COAPE - Centre of Applied Pet Ethology

C02 OUT-THINK PSYCHOLOGY...
...getting to grips with how behaviour really works!
An Advanced Certificate in companion animal psychology for behaviourists, vets, vet nurses, trainers and owners wanting to cut through the mystery of psychology and discover the true origins of behaviour.

Written and tutored by Robert Falconer-Taylor.

OCN Accreditation - Advanced Certificate 15 Credits. Click Here for details of accreditation.

A British Veterinary Nursing Association CPD Partners Scheme Accredited Course.

This nine month correspondence course can be successfully completed by anyone who is interested in studying the science of animal psychology.

The brain and nervous system has been described as the final, and perhaps the greatest, frontier of exploration. It represents everything we will ever know, do and experience over a lifetime.

Psychology (the study of the internal processes taking place inside the brain that 'create' behaviour) is a fascinating subject, but because of its massive scope, many learners find it baffling and inaccessible. Using the latest research, the six units of this course encapsulate today's key scientific concepts in psychology and apply them in a meaningful and practical way to the lives of the companion animals we live and work with.

To see a sample of the Course Notes Click Here

This constantly updated course will give anyone working with companion animals (veterinary surgeons, veterinary nurses, behaviour counselors, trainers, animal shelter personnel) a better insight into how behaviour works and why it sometimes does not. The course will also greatly enhance the bond between pets and their owners fascinated to know why their pets do what they do. We begin with the basic principles of psychology common across all species. We then look specifically at how these 'rules' are applied in the everyday behaviour of cats, dogs, horses and other species.

It will also provides an excellent basis for further study, and successful students automatically fulfil the qualification requirements for the CDP COAPE Diploma Course.

What the student will learn

Unit 1:	Introduction: Setting the scene; a brief history of psychology, what is it and why is it worth studying in companion animals? The Psychology of Learning: Something all living organisms do every minute of their waking lives. What is learning for? How does learning work? Getting to grips with the mechanisms underpinning this remarkable phenomenon is essential for any effective training or behaviour modification programme.
Unit 2:	The Anatomy and Physiology of Behaviour: The anatomy of the brain and nervous system and the genesis of behaviour, from chemical reaction to action. We explore neurotransmitters, neurons and how they communicate, hormones and their role in behaviour, and how all this translates into what our animals do.
Unit 3:	Memory: This unit explores the intriguing process of how all this learning and external 'data' from the senses is stored and later retrieved and utilised to determine how our animals behave. We look at what a fragile thing memory can be, how forgetting works, and how and why remembering can go so drastically wrong.
Unit 4:	Developmental Psychology: We explore how the brain grows in tandem with the physical body and how it ages with it as well. What are the critical phases of brain development from puppy, kitten or foal, through puberty to adult form, and then onward and downward toward the destructive ravages of old age. Nature and nurture: How much of who our companion animals are is determined by a throw of the dice between the genes they inherited from their parents and by their personal past experiences, learning and memory?
Unit 5:	Sensation and Perception: The remarkable transformation of raw external stimuli such as light, sound, smell and touch into 'information'. How do these senses vary between different companion animal species and how can we take advantage of them in training and behaviour modification? Communication and language: The ability to communicate using a structured language is the one thing that really sets us humans apart from all other animals, and it has enabled us to become the dominant species on earth. Using human language as our starting point, we turn to other species and see how they cope with communication. We then look at some remarkable human-like language processing in species such as dogs and parrots, and try to find out where these abilities came from, and why. Can they help explain the origins and evolution of spoken language itself?
Unit 6:	Consciousness - the mind's crowning glory: In this final unit, building on what you have learned in the preceding units, we explore some fascinating and perplexing, and highly controversial questions that have been fiercely debated and argued over by psychologists for decades. Do companion animals have an imagination? Can they think creatively? Can they think at all? Using the very latest research, we delve deep inside their minds to explore the very foundations of consciousness, emotion, personality and intelligence.

Course Details

Course Type:	Correspondence.
Course Format:	Each Unit of the course notes is e-Mailed out to students as a separate e-Book. Students also have access to the COAPE Student Resource Centre where additional support and course material are available online. The Resource Centre gives you access to a range of rich media content to complement the formal course notes, including video, sound, graphics and pictures, web links, and additional written content. We supply you with a specially designed ‘template’ on-line to assist you in writing your coursework using your own computer and preferred word processing software. Your coursework is submitted to your tutor via the internet, marked and returned back to you the same way.
Can I see a Sample of Course Material?:	Yes. Click Here to see a sample of the Course Notes.
Course Duration:	Nine months with two runs per year: 1: February 1st to October 31st. 2: September 1st to May 31st the following year.
Course Cost:	OCN registration deposit £45 + Course fee £395.
Payment Options, Terms & Conditions:	Please click on the 'Enrol' button below for details. NOTE: You are NOT COMMITTING YOURSELF TO ANYTHING by clicking on this button.

If you have any questions, please Click Here