Interview with Claudia Fugazza

Sorry for the delay,but It was worth because today we have the interview that you are waiting for, with Claudia Fugazza.
Claudia Fugazza is from Italy and works as a PhD student researcher at the University of Budapest with Prof. Miklosi, she has created a new training technique based on social learning: Do as I do.

1.How you define yourself?

I am just a researcher in Ethology!

2.When you thought about changing laws for dogs?

Studying wolves and dogs has always been my primary interest but I decided to completely devote my life to my passion as soon as I realized that my job as a lawyer didn’t leave me enough time to do what I really loved to. It has been hard to decide to quit something ‘sure’ for the ‘unknown’, but I’m very happy with my life right now.

3. How does "do as I do" work?

The Do as I Do is a protocol that was first used to test imitative abilities in chimpanzees in the fifties.

Recent ethological studies revealed the social cognitive abilities of dogs and demonstrated that they are surprisingly predisposed to learn socially from humans. The first study on dog’s imitative abilities using the Do as I Do was published in 2006 (Topal et al. Reproducing human actions and action sequences: “Do as I Do!” in a dog. Anim Cogn (2006) 9:355–367 DOI 10.1007/s10071-006-0051-6).

I developed the Do as I do as a new training method based on dog’s social cognitive skills, particularly on his imitative ability.

With this technique dogs will learn new behaviours observing and imitating their owners.

With the training protocol, dogs first learn the “imitation rule” through operant conditioning and are then able to apply it to novel behaviours, tasks etc. so that, at the end of the training protocol, the owner will be able to teach new behaviours to their dogs, simply showing them what to do.

I’m currently using this method for both applied dog training purposes and to scientifically test dog’s imitative abilities.

4. What is the fundamental difference between wolves and dogs at the behavioural level?

There are many studies on this topic. One of the main difference between wolves and dogs is that dogs seem to be much more predisposed to communicate, cooperate and form social bonds with humans.

5. What are your next goals?

As a researcher I still have many questions to answer about

dogs social cognitive abilities and there is still much to be

discovered!I will also dedicate some studies to the applied

world of dog training, addressing some applied issues aimed at

improving the current training methods.

6.   Is it possible to apply your method to other social species like horses?

At present there are no date on the use of this method with other species and the whole idea came from the special predisposition of dogs to learn socially from humans but it might be that other scientists, working on other species will surprise us about this. I keep my open-mindedness!

Grazie tante Claudia!

http://www.apprendimentosociale.it/pagina-di-esempio/

Everything you wanted to know about the animals assisted therapies, but were afraid to ask. Part I

I often hear that therapies with animals can be performed by this or that person or group and after getting in touch with them I see that they make everything but not therapy, because they forget that govern it and bases on which they are based. So I have asked bored a little, although I know that going I thank one day, and tell you all these things, or a few, surely you will be necessary if you want to implement a program of AAT (animal assisted therapy).

First  of all, keep this on mind: "the success or failure of an innovation in the organization is a consequence of the interaction between power and policy at many levels: individual, within the Organization, between organizations and the society." (Fost & Egri, 1991). You have to do many efforts to make such interaction encourages you. It's like juggling several balls, it is difficult but not impossible.

Do you know what is the difference between activities / therapies assisted with animals?

Animals Assisted therapy  (TAA) are interventions directed towards concrete objectives as an integral part of a rehabilitation process, through the interaction between animal and patient. These sessions should be directed by a therapist professional, which can be of the branch of psychology, education, physiotherapy, etc. The therapist is than fixed goals, guide the interaction between animal and patient, conducting an evaluation of the whole process and measuring the progress of the same.

Assisted activities with animals (AAA) are recreational activities, with a therapeutic effect but without concrete targets, in which people relate the animal to increase their quality of life. Anyone evaluate or measure the progress of the patient and they can be performed by any volunteer provided to take an animal.

So if I want to "do therapy", this should have some objective (what  do I want to get?); It has to be directed by a professional (good be a canine educator or a technician, animal-assisted therapy is not a therapist); There is an evaluation (what has changed with respect to prior to the AAT program?).

Have you've studied the factors that affect the organization to perform the AAT program?

Do you have management support?

Do you have the support of the CEO or Directors?

 Is there a staff to  support the idea?

Do you  have to hire new staff?

