Authors (9)

Author Erin McNeill has been owned by and competing in dog sports with whippets since 2005.Although lure coursing (despite the risks!) is her first love, she has also titled her dogs in straight racing, rally, obedience, conformation, scentwork, barn hunt, dock diving, tricks, and agility. She has also competed in disc sports with them and trained but never competed in flyball. She is also an avid collar collector.

Megan (she/her) has been involved in the dog sport world nearly her entire life. Though her family did compete in obedience, agility was Megan’s passion right from the start. With over 20 years experience, she has competed with a variety of dogs...

Dr. Spaulding has a PhD in Biopsychology and is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist through the Animal Behavior Society. As a graduate student, she acquired extensive experience in teaching the science of behavior and received an award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Prior to receiving her PhD, Dr. Spaulding earned her B.S. in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In college, she volunteered and then worked at the local humane society. During her time at the animal shelter, she and a coworker established a training program for shelter dogs. She also served as an assistant trainer at Dog’s Best Friend which was owned at that time by Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist Dr. Patricia McConnell. In 2001, Dr. Spaulding moved upstate New York and opened Smart Dog Training and Behavior LLC, where she continues to conduct private lessons for basic training and a wide variety of behavior problems.

In addition to working with clients, Dr. Spaulding regularly offers educational opportunities on the science of animal behavior at training and behavior conferences and online. She has a particular interest in increasing the flow of information between academia and those in the field to improve the quality of both research and applied work. She is a long-standing member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainer’s (APDT) Education Committee and in 2019, Dr. Spaulding received the APDT’s Member of the Year Award. She is also a member of the Fear Free Advisory Group and an authorized Speaker for Fear Free which advocates for minimizing fear, anxiety and stress for pets around the country. She chairs two task forces for Meeting of the Minds, a coalition of top dog professionals across the country charged with improving quality of life for our dogs. She also regularly conducts staff training on dog behavior for local veterinary clinics and animal shelters.

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Kelly Daniel (She/her) is a learning and dog training addict. She has been training and competing with her dogs (of various shapes and forms) for around 15 years ...

Julie Symons (she/her) has been involved in dog sports for over 30 years. Starting with her mix, Dreyfus, in flyball, she went on to train and compete in conformation, agility, obedience, herding and tracking with her first Belgian tervuren, Rival. Rival was the first CH OTCH MACH Belgian...

Lisa Desatnik, CPDT-KA, CPBC, is a certified dog trainer-knowledge assessed; as well as a certified Fear Free trainer and certified dog bite prevention educator. Having studied Applied Behavior Analysis and training for more than 18 years, she uses and teaches the most positive approaches to preventing and solving dog and puppy behavior issues.

Lisa is based in Cincinnati, Ohio where she also is a pet behavior columnist for local magazines, is interviewed in the media and speaks in the community.  In addition to her in-person training, she now offers online coaching, classes and webinars for kids and adults. Through the International Association of Behavior Consultants, she is also a certified parrot behavior consultant although much of her work is with dogs.

Learn more by visiting www.SoMuchPETential.com.

Kim Palermo CPDT-KA (she/her) is a Certified Control Unleashed Instructor and ACE (Animal Centred Education) Practitioner. She specializes in teaching Control Unleashed and ACE Free Work with private clients, teaches a high volume of in-person CU classes, and incorporates CU into all of her membership-style group pet dog classes for her dog training business, BlueDog, located north of Boston...

Amy Cook, Ph.D. (she/her) has been training dogs for over 30 years, and through Full Circle Dog Training and Play Way Dogs in Oakland, CA, has been specializing in the rehabilitation of shy and fearful dogs for 20 years. She is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant through the IAABC, a longstanding ...