their profit margins are extremely thin.  No transplantation of children, families, or pets solves the dreadful conditions they flee, nor can they save all those in need of escape from trauma or death. The dog transports are just one cog in a multi-faceted effort to save dogs and place them in safe, loving “forever” homes. They do not purport to prevent millions of other dogs from dying in kill-shelters. They do save many pets’ lives.

In this lecture we will discuss how pet professionals can support volunteer rescue organizations. We will address the need for public education about the pluses and the perils of advertising dogs on-line for long distance adoptions – sight unseen.

Course Objectives:

• Controversy with transporting pet dogs into locations that have not yet solved their own homeless pet population problems
• Discussion around the movement of dogs from shelters in southern states to other shelters and rescue organizations in the north
• Behavioral issues typical of “rescues” that foster or undermine success rates for the dogs being transported long distances to find new “forever” homes
• Types of transport, who oversees these, and the quality of the conditions
• How pet professionals can support volunteer rescue organizations
• The need for public education about the pluses and the perils of advertising dogs on-line for long distance adoptions

Available as a recording.

Speaker: Barbara Handelman, M.Ed., LCMHC, CDBC

Cost: $25.00 USD

Selecting A Service Dog

In this lecture, Selecting a Service Dog, Barbara Handelman will cover the four most common resources through which disabled individuals find dogs to assist them with the challenges of daily life.  A disabled person might apply for a dog through a service dog training organization; buy a puppy from a reputable breeder; adopt a puppy, adolescent or adult dog from a shelter or rescue organization to train for themselves or with the advice and support of professional trainers; apply to adopt a career change dog from a service dog training organization.  Next, Barbara will discuss the pros and cons of each of these options.

Selecting a service dog candidate for service dog careers is risky business. Dogs change as they develop, and who they become is influenced by temperament, puppy enrichment experiences, early socialization, and innate breed predisposition to certain drive patterns.  Approximately 50% of dogs who enter training as assistance dog candidates do not ultimately enter the workforce or retire early for a variety of temperament, stress, or physical health related reasons.  These are daunting statistics.

Join Barbara as she weaves together twenty years of professional work in the service dog field and her personal journeys with the extraordinary dogs who became her own assistance dog partners and those who were simply wrong for the job.

Course Objectives:

• most common resources to find service dog candidates
  
• pros and cons of each of these options
• various influences on service dog candidates
• success and failure statistics of service dog candidates
• Barbara’s 20 years of personal experiences with service dog candidates as a professional

Speaker: Barbara Handelman, M.Ed., LCMHC, CDBC

Over the past twenty years, Barbara has selected service dog candidates for herself, clients, and friends. It has been both a personal and professional roller coaster ride. Since 2005, Barbara has had seven service dog partners she selected and trained for herself with varying degrees of success.  She has studied and published materials on temperament evaluation for working dog candidates.  She also created the DVD series Clicker Train Your Own Assistance Dog, based on her own training experiences.
NOTE: Both the Live and the Recording are approved for the same amount of CEUs.

Cost: $25.00 USD

CEU’s Available:
2 CCPDT CEU’s
2 ABCDT-L2 CEU’s
2 NADOI CEU’s
2 PPAB/PPG

Members of APDT, CCPDT, IAABC, ABCDT-L2 or NADOI receive over 25% off.All Lecture Series Webinars are only $18.00 each. See instructions below on how to find the password to take part in this professional discount.

IAABC members, Click HERE to apply your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.

NADOI, CCPDT, ABCDT-L2, PPG, IACP and APDT members, click HERE to apply for your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.

Temperament Assessments for Dogs

This presentation will discuss what good mental health in dogs looks like. It will delve into the “how to’s” [or] “nuts and blots” of temperament assessments for dogs and how these can be used as tools to evaluate a dogs emotional state. This webinar will start with the definitions of mental health, discuss common mental health symptoms, go through Sue Sternberg’s “Assess-A-Pet” temperament assessment and end with the Hatfield Canine Mental Health Scale which is used as a quick mental health checklist.

Speaker: Melissa McMath Hatfield, M.S., CBCC-KA

Available as a recording.

This webinar will cover a variety of topics including:

• Mental Health: what is it and what does it look like?
• How can it be identified and assessed?
• The Seven core Emotions and Emotional States of dogs.
• Enrichment for Mental Health
• Mental Health Issues: aggression, anxiety, fear, phobia, obsessive compulsive behaviors, depression, stress, shyness
• Personality v. Temperament
• Sociability v. Socialization
• Temperament Assessments; the who, what, how, when, where, and why?
• Sternberg’s, “Assess-A-Pet”
• The necessity for Operational Definitions
• Hatfield Canine Mental Health Scale

A question and answer session will follow this webinar moderated by Giovanna Rosenlicht, DVM

Available as a recording.

Cost: $25.00

CEU’s Available:
2 IAABC CEU’s
2 CCPDT CEU’s
2 ABCDT-L2 CEU’s
2 NADOI CEU’s
2 PPAB/PPG

Members of APDT, CCPDT, IAABC, ABCDT-L2 or NADOI receive over 25% off.All Lecture Series Webinars are only $18.00 each. See instructions below on how to find the password to take part in this professional discount.

IAABC members, Click HERE to apply your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.

NADOI, CCPDT, ABCDT-L2, PPG, IACP and APDT members, click HERE to apply for your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.

Dog vs cat people.

Is there a difference? Does it matter? Animal companionship is an established element of American culture.  Our relationship with our companion animals permeates many facets of our culture and society, including our own individual identities.  Dogs and cats are by far the most favored companion species, yet most Americans love one species more than the other.  Anthropologist and Anthrozoologist Heather Frigiola suggests that Americans’ alignments as “dog people” and “cat people” are based on individuals’ self-projection onto one or the other species.  Americans impose differing sets of cultural values onto dogs and cats, which creates two different subcultures that are frequently at odds with one another.  This cultural dynamic has both positive and negative consequences for the animals.

Speaker: Heather Frigiola, MS

This talk makes light of the following topics:

• Commonly held assumptions about dogs and cats that are based on modern folklore, mistaken for fact
• Dog culture, cat culture, and the respective values of each
• Evolving dynamics within and between the two pet subcultures
• Possible impacts that this folklore-based cultural binary may have on the animals and their relationships with people

Available as a recording.
NOTE: Both the Live and the Recording are approved for the same amount of CEUs.

Cost: $25.00

CEU’s Available:
2 IAABC CEU’s
2 CCPDT CEU’s
2 ABCDT-L2 CEU’s
2 NADOI CEU’s
2 PPAB/PPG

Members of APDT, CCPDT, IAABC, ABCDT-L2 or NADOI receive over 25% off.All Lecture Series Webinars are only $18.00 each. See instructions below on how to find the password to take part in this professional discount.

IAABC members, Click HERE to apply your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.

NADOI, CCPDT, ABCDT-L2, PPG, IACP and APDT members, click HERE to apply for your discount.
Email cheryl@e-trainingfordogs for the passcode.