My name is Chris Shaughness and I am a pet behavior specialist, pet massage therapist, dog trainer and author. My specialty is working with dogs who used to be breeders in puppy mills. I co-produced a film called Uncaged: Second Chances for Puppy Mill Breeder Dogs in 2008 with filmmaker Ann Metcalf. My first book, Puppy Mill Dogs SPEAK!, was published in July 2010, and have three other books in the works. I am a volunteer for Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue in Reinholds, PA.
Some of my other published works are: The Old Dog Nobody Wanted, a short story in the book Pets Across America; Mind, Body, Spirit Fitness for Dogs in PhillyFIT magazine; April Showers Bring…Thunderstorms? in Our Havanese magazine; Biting the Hand That Feeds in Golden Retriever News and Our Havanese magazines, and Puppy Mill Dogs: How to Address Their Particular Training Challenges in the Association of Pet Dog Trainers’ Chronicle of the Dog. I also am a regular reviewer of books and DVDs for the Chronicle of the Dog.
Before I jumped into the world of animals, I spent many years in the information systems industry as a manager and consultant. The leap was terrifying but the risk has been worth it.
Working with the animals and educating people about their issues is my passion. I hope to share lots of information with you, plus vent a little bit about some of the struggles along the way as an entrepreneur and a writer trying to get published, and just my own opinions – because I can!
Hello! My name is Chelsea, and I was wondering if I could get a personal opinion from you about animal abuse/hoarding and puppy mills for a research paper in my high school journalism class!
Please reply!!
Feel free to email me. The address is on my web site: http://www.pettherapyservices.org
I’ve just finished reading Puppy Mill Dogs Speak. Since I just adopted a mill survivor I find the book a huge help! I will probably read it again and again. My little dog is a 10 yeart old chihuahua and spent 9 and a half years in a puppy mill as a stud. He is adjusting much better than I thought he would but he still has a lot of mill behaviors and probably always will. In your book you never mention anything about aggression in mill dogs and my little guy shows aggression towards any other dog that comes near me. Since I have just adopted another little rescue (not mill) we are having a time of it. She has a lot of issues of her own, she was abandoned and left in an empty house and wasn’t found for 30 days. We are trying to work through both dogs and the issues. Wish you were my neighbor!
Thanks for the book and all you do…
Charlotte mamarocks4u@aol.com
Thank you so much for the nice comment, Charlotte! I give you lots of credit for adopting mill dogs. They are quite a challenge! I didn’t cover aggression in my book because that is not a behavior soley associated with mill dogs, and since there are so many types of aggression it just wasn’t possible to cover the topic and do it justice. There are plenty of good books that address aggression issues, and besides, it really is best to consult a behaviorist or qualified trainer when dealing with aggression. It can be complicated. All the best!