We focus on modern, ethical, and scientifically documented methods. It is important to us that everyone working with us has a solid foundation of competence.
We maintain an attitude of listening to the customer regardless of their background or experience level—whether they are beginner owners or those with extensive competitive experience. Methodological stance means nothing to us; we help everyone.
Animal welfare is very important to us, and we use methods that prioritize making all training and handling as comfortable as possible for the animal while giving the animal as much control as possible.
Our History
The Animal Behavior Center was established in the summer of 2018 and is owned and operated by Gry Eskeland and Anna Bjurgård Compton. This marked the beginning of an exciting and educational journey.
Our story begins several years earlier with collaborations on various training courses. We started with four members, including Carola Brusvold from Råde and Anne Kristin Mellgren from Heggedal, who were valuable contributors in the beginning. We decided to collaborate instead of working separately, and although both Carola and Anne Kristin are no longer owners, we maintain a strong collaborative relationship with them.
Since 2018, many exciting developments have occurred at the Animal Behavior Center, and now we have expanding branches in Moss, Romerike, Asker, Bærum, Follo, Oslo and the surrounding areas, Tønsberg, and Drammen.
We wanted to focus on more than just dogs and invited expertise in horses, cats, and birds as well.
Each of our branches has its own unique characteristics and course offerings, but what unites us is our focus on modern, ethical, and scientifically documented methods. We continuously further our education and require that all our instructors and behavior consultants have foundational competence in addition to annual continuing education.
You can read more about the education of each behavior consultant, but in summary, we have training in behavior therapy from several countries including the UK, Hungary, and Spain, and instructor training from Canis, Norske Redningshunder, Lundqvist Dog School, Din Beste Venn, Gooddog, Fjellanger Dog School, and we learn from all this experience. Interdisciplinarity is our strength!
Since 2022, we have been collaborating on an educational platform with a focus on animal science (dyrefag), where we offer education in dog training, behavioral medicine, and animal science. We also collaborate with other dog schools, are not afraid to refer when useful, and you will often find us as lecturers at other dog trainer schools, veterinary technician education, or behavior consultant series at NMBU.
In 2020, we received a new logo, which we believe supports our aspirations and pride. The animals in the logo are healthy, upright, and proud, just as we are proud of our interdisciplinary competence. The colors reflect our desire for openness and warmth and mirror our professional weight, integrity, and values.
Predictability = Control = Pride
Have you seen your animal show pride when it accomplishes something difficult? It is our goal to create many such proud moments!
It is a strength that we work together, as collectively we have more knowledge and experience than individually, and we can consult each other as needed. We approach you as a customer with a clear shared vision: We help everyone.
By this, we mean that we stay updated on training methods and only use modern, positive techniques in all training and handling of animals. Our goal is to give the animal as much control as possible in the situation and to teach the animal to make good and correct choices by structuring the training so that the animal succeeds.
This does not mean that the animal is allowed to do whatever it wants, but we implement boundaries in a positive way. For example, we use a long line to prevent the dog from practicing running away, and restrict access to surfaces like tables to stop the dog from learning to steal food—while simultaneously training the desired behaviors. In these examples, we reward the dog for staying close to us or coming to us, and we reward the dog for lying down on its place when there is food on the table.
We adopt an attitude of listening to the customer regardless of their background or experience level. From beginner owners to those with extensive competitive experience, methodological stance means nothing to us. We help everyone. Animal welfare is very important to us, and we use methods that aim to make all training and handling as comfortable as possible for the animal while giving it as much control as possible.
It is indeed true that what you reward, you get more of!
It is important to us that everyone working with us has competence
Behavior consultant and instructor are not protected titles, so ‘anyone’ can call themselves that. By ensuring that all our behavior consultants have university education in behavior, we provide customers with confidence that they are receiving up-to-date knowledge in behavior at a higher level.
For the same reason, we want all our instructors to have more comprehensive and updated instructor training.
We value quality over quantity.
We offer:
- Behavior consultations
- Various courses
- Private sessions
- Veterinary home visits
- Lectures
- Expert assessments