Cooperative Care Unleashed

Care for our pets, including grooming and veterinary care, is such an important aspect of our pets’ lives. But grooming and veterinary visits can be stressful for many pets, as well as for their caregivers. More than a third of dog guardians and over half of cat guardians say their animals “hate” going to the vet, and thus they are less likely to visit their veterinarian.

Classical counter-conditioning, which involves pairing something the animal likes (usually food) with a fear inducing stimulus, has been used to change dogs’ emotional response towards veterinary and grooming care. But we can do more than that!

Linlin Cao will show you her favorite pattern games and how to incorporate them into your dog’s grooming and veterinary care routines. Utilizing the predictability of pattern games, cooperative care can become a fun and predictable routine for your dog. No surprises and no tricks! Most importantly, you can give your dog a voice in the process and thus cooperative care can truly become a two-way communication.

- Linlin (she/her) has always been passionate about science. When she was working on her PhD dissertation in Material Science and Nano Engineering, she fostered and later adopted her reactive dog Niko, and Niko has opened her eyes to the wonderful world of positive reinforcement and animal behavior. She believes effective training should be based on two-way communication between the trainer and the dog, and she is passionate about giving control back to the dog. She is fascinated by building strong human/dog communication and trust through learning together.

- Linlin grew up in a small town in China and came to Rice University in Houston, TX for graduate school. Now she lives in the Washington DC area and owns Dogtor Training. Linlin competes in nosework with her reactive dog Niko and field Labrador Sunny, and competes in Rally/Obedience with Niko. She also enjoys learning tricks and Control Unleashed exercises with her cat Simon. Linlin is currently training to become a Certified Professional Canine Fitness Trainer (CPCFT) to help dogs’ mind and body.