Lesson series

Building Resilience for Adolescent Dogs

Resilience is the ability to experience hardship and successfully adapt to, or recover quickly from it. What happens then, in adolescence when it can sometimes seem that a dog has little resilience? The neurobiology of adolescence is fascinating, with some key events that occur at this critical time of brain development. Understanding these processes gives us an understanding of, and greater compassion for, why and how behavior can fluctuate at this life stage.
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2.0 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) Available:
CPDT
IAABC
KPA
RACE

In this Webinar:

Eliminating all stress in life is impossible and is never the goal of training. Instead, the goal is to help a learner acquire the skills which enable them to process stressful experiences and grow more resilient from them. In this session, we will use a model founded on scientific principles, which was created by our experts here at Behavior Vets. The Resilience Rainbow represents seven domains around which an individualized training plan can be created which will support the adolescent dog’s development and help them build resilience.

What interventions and exercises are most effective in building resilience at this age? How do they help, and how can you implement them? What does a Resilience Conditioning training plan based around the Resilience Rainbow look like? What are the advantages of this approach? In parallel we will explore what’s happening in the brain as resilience improves, and consider these changes in the context of other neurophysiological changes, such as hormonal changes, going on in the dog's body at that life stage.

Resilience Conditioning is not separate from behavior modification, but rather, should be part of every training program and behavior modification plan. Using the Resilience Rainbow and its 7 domains for Resilience Conditioning we will explore how this can set your puppy up for adolescence and get them through it to adulthood, and what the pitfalls might be of more traditional approaches.

Program Agenda:

Program Agenda:

  • Brief overview of resilience - what is it, what biological mechanisms are at play
  • Brief overview of adolescence - the neurobiological and other physiological changes which happen during adolescence
  • Resilience Conditioning as a concept - what do we know from the literature
  • The Resilience Rainbow as a model for Resilience Conditioning in animals
  • Practical application of the Resilience Rainbow specifically for adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

  • Attendees will be able to understand and apply the principles of Resilience Conditioning to their client cases.
  • Attendees will be able to compare and contrast the different domains of resilience to identify which area of resilience requires attention and communicate this to their clients.
  • Attendees will be able to design their Resilience Conditioning programs using the 7 domains of Resilience Conditioning.
Meet the instructor

Kathy Murphy
BVetMed, DPhil, CVA, CLAS, MRCVS

Kathy Murphy (BVetMed, DPhil, CVA, CLAS, MRCVS) is a veterinary surgeon and neuroscientist. She recently joined the Behavior Vets team as the Chief Scientific Officer.

She graduated from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons UK in 1999, initially working in mixed clinical practice before studying for two postgraduate clinical qualifications. In 2009 she was awarded a highly prestigious Welcome Research Training Fellowship to study for her Ph.D., in Behavioral Neuroscience, at The Queens College, University of Oxford, UK. She subsequently worked in the USA as Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Anesthesiology at the Icahn School of Medicine NYC; and is now back in the UK, where she holds a clinical-academic position as Director of the Comparative Biology Centre at Newcastle University and Director of Barking Brains Ltd (a neuroscience outreach program for the animal behavior and training community).

Dr. Murphy's clinical interest has always been anesthesia, and analgesia, since the age of 13yo and she has recently completed a residency at the European College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. In addition to her primary career roles she was Trustee and Veterinary Advisor to the Rottweiler Welfare Association for 14 years, is a founder of Ethics First (a collective that lobbies for ethical decision-making in clinical practice), is an Oversight Committee Member for the UK Dog Behavior and Training Charter, sits on numerous National and International boards, working groups and ethical review panels, and most of all love spending time with her own 5 dogs and her husband.
Patrick Jones - Course author
Meet the instructor

Bobbie Bhambree CDBC, CPDT-KA

Bobbie Bhambree (CDBC, CPDT-KA) is the Director of Behavior Services and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant at Behavior Vets. She is also a faculty member of CATCH Canine Trainers Academy and Agility University. Bobbie started her career in 2003 as a pet behavior counselor with the ASPCA Animal Behavior Center. While there, she implemented behavior modification programs for dogs who had been surrendered by the public or seized by Humane Law Enforcement. In 2007, Bobbie joined the Humane Society of Westchester, spending the next nine years as their shelter trainer. She created and implemented training and enrichment programs for the dogs, counseled adopters, trained volunteers, participated in community outreach programs, and performed evaluations.
In 2016, Bobbie joined the North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, NY as the Director of Pet Behavior. During her tenure there, she managed a team of canine and feline trainers who focused on developing behavior modification and enrichment programs for the animals in the shelter. She also deployed for the ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Behavior Team to work in the field, supporting the team with dog fighting busts, puppy mill cases, and hoarding cases. In addition to this work, she founded and directed her own company, DogCentric Dog Training, helping people whose pet dogs experienced a wide spectrum of canine behavior issues. Bobbie presented at the Lemonade Conference, hosted by IAABC and Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, in February of 2022.
Over the years, Bobbie has very successfully competed in agility in various venues with several of her dogs including, Marvel who came in third for Performance Speed Jumping and Performance Grand Prix at Mid-Atlantic Regionals in 2019. Bobbie periodically contributes to the agility-focused magazine, Clean Run. She is passionate about working with dog sport teams struggling with behavior issues. Bobbie regularly teaches behavior workshops for the dog sports community.
Bobbie currently shares her life with four terriers, one Pitbull, and a border collie/whippet mix (Tricky, Ziggy, Marvel, Heady Topper, Eleanor Rigby, and Phuncky) and a very supportive husband in southern New Jersey.
Patrick Jones - Course author