Petcentered, Inc. was founded by Frania Shelley-Grielen, an applied animal behaviorist, trainer and educator who holds a Masters Degree in Animal Behavior from Hunter College and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from New York University. Shelley-Grielen is a NY State Education Department licensed Pet Care Technician Instructor, registered therapy dog handler, certified Doggone Safe Bite Safety Instructor, and professional member of the Pet Professional Guild, International Society for Applied Ethology, Cat Writers Association and Dog Writers Association, specializing in behavior modification work and training with cats, dogs and birds and humane management for urban wildlife.
The author of BEHAVIOR MATTERS FOR CATS AND DOGS and CATS AND DOGS, LIVING WITH AND LOOKING AT COMPANION ANIMALS FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW, Frania Shelley-Grielen founded AnimalBehaviorist.us in 2009, to share her work on how welfare based, science focused strategies and solutions from the canine and feline point of view are more effective and make everyone happier, including the humans. Many of her articles on animal behavior and training are free for the reading on her website, with videos of lectures, presentations and training demos on YouTube.
Frania Shelley-Grielen volunteered in educational outreach, TNR, wildlife rehab, shelters and earned a certificate in exotic animal training before enrolling in a graduate program to formally study animal behavior. Her career includes five years developing and teaching full-time New York City's only Pet Care Technician program at a post secondary vocational school for individuals with disabilities, Here, Frania gained wide-ranging experience in training learners to use the best, most low stress, informed and humane approaches to work professionally with animals in the pet services industry.
Her work in the classroom and behind the scenes, preparing and evaluating students and sites in internships in dog day cares, grooming salons and shelters, gave Frania unique insight into this industry in New York City and the need for higher standards for both worker education and services. This experience led her to create PetCenterEd, Inc., an innovative not for profit, science and welfare based learning and services center for people and pets (Frania's four part series for PPG's Barks From the Guild, premiered in the September 2018 issue on what happens behind the scenes in the pet services industry and what remedies would look like applied).
The PetCenterEd difference integrates conceptual theory, foundational knowledge and applied skills under one roof with the overall focus on animal welfare science to provide the most effectively humane pet services. PetCenterEd will operate a training facility where professionals offer humane animal care services and students develop applied skills in dog grooming, handling, training, etc., under the same oversight of the licensed Masters and Phd level professionals that are instructing them under the curriculum.
Currently, the most popular methods of dog training instruction offered are those using punishment, even as research shows that dogs typically exhibit fear based behaviors around trainers and owners who use force which can lead to more problem behaviors. Dog groomers who have completed a brief 2 or 3 month training course at a dog grooming school may not be properly prepared to groom due to the short time span of the training and lack of instruction on stress free restraint and handling methods. Over reliance on restraint such as muzzles, ties and stressful handling may cause a dog to submit to a grooming session but will cause more defensive resistance on the next grooming sessions. These approaches to dog training and grooming are incredibly stressful for pets.
There are multiple online courses available each with a different interpretation of how animals learn and how to handle them and each without hands on instruction. In these courses learners are referred to usually one single practical internship to complete the "applied” portion of training. There is no consistency as to standards applied at the internship they will work at or if the training will be correct. When training under licensed professionals, internships are traditionally where applied skills are most effectively developed.
