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Sue Yanoff, DVM, Guest Instructor

sryanoff@gmail.com

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Sue (she/her) graduated from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, NY, in 1980. After three years in private practice, she joined the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. While on active duty, she completed a 3 year residency in small animal surgery at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX and became board certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. She retired from the Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2004, after almost 21 year on active duty. After working for a year on a horse farm in Idaho, she returned to Ithaca to join the staff at Colonial Veterinary Hospital as their second surgeon.

Sue retired from Colonial in December 2009. (Her on-call schedule was interfering with her dog show weekends!) The following month, she started working for Shelter Outreach Services, a high quality, high volume spay-neuter organization. About the same time, Sue joined her colleague, a physical therapist/licensed veterinary technician, to start a canine sports medicine practice at the Animal Performance and Therapy Center, in Genoa, NY. The practice is limited to performance dogs.

Sue showed her first obedience dog, a beagle, Tristan, to a CDX in 1978. Her second beagle, Devon, earned a UD. Her third beagle, Charm, earned a VCD2, and was one of the most titled breed champion bitches in the history of the breed: CH Wilkeep Third Time's A Charm UD, RE, MX, MXJ, AXP, AJP, TD. Two golden retrievers, between the beagles, were great pets and therapy dogs. Sue currently is training her 8 year old her beagle, Ivy (CH MACH Wilkeep Ivy League, CDX, RN, TD) for utility, and teaching her 2 year old beagle, Quinn, foundations for several sports.

Pronouns: Sue goes by she/her.

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I have struggled to find a trainer in my area that would consistently work with my reactive dog. We often got dumped in the summer, classes cancelled, or was told that we weren't part of the trainers focus. I thought that I would never be able to improve my training beyond reading and watching DVDs. I thought that I would never get personal feedback. I felt discouraged and excluded from the dog training community. I thought that I would always have mediocre training and a mediocre relationship with my dog. A friend recommended FDSA and I enrolled in "It's All Tricks" with Deborah Jones at Gold level. In 6 weeks my dog has become more confident than I've ever seen her. She is more motivated and eager to learn. Furthermore, my confidence as a trainer has improved. I finally feel like I have a resource that I can rely on. At FDSA it doesn't matter that my dog is reactive, we can finally work on exercises that would have been completely inaccessible before. Deb has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She provides kind, encouraging and constructive feedback with meaningful critique. This experience has been the epitome of what I have always dreamt that training my dog would be. I cannot be thankful enough to have discovered FDSA. It has given my dog and I a second chance at having a successful, meaningful relationship. I cannot wait to enroll in more classes. I wasn't so certain that online classes would be REALLY useful - I am blown away by how much one can learn and implement through the online system - certainly makes it possible to participate in novel learning experiences that would not otherwise be available!

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Incredibly informative and helpful class. I am a crossover student, with 35 yrs experience training the "traditional" way. This is a challenge for me! But I have seen significant improvement in my dog's problem areas, so I am now committed to learning these training techniques; I'm starting over with her, having lots of fun and learning new things as fast as I can keep the clicker going! I have high expectations for achieving all of my performance goals using the Fenzi Academy to help me get there. I can't wait for my next class!! Really enjoyed the course! I'm still catching up, but am already looking forward to the next class. So useful, especially if you don't have a really good positive methods trainer where you live!! Helped my dog revive his enthusiasm for working.

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I've taken a number of classes by a number of instructors at FDSA. I appreciate how well they overlap, and that the message is often the same despite who's teaching.The FDSA online site is so great! Not complicated; it has been easy to use. I am really impressed with Denise's mission to bring into her Academy absolutely top-notch instructors! Plus, I really love the 3-tier options for her students! With these options, the online courses are affordable for everyone that is interested in improving their dog training skills and building the best relationship with their dog(s) -- whether they do, or plan on doing dog performance sports, or just want to spend time with their dog and have a well-trained dog ... a dog that is a wonderful representative to the community at-large....all achieved with positive training methods! The depth of knowledge that i am getting from the classes I am taking is invaluable. It has opened a door to training and overall learning for me that I wouldn't be able to get elsewhere. I am in a power wheelchair and finding transportation to classes is often difficult for me. These online classes have given me the guidance I've needed to stay focused and motivated to work with my dog.

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