Karin Pienaar

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 course, as well as lecturing and mentoring students. 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 wellbeing in animals. MHERA™ can be applied on 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 heads the Enrichment Partnership Program between COAPE International and several captive wildlife facilities, where she and her team volunteer their time to develop bespoke enrichment programs to promote the behavioural and emotional health of the animals, as well as implementing consent-based training to facilitate stress-free husbandry and medical procedures in captive wildlife. The captive animal project provides the unique opportunity to apply COAPE’s MHERA™ and ESTA™ techniques to a huge variety of animal species, with great success to date. When she has time to spare, she consults on particularly challenging cases and works as an Expert Witness in legal cases involving Animal Behaviour.