Guest: Gaby Boijsen
This episode is the first in a 2-part special series following the journey of RiffRaff, a rescue dog with a tendency toward violence. This sounds like a common story, but I assure you… RiffRaff’s story does not end the way you think. No spoilers though!
Gaby Boijsen often describes herself as a bureaucrat by day, moonlighting as a dog trainer at R+ Hundskola (“R+ Dog Academy”) on nights and weekends. A social worker by education and profession, she has spent a good chunk of her adult work life as a probation officer, mainly working with offenders of intimate partner violence. Nowadays she is an analyst within a government agency, working with behavior change at an organizational level.
A self-proclaimed behavior geek and animal rights activist, Gaby strives to learn all she can about all the things that can help herself and others to be better pet parents. She holds a special spot in her heart for shelter dogs/rescues and currently shares her life in the South of Sweden with her wife Ida and their Irish stray Jinkx and rehomed chihuahua mix Lilly. Gaby is a recurrent sufferer from imposter syndrome, but is working hard to view herself with the same kindness she tries to meet learners with.
In this episode we discuss:
- What we know about RiffRaff’s history and how he ended up with Gaby.
- Identifying the triggers of RiffRaff’s aggressive behavior.
- Exploring possible causes of his behavior.
- How did Gaby decide to work with him.
- Early steps of his training.
- Teaching him to wear a muzzle.
- Getting creative with protected contact to work with RiffRaff safely,
Links mentioned:
This podcast is supported by: Voilà! Pets
Visit the Voilà! Pets website and use code DFTT for 10% off of your order of sustainable, consciously-crafted treat bags.
