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Holiday Workshops- The Wallflower

We know this time of year can bring great happiness and time together with family and friends! It's true; this is a season of light and love! It's also true that it can be stressful. There are tables to set up and meals to cook. While we can't make sure your turkey doesn't burn, we can help you train a Holiday ready pup!!

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The Wallflower

Do they prefer to stay cozy and warm by the fireside, with you curled up next to them? As lovely as that sounds, there may still be times during the season when your home may become a little overwhelming for your dog with friends and family visiting.

You and your dog will learn important strategies to handle the holiday crowd with smooth introductions to friends, family, and any furry tagalongs. Discover ways to tell when your dog is feeling the holiday spirit versus needing a break from the party. Practice skills that will help your dog decompress and allow you to enjoy decking the halls with guests. Find some stocking stuffers for your pooch that will entertain their minds and help them to relax.

Meet the instructor

Claire Cairo MA, CPDT-KA

Claire Cario is a Delaware native who moved to NYC in 1996. She received her M.A. in Animal Behavior & Conservation from Hunter College in 2008. Her thesis, “A Case Study: The Effectiveness and Operator Perspectives of Border Collies as a Humane Strategy for Mitigating Human/Canada Goose Conflict in Greater New York” evaluated the technique and effectiveness of using herding dogs to haze geese from an area. It also focused on the human dimensions to this management solution and investigated the attitudes and perspectives of a small subset of individuals who work with herding dogs in the field of humane goose management.

Claire comes to us after three years as the Private Trainer Manager at School For the Dogs, four years as the Behavior and Enrichment Assistant Manager at Animal Care Centers of NYC, three years as a behavior consultant on the ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Behavior Team, six years as the executive trainer and coordinator for The Good Dog Foundation, and ten years as the owner, operator, and behavior consultant of Barnyard Behavior. She has supervised, managed, and trained animal behavior staff across all sectors of the animal behavior world, developed curriculum for training programs for private training schools, municipal shelters, and therapy dog programs, given webinars on canine behavior topics, built behavior assessment systems, and developed individualized behavior training plans for dogs displaying a wide variety of behavior concerns.

Claire worked with the Mayor’s office of Animal Welfare where she contributed to the “Position Statement on Companion Animal Focus Area” and “Keeping your Animals Safe on July 4th” campaign. She has been a guest lecturer for Long Island University Brooklyn’s “Humans and Animals in Society” course, and was a speaker at Hunter College’s 39th and 40th Annual Psychology Conferences. She has volunteered in the Education Department at Prospect Park Zoo, providing information to the visiting public about animals in various exhibits.

Patrick Jones - Course author

Meet the instructor

Erin Hensley

Erin Hensley is a NJ native. She has a BS in Biology from Gettysburg College and spent a semester studying venomous animals at James Cook University in Australia.

After her undergraduate education, Erin worked at a small family zoo in Georgia and then as a Robert G. Engel Mammalogy Fellow at the Bronx Zoo. She was responsible for animal care including feeding and enrichment, and observed and later participated in training sessions. As part of the fellowship, Erin created an ethogram of the zoo’s first bachelor gorilla troop to analyze their social behavior and analyzed the Thompson’s gazelle population to determine what factors impacted fawn sex ratios.

After working with exotic animals, Erin transitioned to companion animals and spent the last eight years as a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor for The Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ. While there she trained dogs to guide blind and visually impaired individuals, matched service dogs to their handlers, and trained handlers how to work with their new guide dogs. Her specialty was working with potential guide dogs that displayed behavior issues, quite a few of which graduated and were placed as working guide dogs.

Erin raised three puppies for The Seeing Eye, two of which became guide dogs. She recently gave a webinar for Fenzi Sports Academy about selecting a performance puppy.

Patrick Jones - Course author