Amy Cook, PhD, Faculty (Behavior, Foundations)
Main info
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 professional member of the APDT, and was one of the first trainers nationally to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through independent evaluation. She is a graduate of the SFSPCA academy for dog trainers and has attended all 4 "chicken camps" in Hot Springs, AR, taught by Bob Bailey. Amy also owns the "shy-k9s" list on yahoo, a 4000-member group dedicated to the rehabilitation of fearful dogs, and has moderated there since 2001.
Amy has worked for the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society, the San Francisco Animal Care and Control, and has provided behavioral evaluations for shelters and rescues throughout the Bay Area of California. She currently works with the anti-cruelty team at the ASPCA doing behavioral evaluations and psychological enrichment of the dogs seized in dog fighting, puppy mill, and hoarding cases.
Amy returned to school in 2006 to get her Ph.D. in psychology from UC Berkeley. Her research focused on the dog-human relationship and its effect on the problem solving strategies dogs employ. She has also studied causal inference in dogs and toddlers with Anna Waismeyer and Alison Gopnik, and currently works with Lucia Jacobs on dog olfaction. She has extensive experience as a graduate student instructor, having taught sections of Introductory Psychology (both in person and online), Human Emotion, Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, Stigma and Prejudice, Statistics, Animal Cognition, and has taught Fundamentals of Psychology and Developmental Psychology as a full instructor.
Her dogs have trained, participated, and titled in rally, competition obedience, agility, nosework and barn hunt, but her dogs love agility best!
You can find out more about Amy at www.playwaydogs.com and on instagram at @doggeek and @playwaydogs
Pronouns: Amy goes by she/her.
Amy Cook's current and upcoming courses
Dealing with the Bogeyman
Does your dog seem uncomfortable with men? Is she afraid of the teeter, plastic bags or enclosed spaces? Does he seem stressed out? Many performance dogs (and companion dogs, too!) develop challenges like these, and solving these issues positively will hinge on your understanding of the fundamentals!
Anyone who has a fearful dog needs a thorough grounding in basic behavior modification concepts before attempting rehabilitation. How does desensitization work in real life? Is it ok to comfort a fearful dog? In this course we will go over the fundamentals of fear in dogs, what we often do as owners that makes it worse, and modern approaches to fixing it. This will be a Silver and Bronze level course only, with lecture and discussion, and is a pre-requisite for the Practical Applications course.
Reactivity management
Tired of "just managing" your lungy barky dog in the moment? You can AMP up your management with an Active Management Plan! Don't improvise, don't "make it up as you go along." Give yourself the gift of preparation, and let's show your dog what to do when life gets hard!
Sound Advice: Noise Sensitivity
Is your dog worried about the noises around her? This class is for you! Whether the issue is in your house with your dog barking at the sounds outside, or you have a dog that can't go out because buildings creak and doors slam, this class can help. If your dog barks at what he hears and stresses up, or shakes and withdraws and stresses down, we can work to make him feel more at ease. Noise issues tend to get worse if we don't step in and help, so dogs really need us to have a solid plan to intervene and help them through this emotional challenge!
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