About Us
The AnimalSign Center's mission is to study the capability of companion animals (dogs, horses, cats) to learn and use a language made for their body type.
To teach AnimalSign to animals to enhance their relationships and service careers.
To teach AnimalSign to humans to help enhance their relationships, bonding and appreciation of the cognition of animals.
To promote the practical use of signing animals in their personal and professional lives, aiding humans and animals.
Future Plans
For People
The facility is developed for clients and students to come and attend seminars, classes, workshops and later, courses and certification for language education.
We are a research center where students may volunteer and intern. Soon they may work toward achieving a certificate in AnimalSign with a focus on animal cognition, by taking our class program, and select other courses at CSUMB.
For Animals
We teach animals language on and off-site. We will educate companion, service, and professional dogs, giving them additional language skills.
AnimalSigners
Sean Senechal
The AnimalSigner, Sean Senechal, combines a strong intuition and curiosity with practical and scientific perspectives. She founded the AnimalSign Center to research, practice, and educate on enhancing language development and visible communication between animals and people. Sean created AnimalSign Language as a tool to allow humans and animals to communicate more precisely with each other. This language uses signs made by gestures, pointing, tapping, pictures, or vocalizing. A college instructor, Ms. Senechal has lectured on human and animal, biology, behavior, communication, and cognition at California State University, Monterey Bay. In 2011, she'll also offer online Canine Biology, Cognition, and Communication at e-trainingfordogs.com Sean Senechal is an expert in animal cognition, communication, learning, and behavior. Obtaining extensive post- M.A. graduate work as animal physiologist and cognitive scientist, she is an alumni of several California colleges. At CSUMB she obtained a math and science teaching credential; in the ABA (applied behavior analysis) program at CSUMB, she practices ABA PBS (Positive Behavioral Support) for both children and adapts this for animals. At UCBerkeley her B.A. was in Sociology, with minor focus in physics/math; at SFState she obtained a M.A in biology with emphasis in physiology and behavior; at UCDavis her extensive PhD graduate work focused on animal physiology, primate learning, and human attention. A life-long learner Sean has taken courses in ASL, linguistics, and other interesting topics.
Ms. Senechal, an educator, trainer, and speaker, gives private and group classes, seminars, and workshops internationally on various topics. The most popular are on her revolutionary approach on how to enhance 2-way human-animal communication, which naturally inspires canine manners and well-being. Sean educates/trains not only service dogs for children with autism, but as an ABA Behavioral Therapist provides intervention for those same children. Senechal incorporates the most modern, positive (best of both human and animal) ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) techniques into her own unique AnimalSign approach.
Sean authored AnimalSign To You, Signing is not just for primates anymore! and Dogs Can Sign, Too. A breakthrough method for teaching your dog to communicate to you with Random House/Crown/TenSpeed Press. She also publishes her own Custom K9Sign and K9Tap booklets to assist individual client (animal and human) preferences. In 2011, she will release her book on EquineSign for horses, and FelineSign for cats will follow! Yes, cats can sign, too! (when they want to). She has her eye on language projects for enrichment for elephants at zoos and sanctuaries. .
Raised across the street from the Washington, DC Zoo, she now lives in Monterey County country, in California with her horse, cats, and dogs, Chal (a German shepherd) and StarLight (a Border collie).
Sean is a member of many organizations:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Association for Behavior Analysis International
Animal Behavior Society
Association of Pet Dog Trainers
Authors Guild
Princess
Princess the Signing Horse is a Warmblood/Thoroughbred mix born at the Stanford barn in California. Smart, sensitive and charismatic, she is the prize equine student at Senechal AnimalSign® Center. She has mastered and helped develop hundreds of moves, some becoming signs. Always eager to learn more signs and to play, Princess has showcased her beauty and brains on ANIMAL PLANET and News TV shows, radio, newspapers, private events, and on DVD. In 2010 she will be featured in the EquineSign book by Storey Press.
Chal
Chal is the first K9Signer at the AnimalSign® Center. She is a German Shepherd, born in 2003 bred by VonFalconer in
As a Therapy Dog, she helps people overcome their fear of big dogs. Her education includes K9Sign Language lessons, a language she helped create. She loves to K9Sign and has created her own signs to express needs, emotion, and request for help and patience. K9Signing is part of her life, and she uses it regularly. She helps me expand signing to include other forms of gesturing to make communication easier for dogs. Her current favorite is K9Signing by tapping her message using K9Cards. Chal’s K9Sign page is now on YouTube. Check back for her new site page.
StarLight
(Phemie-Starlight) is our youngest K9Signer. She was carefully selected as gift from Karen Thompson’s Border Collies for this project. Her progress with communication and problem solving starting as a puppy and has been monitored and documented. She has learned signs by observation of Chal, by molding, and is quick to perform a COPY of my moves. In just days she learned to sign Food, Toy, Water.
Check back soon to see StarLight’s own K9Sign page on YouTube.
