Kimberlee Spicer is the Animal Behaviorist Lead at Seattle Animal Shelter. She started at SAS in January 2020. We recently had the chance to chat with her about what she does as an animal behaviorist and why it’s important.
What is your background? Have you worked for other shelters/rescues before?
I started volunteering with cats when I was 13 years old at my local pet store. At the ages of 15-18, I spent a lot of my free time just visiting shelters in southern California and sitting outside kennels, talking and petting the dogs. I was that kid that when I was over at my friend’s house — I usually was spending time with their pets vs. playing or hanging out with my friends.
Growing up, we always had cats. But it wasn’t until I was 8 years old when we adopted my first dog at a local adoption event. Ironically, I picked the shutdown, terrified-of-the-world 1-year old shepherd mix. It wasn’t until I started working with animals professionally that I realized my first dog was a “behavior case.” He was under socialized, fearful of strangers (especially men), sound sensitive, and had a lot of body-handling sensitivities.
I started working with animals professionally about 9.5 years ago when I was hired as an adoption counselor at Homeward Pet Adoption Center in Woodinville, WA. I very quickly realized that working with animals is exactly where I needed and wanted to be. At that time, we did not have a behavior department and animals were not being trained. About a year into working there, leadership announced they were going to work with a veterinary behaviorist on a dog that came into the shelter and they wanted to know if we knew volunteers that may be interested in implementing the training. That piqued my interest, and I responded asking if staff could also participate in the training. With the training, I got to work with one of the 72 veterinary behaviorists in the country, Dr. Wailani Sung, MS, PhD, DVM, DACVB. Being able to work with Dr. Sung, get her feedback, and seeing a dog progress with the use of evidenced-based positive reinforcement training just lit a fire in me and the rest is history.
Since then, I have become a certified canine behavior consultant (CBCC-KA), certified professional dog trainer (CPDT-KA) and Fear Free Certified Professional. I have attended countless workshops given by top veterinary behaviorists like Dr. Sung.
I literally spend my downtime reading behavior books and watching webinars… there is so much information out there! While it can be overwhelming sometimes, I am just grateful that the animal training world is evolving and people are really considering how our learners are feeling.
Why do you work in the animal behavior field?
I work in the animal field because it is part of who I am. My passion truly is working with behavior case animals in a shelter environment, and I am humbled to do what I love every day. I enjoy having a better understanding why animals, humans included, do what they do. It is having that understanding and asking ourselves, “What is going on in the environment that is making the learner respond in that way, and how can I change that for them?” is just so fascinating to me. I also thoroughly enjoy the education component. Despite what people may think, working in the animal behavior field requires working with people A LOT! I enjoy that piece and find it crucial because I am just one person; I can’t do behavior modification with every animal in every shelter, but I can share my knowledge with others so they can implement strategies with their own pets or animals in shelters.
What is your favorite part about your job at SAS?
Gosh, just one?! I enjoy almost all aspects of my job. I am grateful to be working with such an amazing group of staff members that work day and night and are dedicated to the betterment of animals and people. I am grateful to work with such a dedicated group of volunteers that devote so much of their time, resources and love to help our animals.
I thrive when working with the animals and feel so humbled to be a chapter in their lives… but if I truly had to pick just one favorite part of my job, it would be getting that post-adoption email that the animal you worked so hard on training, enrichment, foster support, adoption counseling, etc., found their forever home and is thriving. Knowing that an animal may have been euthanized elsewhere, if weren’t for the behavior programs I am lucky to be a part of, is one of the most rewarding parts of the job — I would call it my favorite part.
What is a behavior success story that you were a part of recently?
Each story has an element of success, as there is always something I can take from each animal and learn and grow from. Recently, I worked with an adoptable dog named Tippi. She has fear-based aggression towards people; I am sure you can imagine a dog who is uncomfortable with people, then put in a shelter with nothing but strangers, can be a scary picture. We gave her a few days to decompress, and I began working with her through a baby gate. After a couple of sessions, I was able to take her on walks — and within a week, she was walking with all staff. The week after, she was working with our entire dog behavior team. It turns out Tippi is incredibly smart and so affectionate with her people. She has flourished in a foster home, and they are teaching her tricks every day. While it takes her a little time to warm up to new people, once you are in, you are in and she loves you for life! Tippi is another dog that if she ended up elsewhere, she may not have had the same chance or opportunities as she has had at SAS.
Why is behavior training important?
I believe the most important thing someone could do for their pets is just take the time to learn about animal body language. A lot of the time we hear from people, “it came out of nowhere,” when in reality our animals are communicating to us all the time — but most people just don’t have the knowledge or training to understand what our animals are saying to us and miss the signals they are sharing with us.
A lot of negative situations and outcomes can be avoided if more people had more education about animal body language. Training is so important on many levels: it helps create a bond between the person and their learner; it helps our learners understand what we may want from them; and most importantly, it is a great form of mental enrichment for our animals. It is not just enough to put a roof over our animals’ heads and feed them — we should be engaging our animals with daily mental and physical enrichment. A handful of behavior challenges are present because our animals are bored and frustrated; if we take the time to understand what they are communicating to us and implement that daily mental and physical enrichment, you will see a decrease in most unwanted behaviors.
The SAS Animal Behavior team and training program is financially supported by donors of the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation. Visit the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation‘s website to donate.