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Feline Behaviour Consultations
Toronto Humane Society is proud to offer a variety of training classes for you and your pet. We are passionate about advocating for, and educating pet owners about humane, compassionate, and trust building training practices. We pledge our commitment to providing you and your best friend with a constructive, supportive, and inspiring environment for strengthening the human-animal bond!
Feline Problem Solving and Behaviour Modification Consultation with Supporting Behaviour Handouts
- $125
- Private (conducted virtually)
- Booked on an appointment basis
This service provides you with an opportunity to meet with a certified trainer for a consultation and assessment of your animal’s problem behaviour. During this session, you’ll arrive ready to take notes while your certified trainer outlines management strategies, realistic goal setting and training approaches to help your animal learn alternative behaviours. You will receive handouts written or recommended by our staff addressing behaviour modification approaches by email as well as some initial training exercises to get you started after your session. This service will appeal to those seeking evidence-based information to help understand and modify their animal’s behaviour.
Feline Problem Solving and Behaviour Modification Private Follow Up Sessions – 30 Minutes
- $65
- Private (conducted virtually)
- Booked on an appointment basis
These short training sessions are available for cat owners with a pre-existing relationship with our training department. For example, these sessions are available to those returning for additional sessions to work through a training plan after completing a consultation with our certified trainers, or for cats that have been adopted from Toronto Humane Society. In these sessions, you will come prepared to train and will work on a maximum of 2 training exercises that you might find challenging to work through on your own so your certified trainer can help clarify the exercise and the mechanics of teaching it to your animal. No written instructions or training notes are provided following these sessions. Please remember to have plenty of bite sized training treats and your clicker ready for these sessions.
Feline Problem Solving and Behaviour Modification Private Follow Up Sessions – 60 Minutes
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- $95
- Private (conducted virtually)
- Booked on an appointment basis
These sessions are available for cat owners with a pre-existing relationship with our training department. For example, these sessions are available to those returning for additional sessions to work through a training plan after completing a consultation session with our certified trainers, or for cats that have been adopted from Toronto Humane Society. In these sessions, you will come prepared to train as your certified trainer coaches you through your new training exercises as you progress, or provides coaching on mechanical handling skills. Brief written notes follow each session. Please remember to have plenty of bite sized training treats and your clicker ready for these sessions.
Feline Problem Solving and Behaviour Modification Consultation and One Month Training Support
- $520
- Private (conducted virtually)
Our training packages create excellent value in the form of a personalized plan and weekly certified trainer led training sessions to set you and your pet up for optimal success through systematic progression through training exercises. The package includes a behaviour consultation, a personalized training plan and 4 consecutive weekly training sessions for cat owners who struggle with behavioural issues such as but not limited to litter box issues, marking, aggression, destructiveness or fearfulness. During your consultation, your certified trainer will obtain a detailed history so that the functions of the problem behaviour can be assessed and will create a personalized training plan focusing on training your animal to substitute desirable behaviours in place of the problem behaviours. You will then meet weekly with your certified trainer for the next four weeks in a standing appointment where you will work together training your animal to default to the new replacement behaviours. Follow up sessions are booked by your certified trainer during your initial consultation. Additional monthly packages are available to existing clients who have completed their first package at a rate of $300 for four weekly sessions..
