• Cats
    • CatFriendlyHome
    • NewCat
    • NewKittenOldCat
    • Cat/CatIntegration
    • SocializingFerals
    • Litterbox
    • StressRelatedLitterBoxAversion
    • CatBites
    • CatHumanAggression
    • CatsEarlyMorningFoodRequests
    • HowToPetACat
    • CatCarriers
    • HowToPlayWithACat
  • More Cats
    • Who's zooming who - looking at correlations in feline aggression
    • WhenAdoptionsDontWork
    • TNRRecoveryTime
    • MusicAndCats
    • CatnipAndCats
    • CatTalk
    • PicaCats
  • Dogs
    • NewDog
    • NewPuppy
    • HowToTrainADog
    • Barking
    • ClickerTraining
    • Pulling
    • DogBitePrevention
    • BitingDogs
    • AggressiveDogs
    • ResourceGuarding
    • Separation Anxiety
    • HouseTraining
    • PuppyPadTraining
    • ReversingPuppyPads
    • LetThemSniff
    • HowNotToTrainADog
    • CanineLadderAggression
    • DogOnDogAggression
    • ShockCollars
  • More Dogs
    • ForMyDaisy
    • HeatstrokeInDogs
    • FearfulDogs
    • CanineVocalizations
    • WinterproofingTheCityDog
    • BitesAndDogPros
    • WhenYourDogBecomesAfraidOfTheWalker
  • CatsAndDogs
    • CatAndDogIntegration
    • BlendedFamilies
    • NewBabiesAndPets
    • MovingWithYourPet
    • TimingAndTraining
    • TimeOuts
    • SecretLifeOfPets
    • AdjustingPetFeedingTimes
    • ChoosingTheRightVet
    • PetSittersDogWalkers
  • Wildlife
    • NYCVaccinatesRaccoonsAgainstRabies
    • RaccoonsAndTheCityDweller
    • RaccoonsAndRabies
    • WindowCollisonsDeadlyForBirds
    • AvianImitationDancingAndPlay
    • AvoidingDeerCollisions
    • CanadaGeese
    • FeedingWildlife
    • Bird feeders attract more than birds
  • Videos
  • About
  • Testimonials
  • Offering
    • Services
    • Products/Rates/Donate
    • Disclaimer
  • Contact
  • Home

Frania Shelley-Grielen BIo.








BOOK an individual consultation or schedule a Presentation











Frania Shelley-Grielen is an applied animal behaviorist, trainer and educator who holds a Masters Degree in Animal Behavior from Hunter College and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from New York University, complimenting her expertise in behavior with an in-depth understanding of the built environment. She is a NY State Education Department licensed Pet Care Technician Instructor, registered therapy dog handler, certified Doggone Safe Bite Safety Instructor, and professional member of the Pet Professional Guild (PPG), Cat Writers Association, and International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE).


Frania specializes in behavior modification work and training with cats, dogs and birds and humane management for urban wildlife. The author of "Cats and Dogs Living with and Looking at Companion Animals from their Point of View" and "Behavior Matters for Cats and Dogs" (which won the Dog Writers Association of America's "Best Behavior Book" and Dogwise's "Best Book" of 2024), she founded AnimalBehaviorist.us in 2009, to share her work on how welfare based, science focused strategies and solutions from the canine and feline point of view are more effective and make everyone happier, including the humans. Her extensive written work on animal behavior and training are free for the reading on this website, videos of Frania's lectures, presentations and training demos are on YouTube.


Frania grew up loving animals, as an adult she volunteered at animal shelters and wildlife rehab centers working with cats, dogs, wildlife and doing educational outreach in Florida, New York City and Guatemala. She has also been a colony care taker and TNR administrator of feral cats in urban New Jersey. Frania earned a certificate in exotic animal training in California, focusing on tigers, before enrolling in a graduate program to formally study animal behavior and work professionally with animals and people in the field.


Frania's career in animal behavior, includes five years developing and teaching full-time, New York City's only Pet Care Technician program at a post secondary vocational school for individuals with disabilities, Here, Frania gained wide-ranging experience in training learners to use the best, most low stress, informed and humane approaches to work professionally with animals in the pet services industry.


Her work in the classroom and behind the scenes, preparing and evaluating students and sites in internships in dog day cares, grooming salons and shelters, gave Frania unique insight into this industry in New York City and the need for higher standards for both worker education and services. This experience led her to create PetCenterEd, Inc., an innovative not for profit, science and welfare based learning and services center for people and pets (Frania's four part series for PPG's Barks From the Guild, premiered in the September 2018 issue on what happens behind the scenes in the pet services industry and what remedies would look like applied) (Bio continues below)



Behavior Matters for Cats and Dogs
Shelley-Grielen, Frania
Buy Now


Frania taught the ASPCA’s Fundamentals of Dog Care course for the Houlton Institute. Graduate research projects included work on parrot behavior at the Wildlife Conservation Society, horse and dog evolution at the American Museum of Natural History and cat behavior at the ASPCA in NYC. She presents and consults in the metropolitan New York area and internationally (her work has also been translated into French). Frania has presented on parrot behavior at the Long Island Parrot Society, on scent and walking the urban dog at the Harlem Pet Services Fair, lectured on animal communication for the undergraduate course in Animal Behavior at Hunter College, offered webinars for The Pet Professional Guild including, "Animal Welfare, From the Five Freedoms to the Five Domains and Beyond" and "To click or not to click the how to train question". Her webinar on aggression to affiliation in multi cat households was part of Pet Professional Guild's 2020 Geek Week. She presented further on this topic at the 2021 International Society for Applied Ethology conference. She presented in October 2021 on "Making time for behavior, bite and scratch prevention for veterinary professionals" and "Feline Aggression" at a private veterinary practice and at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. She lives in New York City with her family (including cats and dogs).

Frania believes becoming an animal behaviorist requires first a love and respect for animals which includes a strong desire to learn about how they experience their world and how we can best enhance their welfare. She is a strong advocate for the breadth and depth of formal education in an accredited university setting to adequately qualify for understanding and working with animals. And she would tell you that your love for animals needs to equal your love for reading about them. All about them. Every word,


For books to get you started on Animal Behavior, take a look at some the picks featured here, here, and here . And keep reading!!


AnimalBehaviorist.us is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com at no cost to the consumer.

​​



Behavior Matters for Cats and Dogs
Shelley-Grielen, Frania
Buy Now






AnimalBehaviorist.us/info@animalbehaviorist.us

Entire website copyright 2025, Frania Shelley-Grielen, M.A., M.S.,
all rights reserved

NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s and AnimalBehaviorist.us' exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication, in any and all parts, to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.




The material in this website is intended for educational purposes only. No expressed or implied guarantee of the effects of the use of recommendations can be given or liability taken.