Meet Karin Pienaar

Karin Pienaar COAPE International Partner. DipCABT (COAPE) OCN, CertCAB, CAPBT Practitioner, CAB.

Karin has been working in the field of animal behaviour therapy since 1997 and studied in the UK where she completed her Diploma in Animal Behaviour with what was then COAPE UK. She is a member of both the CAPBT and ICAN and is an International Certified Animal Behaviourist (CAB), a partner in COAPE International and a published author.

After more than 20 years of consulting with dog and cat owners, Karin now focuses mainly on managing COAPE International, presenting the COAPE Diplomas and MHERA™ Practitioners courses, as well as lecturing extensively on animal emotionality to a variety of audiences around the world. She is responsible for course advancement in COAPE International and developed the industry-changing MHERA™ concept which is used to monitor and improve emotional and behavioural well-being in animals.

MHERA™ can be applied to mammals and birds, in a variety of different environments, from captive wildlife facilities to the domestic pet setting. Her book “Mood Matters: MHERA: An innovative assessment approach to animal emotionality in the treatment of behaviour problems” was published in 2023 by DogWise in the U.S.A.

Karin is the Behaviour Consultant to numerous pet companies such as Eukanuba and Ascendis Animal Health and is a regular contributor to several local and international magazines, as well as appearing on television and radio regarding animal behaviour matters.

She is also working in collaboration with the South African Government about education on animal welfare matters. She heads the Enrichment Partnership Program between COAPE International and several captive wildlife facilities, where she teaches institutes to implement MHERA™ as a tool to monitor emotional and behavioural well-being of the animals in their care, as well as implementing consent-based training to facilitate stress-free husbandry and medical procedures in captive wildlife. When she has time to spare, she consults on particularly challenging cases and works as an Expert Witness in legal cases involving Animal Behaviour.

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