The Story: Behind The Cooperative Care Conference
In 2020, we had an idea. In 2021, we brought it to life.
Our journey began with a simple goal: to create a place where people could share knowledge about cooperative care. But not just from one discipline we wanted to bring together perspectives from every training culture.
Over the years, we've had the privilege of working with many different species. What we discovered was that the most important lessons weren't about the species themselves they were about the science of behaviour. Whether you're working with horses, dogs, elephants, birds, marine mammals, or any other animal, the principles remain remarkably similar.
As we explored the field, we realized that many training communities rarely had the opportunity to learn from one another. Yet there is so much knowledge to share across disciplines.
That's when everything changed.
For years, we had believed that animal training should be united through the science of behaviour, understood and applied across species. We wanted to show the world that by learning from one another, we can continuously improve the welfare of the animals in our care.
We do this by sharing our ideas, skills, experiences, and creative thinking. Whether we work with a dog, cat, horse, tiger, chimpanzee, dolphin, or any other species, the learning process is built on the same behavioural principles.
That's why we created the Cooperative Care Conference.
A place where trainers from the horse world, dog world, elephant world, bird world, marine mammal world, and beyond come together to exchange ideas, inspire one another, and advance cooperative care for every species.
Because when we stop thinking in terms of species and start thinking in terms of behaviour, we create better welfare, better training, and a stronger future for the animals we care for.
That’s when our animals will thrive.
This is the message we are committed to spreading around the world.
A Healthy Mind is Part of Their Care
This year, we're taking the conversation even further by focusing on the psychological well-being of the animals in our care.
We've carefully selected speakers who will share how they develop their animal programmes by offering choice and allowing animals to express their preferences, creating meaningful enrichment, and designing games that encourage animals to think, explore, and problem-solve. Their stories will demonstrate how giving animals a voice and the opportunity to communicate their preferences can transform training, husbandry, and overall welfare.
By exploring these approaches across different species, we hope to inspire new ideas and encourage meaningful discussions about creating environments where animals can truly thrive.