What are the issues concerning security and respectful treatment of animals?

What are the Issues about responsability?

How is the evaluated the efficacy of the program?

Is there a continuous assessment?

What do users think about the idea?

How can you find economical resources (costs)?

How can you control  infections?

Don't forget:

When you are thinking of the design of the program you have to think about both staff and users. You have to have both.

STAFF: trained, experienced and enthusiastic. University professionals, qualified personnel and volunteers.

USERS: Allergies and phobias. Past of animal abuse experiences. Polling the user about his opinion about the AAT.

Which animal should you choose?

You don’t need the same budget to a therapy with horses than one dog and of course is not the same a Chihuahua dog than a Boxer for therapy in penitentiary institutions. Choose well!

The Trojan horse: Economic efficiency.

Start your project gradually, use existing resources; seeks for foundational or corporative  support; charges a fee for service; search for donations and don't forget the sale of products (merchandising).

Responsibilities.

Each Member of the team must assume their responsibilities and in that sense, there is nothing better than an action protocol, IF a worker ignores the standard and don't know where to search, he or she will invent it and often is not the best solution to a problem.

Test day!: results.

What are the criteria to assess the results?

-Cost / benefit.

-Other more economic programs.

-Number of users of the service.

-  There are also other instruments to measure the effectiveness.

Remember to keep track of infections.

They are not common zoonoses (transmission of a disease from animals to man), but a veterinary health plan for animals involved in the program, it is mandatory!.

Meet some of the principles that govern the AAT.

1. All animals will be carefully selected.
2. At the time of recruitment of staff and users will be verified allergies, fear or aversion towards animals.
3. The rights of persons who do not wish to participate with animals are priority, keep clear exclusion zones for animals and be sure they will be respected.
4. Activities with animals must be integrated into the overall treatment plan, with specific objectives.
5. You will be monitored by the staff  those users with a history of animal abuse.
6.  Weekly work sessions must be documented.
7.  The animals will not work more than 5 hours a day.
8. The worker should remember that the use of an animal is not a panacea to work with a patient with problems.
9. The worker should strive to maintain the therapeutic component.

I will leave for the following entry concerning the evaluation of the programme. Anyway if there is somewhere you want to go into more depth you can ask me and I will do everything that is in my hand to clarify all your doubts. Remember that the important thing is to share knowledge...

A very sweet doggy

Bubu was born deaf but nothing has limited her life, she used to eat whatever she wants and there is nothing can stop her to play when she is in the mood and even she used to run behind cars or geese to show her super Mini Maltese power. 

She has always been easy to recognize because her white fur which contrasts with her black ear, and she has never been afraid of the world. Even when almost three years ago it began to lose weight and one day, by very first time she peed her bed. That raised a signal that it was necessary to take her to the doctor, because at the same time she started to feel very tired.

Doctor didn't need too much to have a pre diagnostic, but told us that it could be diabetes, but that Bubu required going with an internist for blood tests to confirm this.

Bubu knew about doctors and hospitals, since she was a puppy had to go through surgeries and treatments, so she knew very well about pills, intensive care, she has always fought and left to do whatever doctors need for her health in exchange for a carrot.

As usual in every place Bubu was declared the sweetest doggy of the hospital, she always had hug kiss to whoever watch over her, but at this time the verdict was literal: Bubu had a reading of 820 of glucose in blood, so it was declared diabetic and she was going to need taking insulin every 12 hours because her life would depend from an injection.

 

It is estimated that 1 of every 500 dogs develop diabetes, although there are breeds at higher risk of developing it. Diabetes is basically a pancreas or the body cells inability to produce enough insulin, which gives as a result that the cells are not able to absorb sufficient glucose, which is released into the blood, so that it is possible to measure the same levels through blood tests.

A study published in Nature says that the domestication of dogs offered many adaptive advantages for the species, but at the same time, when the dogs began to consume foods rich in starch, which was what their masters had on hand due to agricultural work, although it allowed sharing environments, could be the key to start than some of them, not be able to breakdown the starch, will create degenerative mechanisms such as those observed in diabetes.

So Bubu added to his life the insulin as a means of survival, we had limited her diet, but she has never ceased begging for carrots, which must be cut in little pieces into small pieces, although diabetes has charged a payment: since some time ago she is blind, but don't worry!, she still sees life as the greatest adventure ever told, because medical estimates, despite a lifetime of care has allowed further between us.

