Helping Veterinarians Make Happy Dogs

I'm at the 147th American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Atlanta, GA. The AVMA, established in 1863, is a not-for-profit association representing more than 80,000 veterinarians.

Everyone who has a dog visits their veterinarian at least once a year. At those visits, vets are often asked about behavior problems. Some vets are busy with medical problems and don't have the time or resources to offer behavior advice.

Here at AVMA, I'm representing Karen Pryor Academy and I'm here to educate veterinarians about positive reinforcement training. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) recommends positive reinforcement training, but it can often be difficult for veterinarians to find qualified positive reinforcement trainers.

Thousands of veterinarians will converge on Atlanta this weekend to attend the conference. We hope to speak to many of them and let them know how easy it is to find a qualified positive reinforcement trainer through Karen Pryor Academy.

This helps the vets. This helps the trainers. This helps the dog owners. But best of all, this ultimately helps all the dogs. The more dogs who receive positive reinforcement training, the more dogs that will stay out of shelters due to behavior problems. The happier the owners will be. And in the end, that makes me happy. Very happy.