Course Details
Play is magic! We all love to play with our dogs, and fortunately there are so many ways to do it. There is toy play, food play, and interpersonal interaction as play, and everything in between. The possibilities are endless!
We all know we can use play as reinforcement for desired behaviors, and we can use it to have fun and build relationship and good feelings together, but did you know that we can also use play specifically as therapy, assisting us in our behavioral interventions and supporting our dogs through difficult times?
In this presentation I will outline the structure for using play as an intervention for behavioral issues, and the structural differences we use for when play is reward (in the ABC form), when play is used for classical conditioning, and for when play is therapeutic itself as in The Play Way. Come learn how these approaches differ so you can know when to use each, and we'll do a deep dive into what makes The Play Way different!
About the Instructor:
Dr. Amy Cook (she/her) is an Applied Animal Behaviorist, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant with the IAABC, a longstanding professional member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), and was one of the first trainers nationally to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through independent evaluation.
Dr. Cook received her Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Berkeley, with her research focusing on the dog-human relationship and the impact that social support can have on stress. Dr. Cook is the founder and creator of the Play Way, a therapeutic approach for resolving behavior issues in dogs through social interaction and dog empowerment, and she is a popular instructor for the online school The Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, where she also teaches a course in active management games for dogs, and in a play-based approach to resolving sound sensitivity.
She has been training dogs for nearly 30 years, and has specialized in the rehabilitation of shy and fearful dogs for over 20 years. Amy has worked for the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, the San Francisco Animal Care and Control, has provided behavioral evaluations for shelters and rescues throughout the Bay Area of California, and was a member of the anti-cruelty team for the ASPCA, working in triage sheltering and rehabilitation for large rescue cases.
Amy gives seminars all over the country and is a frequent conference presenter. She also competes in sports with her dogs, and has titled in Competition Obedience, Rally, Agility, Barn Hunt, and Nosework.
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