shanymd@gmail.com
Seminars for dog trainers and animal lovers
As I made the transition from an animal trainer to a scientist, I learned that the process of disseminating scientific knowledge to professionals is often agonizingly slow. For this reason, I am passionate about communicating scientific knowledge to the public, be those professionals from the pet care industry (dog trainers, veterinarians, etc.), curious dog lovers, or people who are just interested in a good scientific story. In my lectures, I draw from my practical experience training animals, my own research, and the most recent scientific findings on animal cognition and dog behavior. Below you can find summaries of the lectures I currently have available as online or live seminars. This information can also be downloaded from my seminar catalog.
You are welcome to contact me directly so that together we can tailor the content and the structure of the seminars to the needs of your specific audience. Each of the lectures described below is a standalone lecture that can be combined with other lectures and hands-on training to form a seminar series.
Dogs, Humans, & the Language that Stands Between them
How often have you looked at your dog and wished they would tell you what’s on their mind? How often did you wish you could explain something to your dog in their language? From the ancient legend of King Solomon to the modern tales of Dr. Doolittle, humans have fantasized of speaking with animals. But do animals at all have language? How much of human’s language can man’s best friend understand? And what about our closest relatives, the apes? In this seminar we will explore the first studies conducted on “linguistic animals” such as chimpanzees, dolphins and parrots; to see to which extent some animals can use human language. We will then take a closer look at family dogs, to explore the similarities and differences in the ways we communicate. By doing so, we will develop a better understanding of dogs and what makes them so unique.
Looking Outside of the Skinner Box
Behaviorism is a psychological approach to studying behavior. It examines how one’s behavior is influenced by the environment, as a result of learning to associate between different stimuli. Behaviorism has revolutionized the field of dog training and led to the development of multiple behavior modification protocols. However, dog trainers occasionally encounter scenarios in which a dog’s behavior cannot be explained by means of associative learning. In this talk we will review scientific reports of occasions in which animal training procedures fall apart. By doing so, we will develop a better understanding of dogs and what makes them so unique.
Opening the Black Box
Over the last few decades scientists’ views on animal behavior have been revolutionized, and in the last 20 years, dogs have earned a very special status in this revolution. The recently emerging research field of cognitive ethology enables us to open the black box and ask what is going on in an animal’s mind. In this talk we will learn how to utilize this new scientific way of thinking in order to understand the thoughts that lead dogs to behave as they do.
Why do We Love Dogs? (and do they love us back?)
Wherever man has gone, dogs have followed. This relationship is as ancient as it is peculiar. How can it be that we consider dogs our friends, while we often see their ancestors, wolves, as our rivals? What is it that draws dogs and humans together? Over the last 20 years, new findings have revolutionized the way scientists see dogs. In this talk we will discover the scientific basis of this mysterious friendship. Through a better understanding of our relationship with dogs, we will not only gain a better understanding of our closest friends, but also see ourselves in a different light.
