Fear Free Pets

Celebrity trainer Nicole Ellis shares her top tips to lower stress for dogs, cats and yes, even horses! Nicole Ellis CPDT-KA, APDT, Fear Free Certified, AKC evaluator Nicole Ellis, a certified professional dog trainer and esteemed pet lifestyle expert, is the co-author of Working Like a Dog and has been featured on Amazon’s The Pack, as well as The Today Show, among other platforms. Through her positive reinforcement training approach, Nicole emphasizes building strong bonds between pets and their owners. Her expertise spans puppy training, teaching tricks, dog sports, movie work, and more, all with the overarching goal of integrating pets more seamlessly into our lives. She has her own loved pets, Maggie and Rossi, as well as her horse Cali.

World renown dog trainer Victoria Stilwell from It's Me or the Dog and host Steve Dale discuss why Fear Free is so essential for all animals and stands as the gold standard of care. The duo also discuss ways to reduce canine aggression that include consent tests that ensure the dog’s kept comfortable throughout the entire interaction. Be sure to checkout the Dog Behavior Conference put on by Victoria Stilwell that's taking place April 19-21, 2024. Special guests include The Fear Free Podcast's own host, Steve Dale, and Fear Free’s own father/ daughter team, Marty and Mikkel Becker. Signup here- https://www.vsdogtrainingacademy.com/dog-behavior-conference/. More on our special guest, Victoria Stilwell: Victoria Stilwell is a world-renowned dog trainer best known as the star of the international hit TV series and social media sensation It's Me or the Dog as well as The Dog Academy (Channel 4), Greatest American Dog (CBS), Dogs Might Fly (Sky TV), Dogs with Extraordinary Jobs (Smithsonian Channel), Help My Dog is Out of Control (BBC One), and various featured web series including Arson Dogs, Guardians of the Night and Unsung Heroes. Having filmed over 150 episodes of It’s Me or the Dog since 2005, Stilwell reaches TV audiences with her philosophy of positive training methods in over 135 countries, while the show’s popular YouTube, Facebook and TikTok channels inspire new generations of dog lovers. A best-selling author of 5 books including her latest, The Ultimate Guide to Raising A Puppy, Stilwell appears frequently in the media and is widely recognized as a leader in the field of animal behavior. A passionate advocate for positive dog training methods, Stilwell is the Editor-in-Chief of Positively.com, the founder of the Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Training & Behavior, and the CEO of Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Training – the world’s premier global network of positive dog trainers. Stilwell is the recipient of multiple awards and is committed to helping the cause of animal rescue and rehabilitation and is heavily involved with organizations around the world to increase awareness of puppy mills, dogfighting, animal abuse, pet overpopulation, dog bite prevention and other animal-related causes, but she is best known as a champion for humane positive reinforcement dog training methods. She is an Ambassador for the RSPCA, International Ambassador for the Soi Dog Foundation and serves on the Advisory Boards of RedRover, The Georgia Pet Coalition, The Grey Muzzle Foundation, DogTV and Canine Assistants.

Since the onset of canine parvovirus in the 1970s, we’ve made great strides with vaccination. That being said, unfortunately, we still see canine parvovirus cases. Join Dr. Meghan Herron, DVM, DACVB, to learn about an exciting treatment option that is available! Brought to you by our friends at Elanco: https://www.elanco.com/en-us

Feline diabetes is becoming much more prevalent in today's world. Dr. Cindi Ward, VMD, PhD, DACVIM SAIM, FFCP, joins Dr. Natalie Marks, DVM, CVJ, Elite FFCP, for a deeper dive into the world of feline diabetes to discuss case selection, monitoring, and how communication can remove fear, anxiety, and stress from treatment. Brought to you by our friends at Elanco: https://www.elanco.com/en-us

Dietary supplements have shown promise in treating a wide variety of canine and feline conditions such as diarrhea, dehydration, age-related cognitive decline, and anxiety, particularly when used as part of a comprehensive treatment plan. Join Dr. Julia Albright MA DVM DACVB, to discuss the underlying actions of several supplements and how their use can improve clinical signs, compliance, and the human-animal bond. Brought to you by our friends at Purina: https://www.purinaforprofessionals.com

Join Dr. Jessica Pritchard VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM) to discuss what’s new in feline infectious disease and prevention strategies. She will go into details about feline leukemia, feline calicivirus, vaccination strategies for prevention and how they align with Fear Free principles.