Feline Stress Free Training for Veterinary Visits Consultation and One Month Training Support
- $520
- Private (conducted virtually)
If your pet is nervous and stressed out at the vet or if you would like to train your pet to participate cooperatively in ongoing treatments, one-time treatments and/or husbandry care, our Fear Free and Low Stress Certified trainers can help. The initial 60-minute consultation determines your cat’s baseline comfort level at the vet office or during at home husbandry care and provides an opportunity to review your cooperative care training goals and break them down into manageable chunks and priorities. You will then meet weekly with your certified trainer for the next four weeks in a standing appointment where you will work together training your animal new replacement behaviours. Follow up sessions are booked by your certified trainer during your initial consultation. Additional monthly packages are available to existing clients who have completed their first month package at a rate of $300 for four weekly sessions (1 session per week). We have a great deal of experience working with animals in our clinics, and we can help with:
- Desensitization and counter conditioning to handling and light restraint
- Desensitization and counter conditioning to injections
- Desensitization and counter conditioning to routine blood draws
- Desensitization and counter conditioning to glucose panel draws
- Desensitization and counter conditioning to eye drops and ear drops
- Cooperative Nail Trims
- Cooperative Stationing Behaviours
- Carrier Training
- Dental Care
- Various other behaviours/procedures
- Low stress approaches to immediate care needs
*Note: Some behaviours require consistent commitment and training by owners over time to achieve end desired goal in advance of procedures.
Kitten Care One Month Training Support Package
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- $400
- Group Classes (conducted virtually)
- Weekly Consecutive Classes
This package is geared towards new kitten owners and provides 4 consecutive weekly training sessions where your kitten will learn important socialization and manners skills. Basic husbandry topics will be included each week and you will receive weekly topic handouts. Kittens may enroll between 3 and 10 weeks old to ensure all training is completed by the time your kitten is 14 weeks old. Please email publictraining@torontohumanesociety.com if your kitten does not fall within that age range to discuss training package options.
Cat Tricks Foundations
- $120
- Group (conducted virtually)
- Weekly Consecutive Classes
Join us and fellow cat lovers in our Virtual Training Hall from the comfort of your own home. Our Tricks Training classes are designed specifically to grow the human-animal bond and provide joyful enrichment for your cat in a virtual group setting. Through trust and team work you and your cat will face fun new challenges and have the opportunity to learn and practice impressive tricks that are great enrichment and can also be transitioned in some cases to practical use in cooperative care or conditioning applications. You will learn about targeting, shaping, luring and capturing and how these foundations make training that much easier. These sessions are conducted virtually to ensure your cat can learn in the comfort of his or her home and are structured in tiers to cover first some basic foundations and then more advanced tricks at the intermediate and advanced level.
Note: new group class sessions are scheduled regularly. If you don’t see the class you are interested in on our booking platform, check back regularly for new scheduled groups.
Cat Tricks Intermediate
- $120
- Group (conducted virtually)
- Weekly Consecutive Classes
Our Cat Tricks Intermediate Skills class is designed to help you do more with your cat. We invite you and your cat to join us in our Virtual Training Hall for the opportunity to learn and practice impressive tricks that are fun and can be transitioned to practical use in cooperative care or other applications. Skills learned in our Foundations class will be put to use teaching your cat to perform a new trick each week. *Prerequisite: Cat Tricks Foundations or similar class.
Cat Tricks Advanced
- $120
- Group (conducted virtually)
- Weekly Consecutive Classes
Our Cat Tricks Advanced Skills builds on skills learned in our Cat Tricks Intermediate class and introduces progressively difficult and impressive tricks that incorporate movement and precision skills. We invite you and your cat to join us in our Virtual Training Hall for the opportunity to continue to build your cat’s repertoire of skills while engaging in fun and enriching bonding time together. Prerequisite: Cat Tricks Intermediate.
Kitten Kindergarten
- $120
- Group (conducted virtually)
- Weekly Consecutive Classes
Our Kitten Kindergarten class allows you and your kitten to bond and learn new skills in a group environment with other kitten lovers. In this class, your kitten will learn important socialization and manners skills. Basic husbandry topics will be included each week and you will receive weekly topic handouts. Kittens may enroll between 3 and 10 weeks old to ensure all training is completed by the time your kitten is 14 weeks old. Please email publictraining@torontohumanesociety.com if your kitten does not fall within that age range to discuss training options.