Diagnosis is not synonymous of death, but your dog will requiere some special care to survive to diabetes. Surely your vet will have many recommendations to make give your dog a good quality of life. 

Bubu doesn't like the special food for diabetic dogs but we have learned to measure calories and recognize her cycles depending her level of sugar in blood.

Like any degenerative disease, diabetes is more common in geriatric dogs, but they always have a lot of to give us, despite all the injections, because they know very well we do the best for them. 

If you want to know more about the topic I recommend you to read: 

Diabetes in dogs: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/dog-care-diabetes.aspx

Dogs’s dinner was key to domestication: http://www.nature.com/news/dog-s-dinner-was-key-to-domestication-1.12280

And I hope that you don't miss the stories of Bubu who always has something to share: http://bubuatributetolife.blogspot.com/

Life mates: ADHD and dogs.

I won't go into detail about what  the attention Deficit Disorder with hyperactivity is, which commonly known because we heard about so many hyperactive children, since there is so much information at the internet just in case which you are interested and we also have our friend  Alma Dzib Goodin that can clarify many of your  doubts about this topic.

What I would like, before commenting the benefits of therapies with dogs for children with this disorder, it’s the injury by using negative labels on childhood. I don't want to deny the existence of this condition, it’s real at some cases, but I will say that when a label is accessible it is very easy to use it wrong.

Some decades ago children were "moved", "terrible", "playful"... now they are HYPERACTIVE. So, if you could have together my two small children and myself, you would say that all of us are hyperactive in your eyes.  But I think we must be cautious when it comes to diagnose anything labeled to that child for the rest of his life. And still, we must be clear not saying you “You are,” but “You have", a problem that has solutions and one of them is the dog-assisted therapies.

One of the characteristics of these children is that their behavior is random and dependent on the environment, comply with standards and refrain in certain behaviors, trouble that leads them to a situation of isolation with respect to their peers and with adults, which over time is possible to it have impact on their self-esteem. There are studies that demonstrates that these people, compared with their peers, frequently have behavioral problems, are less empathetic, less skilled socially and perceive the environment more negatively (Dodge, 1985).

Then, How can dog contribute? , why is valid in these cases a therapy with dogs?, why as a father/mother or educators should I invest time and money in a therapy dog? Maybe then I'll expose a few of many that will be useful and make you think.

- As you remember from the first post on this blog about Biophilia, the presence of a dog would have the ability to attract and keep the attention of the child or the child's: work attention.

- As the child cannot predict how the animal behave got an inhibition of behavior, working the IMPULSIVITY. What gives us a temporary space in which we can ask questions about the dog, so will also work the reflective thought.

- The way this children play is almost always aggressive. The presence of the dog will give children opportunity to work that aggression through care and affection for the animal.

- Children with ADHD tend to perceive their classmates, teachers and their environment in a negative way and thus justify their aggressive behaviors. In the presence of animals people are perceived more positively. We are working for both the POSITIVITY.

- And something that is completely fascinating and can get with therapy with dogs is the process of empowerment that we can achieve. Thus, through the care and education of the dog in which the child is involved, this looks like it is useful, but it is able to follow sequences of commands, as it may inhibit unwanted behaviors, as it is capable of taking care of others, as it increases their self-esteem. And all because the effort of the child is reflected in the conduct of the dog who moves forward in its relationship with the human being who is at his side, corrects its errors and does not judge them.

Perhaps for the first time and the eyes of a dog a human being competent and useful, will be what will open a new brighter future and without tags to children.

"Look at what I am capable of doing and I did, not on what I have done." No one while watching fascinated the fish to swim in a pond wondered why can't fly".

Remember that if you want more information you can put in contact with me.

More info: http://tdah.tel/

There is a dog in my classroom!

What happen when children live moments of deeply emotional pain? Usually it’s difficult to return to places or situations where the feel stress.

At the United States, some schools have attempted to implement strategies that allow students and teachers to feel less fear in academic campuses.

Although it is not new this kind of therapy, this had been released as a result of the gunfire occurred in the primary school Sandy Hook. 

One of those therapists is June who started his work some months ago at Prospect High School in Illinois. His work is relaxing to students so that they can focus on learning.

Here you can read the article