Weeeeee're baaaaaaaack.

Happy New Year, Friends. We have been on a little social media break and using it to do some personal and professional development. We are bright-eyed and bushy tailed and ready to share some highlights of what our team has been up to in the past 5 months.

Our mission statement: To help the human world gain a deeper understanding of their canine companions through education. We want to shine a light on the human/animal bond and how that impacts canine behavior. Dogs have an abundant capacity for emotion. Understanding the role of emotion breeds empathy and that is empowering for humans.

The one thing I hear from almost everyone I have the privilege of working with is some version of not knowing. Either they didn't know the dog was feeling badly, they had no idea that their reactions were impacting their pet, or they simply had no ability to read the dog correctly. Dogs speak a physical language and though we are good at talking to them, we don't often stop to listen, a.k.a. observe. Once we begin to be present in our dog's experiences and observe the world from their perspective, interactions with them will become richer and more productive.

Growth: We have taken a big step fulfilling this mission with the expansion of our virtual services. In the last 5 months we have expanded our reach coast to coast with our Remote Complete Consult and follow-up Virtual Visits. It has been amazingly satisfying to be helping so many dogs without the restriction of a physical service territory.

Additions: There have been some new additions added to the Cooperation Canine Behavior Team. Jill is still doing an amazing job with client outreach. (Thank you, Jill!) We have added Sam Larrimer as a training and behavior apprentice and Lauren Famiglietti joins us as the Guardian of our Social Media Galaxy. Sam will help us reach more people by adding some training bandwidth and lessening the need for me to get all involved in personal cloning. Lauren is going to be active on our pages and make it easier for us to engage more with our community.

I also want to take a moment and thank my tireless life partner, Eduardo Lessa, who continuously contributes his expertise with IT, virtual services, and single-handedly making up for all my less-than-awesome accounting skills. Thanks, Babe.

Partnerships: As always, Cooperation Canine and Jones Animal Behavior have been collaborating on cases and harnessing all of our skills to bring a two-heads are better approach to a variety of cases. Dr. Tracy Carreiro is also on speed dial and lending her behavior medicine focus to our fear, anxiety, stress, and aggression cases. She explores the potential use of pharmaceutical interventions and we LOVE her!

Another partnership in heavy hand holding mode is between Cooperation Canine and Save One Soul Animal Rescue League. I am lending them a hand with their “Mighties” - dogs who may need a little help increasing their adoption potential - and helping to develop some education programs for their volunteer base. First up: Foster Family Education. This is a work in progress and the program will be launching soon.

Education: We have a wonderful relationship with the Christine Young from The Puppy Care Company in California and will be doing more FB LIVE Educational Series this year, I am sure.

There is a presentation in development on Anxiety in Dogs. This will be a multiple talk event, including live Q&A with myself, Katenna Jones of Animal Behavior and Moira Hechenleitner, Separation Anxiety Dogs happening in early spring.

I am personally working on a multi-part series about the realities of living with multiple dogs. Topics included are learning about social structure, how to prevent and respond to aggression, and meeting the needs of the different personalities sharing space under a single roof. Also in the works is a course looking at canine behavior through the lens of a behavior consultant, breaking down everything you need to know to provide your dog with a truly satisfying life. This course is also being designed to help new trainers by providing case studies with actual behavior profiles, their behavior plans, and outcomes of some of the many case we have seen in the past 5 years.

Though we don’t have a crystal ball, we are looking forward and predicting a year of moving our mission forward. It will be a year of connection, whether virtually or in person, with owners and their dogs. Together, we will continue to support our canine companions and the people who care for them.

Wishing you all the best in 2021!