Come join Dr. Jessica Pritchard VMD, MS, DACVIM (SAIM) and learn more about the bacterial infection leptospirosis including risk factors to both animals and people, prevention strategies and ways to make the vaccination visit safe and fear free for our pets.

Veterinary Isolation Protocols through the Fear Free Lens, we had the honor of speaking with Dr. Colleen Fisher, DVM MSc. In this episode we dive into the impact of isolation on the emotional development of pediatric patients, the importance of the first fear impact period, and isolation through a Fear Free lens. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Virox https://virox.com

Parrots can make wonderful companions but we need to make sure we’re meeting their needs and giving them the opportunity to express their natural behaviors. Animal Trainer and Behavior Consultant Cassie Malina joins Steve Dale to discuss her lengthy career working with birds and her top tips for keeping parrots engaged, fulfilled, and Fear Free.

Our pets view and interact with their world primarily through scent, and pheromones play a key function in the creation or diminishment of the FAS response. Debbie Martin, RVT, CPDT-KA, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior), joins Steve Dale to talk about how we can utilize proper cleaning protocols and products to eliminate negative-associative pheromones and how we can use positive-associative pheromones to create a Fear Free environment. Brought to you by our friends at Virox.

Dr. Meadows, an expert in immunology talks to us about the importance of keeping your pets updated in immunology, when to do it, what to watch out for, and how you can give them in a Fear Free way. Brought to you by our friends at Elanco

Dr. Jan Bellows, world-renowned expert of veterinary dentistry joins us to talk about how new technologies, including an oral micro-biome testing for dental disease from Basepaws can help you take your dental practice to the next level. The results can help veterinarians with an improved picture of what risks may be hiding in the mouth without presenting any visual clues. These results can help pet parents adhere to veterinary recommendation and encourage them to maintain their pet's oral health.

Everyone knows about burnout, and most have experienced it themselves. However, it can be hard to know where to even begin tackling this insidious part of veterinary medicine. Philip Richmond, DVM, Chief Medical & Wellbeing Officer of Veterinary United, shares what he's learned about burnout and ways to help you and your team work through it and manage it.

Stress colitis is a condition that veterinarians and many pet parents are unfortunately familiar with. Dr. Leighann Daristotle joins us to discuss new research on the causes and treatments of stress colitis as well as ways you can help your clients calm their pet's colitis. Brought to you by our friends at Blue Buffalo

Dr. Julie Liu and Dr. Cindy Trice join us to discuss how Fear Free can work for the busy life and practice of relief vet work.

Avian patients present a multitude of challenges and requirements that typical companion animals don't have. This doesn't mean they deserve any less of a Fear Free experience than our other pets. Barbara Heidenreich and Dr. Alicia McLaughlin, co-authors of the Fear Free Avian Certification Program, join Steve Dale to talk about the course and how Fear Free avian practice works.

Talking to your clients about Fear Free can often seem like you're speaking a different language. Dr. Sarah Wolff, Fear Free Certified veterinarian and expert in client communication, joins us to discuss ways to get your clients to commit to a Fear Free approach, how to educate clients with limited time, and communication tools to help you make Fear Free happen.

Cats are masters at hiding pain, and pet owners are not aware that changes in behavior can be indicative of pain. This podcast will focus on the specific behaviors that cats with osteoarthritis exhibit, how pain impacts the entire body, and what veterinary professionals can do to manage their feline patients' OA pain, as well as how cat owners can provide history videos that will aid in the diagnosis. Brought to you by our friends at Zoetis.

Join Mikkel Becker, Lead Animal Trainer for Fear Free, to discuss her newest course, Next Level Nail Trims. Mikkel shares stories from the trenches on dealing with difficult nail trims and gives her top tips for creating a Fear Free nail trim experience.

Nutrition is the foundation of a pet’s health and longevity, but having adequate time to discuss nutrition for healthy pets during the course of an often-hectic veterinary visit is a real challenge. Vickie Carmella, DVM, and Bretaigne Jones, DVM, MS, share some great tips to help veterinary practitioners make these important discussions as productive and efficient as possible. Brought to you by Blue Buffalo.