Blogging again: Some news and what's to come...

Hello and welcome!
Welcome to the Pets Behaving Badly blog, version 2.0! So yeah, I've been a bit ok, VERY slack the last few years, blogging-wise, but I'm excited to be back and hopefully posting on a regular (or at least semi-regular) basis.

So, what's news?
Let's just say that life got in the way a bit, as it tends to do, but some pretty exciting stuff has been happening. Firstly, I became a mum! Last May my husband and I welcomed our first little human, Nathan, into the world. I can't believe he's nearly 15 months old already. Everyone says the first year flies and it really did. Being a parent has been such an incredible experience and we are beyond excited to be expecting our second little person next month. I'm currently on maternity leave and taking a break from consulting but I anticipate returning to work, on a part-time basis, in March next year. In the mean time I'm looking forward to keeping in touch via Facebook: Pets Behaving Badly with Dr Kate - Animal Behaviourist and this blog.

Me and my little man, Nate

The other exciting news is that I finished my PhD. HOORAY! My research focused on public attitudes towards shelter dogs and the assessment of dog behaviour to determine adoption suitability. It was a long and challenging "journey" but simultaneously lots of fun and incredibly rewarding. I recently wrote a guest post summarising my research and findings for Dr Jo Righetti's blog, if you'd like to know more.

Graduation day. Doing a PhD does make you a little crazy :)

Mostly life has been awesome! Except when we had to say goodbye to our much loved Boxer, Archie, in September last year. Archie was diagnosed with advanced lymphoma and only lived another 6 weeks after his initial diagnosis. He was 9 years old and we miss him terribly. He has left a Boxer-shaped hole in our world and we so look forward to the day we welcome another Boxer into our home. I'm so glad that our little fella Nate met Archie but I'm not sure the feeling was mutual. I'll be writing about introducing babies and existing pets as well as pet loss, including my personal experiences, in future posts.

Archie (9 years) and Nathan (9 weeks)

Other than kids and a PhD, running Pets Behaving Badly has kept me very busy. Most of my work still involves consulting pet owners to help them understand and modify problem behaviour but I also consult to industry and those working with animals in a professional capacity. I continue to write freelance about all things animal behaviour, for magazines like Pets Magazine, and recently wrote a book chapter about companion animals for a tertiary text book about Human-Animal Interactions. In addition to this I work as an expert witness in cases involving menacing or dangerous dogs, present seminars and workshops and occasionally lecture in human-animal relationships at LaTrobe University.

That's nice but why should I follow this blog?
Good question! If you love pets and you're interested to learn more about their behaviour, welfare and management then this is your kind of blog and you should subscribe for regular updates! No pressure :)

Posts will draw on my experiences as an applied animal behaviourist, research scientists and mum to provide readers with helpful and practical tips to understand, manage and resolve common pet behaviour problems and to enhance the owner-pet relationship. I also plan to bring you the latest scientific discoveries relevant to companion animals and the human-animal bond.

Your input and suggestions for blog posts is most welcome. So if you have a question, or a concern regarding your pet's behaviour, let us know via the Facebook page and we'll do our best to write about it in a blog post.

In the mean time, go have fun with your pets!

Dr Kate :)

Animal Behaviour Seminars, Workshops and a bit of Parrot Behaviour Consulting

Wow! It's been a long time since my last blog post! Since returning home from the Animal Training Workshop at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, work has been incredibly busy. Here's a run down of what I've been up to during the last two months...

Upon my return I got busy working on a professional development seminar for animal care staff at Melbourne Aquarium. Months ago I'd been approached by the organisation to develop and run several workshops on animal behaviour and training for their staff who car for numerous species of fish and King and Gentoo penguins. I ran two workshops in mid September, with the help of my brilliant colleague and helper, Mia Cobb. What fun! The Melbourne Aquarium staff were fabulous and the feedback from the workshops was amazing. 

I found Nemo!!!

Here's a testimonial I received from the Manager of the Bird Department: 

"Kate provided staff at Melbourne Aquarium with a great understanding of theoretical and practical applications to animal training. Our seminar was both fun and educational. Kate presented the information in a way that was suitable for beginner as well as experienced animal trainers. With fun activities, videos and observing in-house practices, the staff enjoyed an educational seminar on animal behaviour and training".

Staff training workshop (in the PARTY room) at Melbourne Aquarium

The workshops, designed in consultation with management and specific to the needs of the organisation, included theory (PowerPoint presentation), observational learning (watching animals) and practical skill building (applying the theory in training) components.

Meeting the beautiful King penguins

In addition to the professional workshops, I ran a Parrot Health & Behaviour seminar along with Specialist Avian Veterinarian Dr Patricia Macwhirter, for parrot care-givers in Melbourne. The event was a great success with twenty-five attendants including parrot owners, breeders and bird trainers. Several attendees provided fantastic feedback on the day and one called me the following day to say how educational and worthwhile he'd found the seminar. He and his friend had travelled from rural N.S.W. to attend. Amazing!

Presenting about companion parrot behaviour at my seminar

I will be running another seminar; 'The Science of Dog Behaviour & Training' at the end of November in Melbourne. I'm really looking forward to helping attendees better understand their dog's behaviour and how to get the best behaviour from their canine companions. We have support for the event from some great companies including Kong, Love'em and Dog Diggity.

In addition to organising and running seminars and workshops on animal training and behaviour I've recently partnered with an Avian vet clinic in Melbourne to deliver in-clinic bird behaviour consultations. I've had the opportunity to meet some very dedicated and caring parrot owners who want the best for their birds. This work is incredibly rewarding!

Well, that's it for now. My next blog post will provide an overview of some ongoing education I've completed recently including attending the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) Australia conference and completing Dr Susan Friedman's Living and Learning with Animals for Professionals course. Bye for now :)