research & publications
A Pleasant Dog's mission statement includes a commitment to improve the lives of people and dogs through education, positive reinforcement training, and research. Our team includes members who are passionate about evidence based research and methodology.
Together with Dr. Jill Sackman and Dr. Laura Dodge, in 2023 we completed research on Safety and Efficacy of Behavior Medication in Young Dogs; and the use of Clonidine and SSRI’s in Treatment of Hyperarousal Disorder in Dogs. Our hyperarousal study has been selected for presentation at the American College of Veterinary Behavior’s 2023 Veterinary Behavior Symposium in Philadelphia.
Our study team is continuing their good work and will soon be recruiting participants for a study demonstrating Efficacy of Classical Conditioning Together With Medication in Separation Anxiety Treatment.
If you have a research topic you would like us to consider, or would like to donate funds toward our research endeavors, please reach out to get@apleasantdog.com.
"Thanks so much for presenting at ACVB. You were amazing and your work is so important. We're all talking about more dogs with behavior concerns, but it's really good to have data to back it up! [...]This work [,A Pleasant Dog's Research on Covid Behavior,] is really important to shelters where so many people feel like we have much more challenging dogs than previously."
-Sheila Segurson, DVM, DACVB, CDBC,CCBC
Director of Research, Maddie's Fund www.maddiesfund.org
research
in 2022 our study team was invited to present their research entitled
“PREVALENCE OF PROBLEMATIC BEHAVIORS IN DOGS PRESENTING FOR GROUP BASIC TRAINING SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC “
with Dr. Sackman and Dr. Dodge at the ACVB Veterinary Behavior Symposium in Austin, Texas in 2022.
Our research is ongoing and includes: the safety and efficacy of behavior medication in young dogs; and the efficacy of a method developed by Jenn Gavin for treating separation anxiety ; and more. Our ultimate goal is to submit these studies for peer review and publication.
in 2024 our study team was invited to present their research entitled
“USE OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT VIA A TREAT DISPENSER IN COMBINATION WITH BEHAVIOUR MEDICATION TO TREAT SEPARATION ANXIETY STUDY“
Presented by Jennifer Gavin, BA, CPDT-KA, and Dr. Jill E Sackman, DVM PhD, DACVS, DACVB at the ACVB Veterinary Behavior Symposium in 2024.
links to our publications
coming soon!
get pleasant
At A Pleasant Dog, we strive to make learning with your dog fun and easy through a wide variety of training offerings. We offer everything from one on one private training sessions, to group classes, to stay and train offerings, and everything in between.