ABOUT THINKINGPETS COAPE SA

ThinkingPets COAPE SA  was started in June 2006 by Karin Pienaar (Landsberg) and was later joined by Professor Peter Neville and Wendy Wilson. The main focal points of ThinkingPets COAPE SA are to train instructors nationwide to provide puppy socialization, puppy II (adolescent) classes, adult and remedial training classes using motivational training methods and to provide educational services for aspiring Animal Behaviourist through the presentation of our COAPE courses.

We also aim to establish a network of highly educated professionals that can assist pet owners with their pets in a non-invasive, motivational manner encompassing modern behaviour and training techniques. Our services include offering Behaviour and training consultations for dogs and cats, puppy and kitten socialization schools, individual obedience training (using clicker and other forms of motivational training only), group obedience training, lecturing, public talks, hosting workshops and remedial socialization for aggressive dogs.

ThinkingPets offers comprehensive training courses for people wishing to become involved in the field of Animal Behaviour. Each ThinkingPets instructor is required to attend a rigorous training course, as well as ongoing educational workshops throughout the year to ensure the highest level of training and experience in our classes, as well as guaranteeing that everyone who hosts a ThinkingPets class is up to date with the latest TTouch, training and behavioural techniques used internationally.

We strive to offer owners peace of mind that they will receive the very best when dealing with anyone working under the ThinkingPets COAPE SA banner.

Karin has been involved in the field of Animal Behaviour since 1997. She originally worked in Cape Town, where she was one of the co-founders of an Animal Behaviour Centre. She has done extensive research into the field of kitten socialization and habituation, and in 2006 launched Confi-Kitten classes. Since moving to Johannesburg, she has established ThinkingPets COAPE SA and she consults with clients on all aspects of feline and canine behaviour problems, as well as having offered  puppy, puppy II and clicker training classes. She now spends most of her time presenting courses for the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology (COAPE UK) in South Africa, as well as for ThinkingPets and Eukanuba nationwide.  She lectures extensively on the development of kittens and puppies country wide, and hosts Mobile Clinics throughout SA together with other ThinkingPets instructors. Karin writes the regular series "Consultation Hour" for Cats Life Magazine and "On the Couch" for Animaltalk Magazine, and since April 2006 has been co-writing articles with Dr Peter Neville in the UK. She has been the guest speaker at seminars, and frequently appears on radio, including Talk Radio 702 and the weekly Animaltalk Radio show “On the couch” as well as occasionally on television. She is currently contracted to Iams South Africa (Cube Route) to develop their puppy school system. Karin holds an OCN UK accredited Diploma through the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology in the UK, as well as a Certificate in Companion Animal Behaviour from the Ethology Consultancy and is a registered International CAPBT Practitioner (COAPE association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers).



Wendy Wilson

Wendy has been training and showing Basset Hounds under her KUSA kennel name "Aberdare" since the early 1990's and has made up a couple of Champion dogs. She left the show world to concentrate on training and animal behaviour as one of her Basset pups started swallowing stones which led to a consultation with a well-known Animal Behaviourist and thus opened the door to the fascinating world of Animal Behaviour. Wendy has completed the 2 year Ethology Advanced Dog Behaviour Course with "Best Practice" presented by the Late Prof Odendaal, and is now completing the COAPE Diploma. She has completed a Canine Instructors Course "with Merit", and a Clicker Instructors Course. Wendy qualified as a TTouch Practitioner in 2009 and is a firm believer that a combination of TTouch and Clicker training can overcome a lot of the problem behaviours that owners experience. She joined ThinkingPets in 2007 and was invited to become a shareholder in 2010. Wendy handles the financials and Human Resources for ThinkingPets. She is the Regional Manager for the Cape and presents the ThinkingPets Instructors courses and  COAPE courses there. Wendy started running her own Puppy School "Over the Moon", after being approached by the local vet in 2006. She offers Puppy 1, Puppy 2 and Adult classes, as well as TTouch and Behaviour consultations . 

Dr. Peter Neville is a Companion Animal Behaviour Therapist and has been in practice for the referral and treatment of behaviour problems in cats and dogs for nearly twenty years. He is a frequent media broadcaster, public speaker and regular feature writer in leading UK pet magazines Dogs Today and Your Cat, and a consultant to major pet food and accessory manufacturers. Peter holds a BSc(Hons) degree in Biology from the University of Lancaster, England and completed post graduate studies on feral cat and seal behaviour and human/companion animal relations during 3 years as Research Biologist for the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare. His doctorate was awarded by the Etologisk Institut, Denmark for studies on feline behaviour and the development of treatment for pet behaviour problems. He established the first companion animal behaviour referral clinic at a UK veterinary school at the Dept of Medicine, University of Bristol in 1990, and was appointed Visiting Scholar to the Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University, USA in November 2002, where he now lectures annually on animal behaviour and behaviour therapy.

COAPE co-founder and Director Dr. Peter Neville is a Clinical Professor at the Dept of Veterinary Medicine, University of Miyazaki, Japan and a Visiting Scholar at the Dept of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University in the USA. The Centre of Applied Pet Ethology offers a range of residential and correspondence courses in companion animal behaviour and behaviour therapy. Peter is a member of the Coape Association of Animal Behaviour Practitioners, as well as the international Behaviour Consultant for the ThinkingPets Behaviour Practice.