The Consummate Cat Group Class Platinum Bundle
- $824
- Group (conducted virtually)
- Cat Tricks Foundations, Intermediate, and Advanced
- Weekly private meetings with a trainer to address individual challenges for the duration of group class enrollment
- Handouts, homework, graduation certificate
This premium bundle provides enrollment in all of our Cat Tricks group classes to keep that training momentum going. This package also provides weekly scheduled private meetings for the duration of group class enrollment with a certified trainer to help work through any particular challenges unique to your cat and weekly hand outs and homework. Take advantage of this full-service support package to go beyond the basics and provide your cat with the consummate training and enrichment experience. All group and private sessions take place virtually.
The Consummate Cat Group Class Bundle
- $384
- Cat Tricks Foundations Class
- Weekly private meetings with a certified trainer to address individual challenges for the duration of group class enrollment
- Handouts, homework, graduation certificate
This value bundle provides enrollment in our popular Cat Tricks Foundations group class along with weekly scheduled private meetings with a certified trainer for the duration of group class enrollment to help work through any particular challenges unique to your cat. You will also receive weekly handouts, homework and a graduation certificate. This package will appeal to those who wish to take advantage of our Cat Tricks Foundations class curriculum along with personal training support as they work with their pet towards becoming the consummate cat. All group and private sessions take place virtually.
A virtual group experience your employees and their fur companions will enjoy
- Work-from-home or on-site employees in pet friendly offices can join certified animal trainers in a virtual, hands on and interactive animal training class
- Each event is led by a certified dog trainer and a certified cat trainer
- Classes are suitable for cats, dogs or other domestic pets
- Classes can be tailored to meet individual corporation needs
- Perfect for employee engagement events
- Suggested duration: 60 minutes
- Platform: Zoom or Microsoft Teams
- Cost: $1,000.00
A hands-on and interactive animal training experience that is perfect for employee retreats or a team building exercise. Trainers will lead your group through fun and engaging foundational skills and simple tricks using positive reinforcement training methods. Group class duration can be tailored for your company’s specific needs and can include a Q&A period to address individual employee training questions at the end. A handout detailing training instructions for each exercise will be provided at the end of the class.
Book your corporate group training experience by emailing Beverley McKee, Program Manager of Public Training Services & Care Support, at bmckee@torontohumanesociety.com.
Dr. Jacklyn Ellis, PhD
Director, Behaviour
Dr. Ellis is the Director, Behaviour at Toronto Humane Society. Prior to joining the position she served as Nestlé Purina’s leading authority on feline behaviour in her role as a Behaviour Scientist in their research and development division. She earned her PhD in Animal Welfare at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, where she conducted research on methods for reducing stress in shelter cats. Her work has been published widely in peer reviewed journals and she has presented at many national and international conferences, particularly on feline stress and elimination behaviour. She is currently in the process of writing a chapter on feline behavioural assessment for a new edition of the leading textbook on the behaviour and welfare of shelter animals.
Beverley McKee, BA, ACDBC, CPDT-KA, Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer
Manager, Public Training Services and Care Support
Beverley is the Program Manager, Public Training Services and Care Support at Toronto Humane Society. She is an Associate Certified Dog Behaviour Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. She is also a Fear Free Certified Professional, holding an Animal Trainer Certification through Fear Free Pets. Prior to joining Toronto Humane Society, Beverley owned and operated a successful dog training and dog walking company in Toronto’s west end, and chaired an informal 600-member strong collective of professional dog walkers with a focus on professional and positive reinforcement handling skills development. She currently serves as a Member at Large on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants.
Shannen McNee, CCBC
Certified Cat Behavior Consultant
Shannen began her career working with cats in our care as a Feline Enrichment Specialist, providing daily enrichment, conducting assessments and carrying out behaviour modification training for some of our more challenging cats to set them up for success in their adopted homes. In her current day-to-day life, Shannen meets with cat owners virtually both locally, nationally, and internationally via video conferencing to provide thorough assessments, management and training solutions to cat owners from the comfort of their homes. She also provides plans for low stress cooperative veterinary and husbandry care training and coaching, and runs our fun and enriching virtual feline group training classes. Shannen is a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, a Fear Free Shelter Graduate, and holds a Low Stress Handling Silver Level Certification from Low Stress University which carries on the legacy of Dr. Sophia Yin.
