Happy New Year everybody and welcome to my new blog! Since starting Revolution Animal Behaviour way back in 2018, I had planned to write a blog but never had time for it. I’m not sure my time budget has changed much but with the completion of my Master of Science in clinical animal behaviour last year, I decided that 2022 is the year to get started on some new projects.
For those of you that may be new to Revolution Animal Behaviour, I would like to start off the blog with a little introduction. Animals have been a critical part of my life for as long as I can remember including dogs, horses, and fish then parrots, cats, and small animals coming along later. I have always felt a deep empathetic connection to all animals. Like many animal loving kids I planned to become a veterinarian, but over time I found myself fascinated by animal behaviour and welfare. Combining my love of science and animals took me on the path to becoming a behaviourist.
You can read more about my professional background on my website, so I will be brief here. I have a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Alberta and just completed my Master of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in December. I am also a Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer. I was extremely lucky to have Dr. Karen Overall (an internationally renowned veterinary behaviourist and scientist) as my masters project supervisor. She is a brilliant scientist and such an inspiration to me. I highly recommend reading anything by Dr. Overall if you have the chance. My research evaluated behaviour responses of dogs to handling by their owner versus an unfamiliar handler. We will be publishing my research findings this year and I will share that when it happens. The completion of my masters makes me one of very few animal behaviourists in Canada. As a side note, only an individual with a graduate degree in animal behaviour (or similar field) from an accredited university/college can call themselves a behaviourist.
I am extremely passionate about education on animal welfare and behaviour, and using science to do so. Outside of my work with clients, I contribute to animal health, welfare and behaviour education with the Alberta SPCA, Alberta Farm Animal Care, and the University of Alberta. Humans and non-human animals are connected in many ways. I truly believe that our attitudes towards animals have a direct influence on how we interact with other humans. And I hope that by contributing to a better understanding of how we should treat animals and consider their needs as emotional beings that it will also help humans be kinder to each other too.
On that note, my intention with this blog is to present some science based ideas and perspectives on animal behaviour and welfare that I hope will be educational and interesting. You will see my own animals featured along the way. We will have some guest posts that I am looking forward to sharing as well. If there is anything that you would like to know more about or see discussed here, let me know. Follow Revolution Animal Behaviour on social media @revolutionanimals to stay up to date on blog posts and other info.
Comments