Vivian Leven: Understanding Relationships and Animal Behavior on "Why Do Pets Matter?" with Debra Hamilton #159

Vivian's passion in life is helping people make real, compassionate connections with the animals in their lives so that both of you are living your best life with one another. Today she's sharing lots of great tips about living happily and positively with your animal(s) and how to better understand and develop the relationship you and your pet have through observing, decoding, and guiding their behavior and yours. She has been a dog behavior consultant for 18 years. In 2003 she earned her master's degree in conflict resolution from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.  Since then she has worked in the field of animal welfare policy and research at the Animal Welfare Institute in Washington, D.C. and she has also volunteered with the rehabilitation of dogs with problem behaviors in the canine rescue community. In 2010 she took on a full-time position to develop and manage the training department at Fur-Get Me Not in Arlington, VA, creating all the behavior specialty classes, she held this position for 8 years. In 2018 she co-founded "Positive Dog Solutions" -- a company created to help build strong and healthy relationships between people, their dogs, and the community in which they live, using scientifically proven, practical, and humane methods.   Vivian also mediates custody cases at the Multi-Door dispute resolution division at DC Courts and is a volunteer mediator with Community Mediation DC. You can learn more about the marvelous work Vivan does at: https://www.positivedogsolutions.com/ And, you can connect with Vivian here: https://www.facebook.com/positivedogsolutions https://www.instagram.com/positivedogsolutions/