Jessica Tartaglia, CPDT-KA
Certified professional Dog Trainer
Jess joined the Canine Training Team in October 2018 as a Canine Enrichment Specialist. She has since worked hard to become certified through the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers and completed the Fear Free Shelter Program. She started at Toronto Humane Society as an Animal Care Worker in November 2017 and quickly discovered her love for working with the more challenging dogs as she built a bond with some of the long stay dogs in our building.
Prior to starting at Toronto Humane Society Jess completed a BSc at the University of Guelph in Zoology. She worked for a small CAZA accredited exotic animal rescue conducting public education programs. She has a passion for educating the public about responsible pet ownership and training practices. When she has extra time she also helps out with the cattle and goats on her family’s farm. Jess has worked with a variety of species and is continuously looking to learn more about animal behaviour and training.
Jess shares her home with a tabby cat named Arthur and a shepherd mix pup named Peyton.
Louise Lawrence, CPDT-KA
Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Fear Free Animal Trainer Professional
Louise Lawrence started her career volunteering at Toronto Humane Society while also growing a successful dog walking and training business. During her six years in business, she earned her Animal Behaviour College Dog Trainer certificate, Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed designation, and Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer credentials, while becoming a leader in the Toronto dog walking community.
In 2020, Louise joined Toronto Humane Society training team as a Certified Animal Trainer. She is excited to use her knowledge to empower dog owners and their dogs to make great choices.
Nicole Barnett, CTC
Certified Professional Dog Trainer
Nicole is a graduate of the Academy for Dog Trainers and brings over nine years of professional pet care experience to her position with Toronto Humane Society. Nicole is a strong advocate for humane and evidence-based training and has played an active role in the pet care community, providing engagement and continuing education opportunities to dog walkers and other pet care professionals while developing business models for affordable and accessible training for pet owners. Nicole lives in Toronto with her adorable rescue pup Peanut.
Erika Ehrenreich, CPDT-KA
Certified Professional Dog Trainer
Erika began her career at Toronto Humane Society in the Animal Care Department, working hands-on in the care and husbandry of animals including cats, dogs and special species. After moving to a Training Assistant position, Erika obtained certification through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. Erika’s experience with multiple species led her to an interest in cat behaviour and she currently works with cat owners providing humane strategies to overcome behavioural challenges as a Certified Animal Trainer.
Virtual Setup
- To register for all of our Public Training Services, please visit our convenient online scheduling page
- We conduct our training sessions via video calls using free and easily accessible video conferencing platforms. After you schedule your session, your trainer will send a link to access your training session.
- Be sure to be online and signed into the conferencing software designated by your trainer no less than 5 minutes before your session.
- Have bite-sized training treats or any other equipment recommended by your instructor on hand prior to beginning your consultation or group class session.
Pet Parent Responsibility
- By registering for training classes, private behaviour consultations or practical training sessions with Toronto Humane Society you acknowledge and recognize that the role you play in your animal’s training is integral to achieving the desired results. You acknowledge and agree that there is no guarantee that your animal will achieve the desired level of training despite the best efforts of Toronto Humane Society. You further understand and agree that any service or product recommended by Toronto Humane Society is not a guarantee of satisfaction with that product or service.
Equipment
- Please bring a clicker, a treat pouch and a generous supply of your pets’ favourite pea-sized treats.
Cancellations and Rescheduling
- Private consultations or private training sessions may be cancelled and rescheduled with your trainer within 1 month of the date of purchase. Please speak to your trainer if you need to reschedule your private session.
- Group classes may not be rescheduled. Group classes run on a week-to-week basis and we do not provide make-up classes if a session is missed.
- We do not provide refunds for scheduled services unless extenuating circumstances apply. Refunds requests are considered on a case-by-case basis.