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)
