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with iago

About Megan Maxwell

I have always been an animal lover. I grew up with pet dogs, cats, mice, rats, frogs, chameleons, hamsters, birds, and hermit crabs. My husband and I currently share our home with a 10-year-old pit bull mix named Iago, a 2-year-old sheltie mix named Addy, and a 5-year-old yellow-collared miniature macaw named Sappho.

While I was an undergraduate student at Temple University, I was volunteering at local animal shelters and realized that many of the pets were being relinquished to shelters by their owners because of behavior problems. I began wondering how I might use my Psychology degree to work with pets with behavior problems and their families. Under the guidance of Dr. Philip Hineline in Temple University's Psychology Department, I was exposed to the field of Behavior Analysis. The first book recommended to me by Dr. Hineline was Lads Before the Wind by marine mammal trainer Karen Pryor. This book, along with Dr. Hineline's learning classes, convinced me that I should attend graduate school in Pyschology with a focus on animal learning and behavior.

I came to West Virginia University's Department of Psychology in 1999 and completed my Master's degree in the laboratory of Dr. Andy Lattal in 2001. Dr. Lattal, also a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, was invaluable in teaching me about basic behavioral principles and their application to pet behavior problems and training needs. After completing my Master's degree, I worked in Philadelphia, PA, both with children diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities and also with pets and their families.

In 2004, I returned to WVU to complete my Ph.D. In our research, Dr. Lattal and I examined variables that influence canine learning. Working with individual dogs in their owners' homes over long periods, I examined the effects of delayed reinforcement, cues paired with reinforcement, and various methods for reducing behavior such as delivery of response-independent food or food delivered dependent on the absence of responding. I defended my dissertation in March of 2008, and am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor teaching animal learning and behavior courses in the Department of Psychology at WVU.

I have completed the following coursework relevant to my work as an applied animal behaviorist:

I am currently teaching or have taught the following courses related to animal (and human) behavior:

For three semesters at WVU, I also was fortunate enough to be able to design and teach the department's first course in applied animal behavior. Students were taught how to apply behavioral principles to pet behavior and training. Each student also had the opportunity to work with a pet to either train new skills or ameliorate a behavior problem. Although the course is not being offered in the 2008-2009 academic year, I look forward to teaching this course and others like it again in the future Access the Applied Animal Behavior course outline and reading list.

Over the past 10 years, I have worked with dogs and cats experiencing a variety of behavior problems. In some cases, owners are interested in improving their dog's basic obedience skills, and the emphasis of treatment is obedience training in and outside of the home. In other cases, pets are exhibiting more serious behavior problems such as aggression, destruction, fearfulness, or housetraining deficits. Other common canine behavior problems treated successfully include pica (eating inedible objects such as rocks or feces), excessive attention-seeking (whining, barking, nosing, jumping, or mouthing), separation distress, charging through doors, interdog aggression, urination during greetings, item stealing, counter surfing, and others. Common feline behavior problems include litter-training deficits, aggression, destruction, howling, overgrooming (resulting in hair loss or tissue damage), and fearfulness. Common psittacine (parrot) behavior problems include excessive squawking, self-mutilation (feather-plucking), stereotypy (repetitive swaying or head-bobbing), and aggression.

Pet Behavior Change, LLC | 2008 | E-mail MeganMaxwell@petbehaviorchange.com | Phone (304) 280-8543