Animal Training Academy

Eva Bertilsson - Bio Eva Bertilsson has a master’s degree in behavior analysis and a passion for all things related to behavior, learning and animal welfare. Together with business partner Emelie Johnson Vegh, Eva runs their collaboration Carpe Momentum, teaching seminars on the general principles of behavior and learning, and coaching trainers in the art of structuring great training sessions regardless of the venue or the species. Eva is a board member of the Swedish Association for Behavior Analysis, a faculty member of Clicker Expo, and an enthusiastic disseminator of ethical practices based in behavioral science. In addition to her own teaching, she has also been instrumental in introducing TAGteach ™ and Fear Free™, as well as numerous renown speakers (for example Susan Friedman, Susan Schneider and Clive Wynne), to the Scandinavian audience.

Dr. Robert Hewings, retired police dog handler and head of learning and development for the UK College of Scent Detection, discusses the evolution of scent dog training in the British police force, the importance of positive reinforcement, and the use of food rewards and storytelling in training. He also explores his research on recognizing the scent of nightmares and the value of reflection and storytelling in learning and transferring knowledge.

Michelle Skurski Bio Michelle is going on almost 30 years now training animals in a zoological setting.  She began her career at a facility called marine World Africa USA, training predominantly tigers.  She joined Disney in 1998 and in 2001 became a Zoological Manager of Behavioural Husbandry.  In this role she supports the animal care teams at Disney’s Animal Kingdom with maintaining training and enrichment programs for all species under their care.  Along with her special interest in tigers Michelle has a passion for training reptiles large and small.  Currently she sits on the AZA (American Zoological Association) Professional Development Committee and is co-course administrator and instructor for the AZA Professional Course: Environmental Enrichment in Zoo and Aquarium Settings.

Agnieszka Janarek Bio Behavior nerd, advocate of choice in animal training, nosework addict, obedience and concept training geek, trainer with passion and knowledge. Founder of Polish Nosework Association. Owner of three rescued mixed breeds with whom take part in various canine sports. Agnieszka relies on international education (courses and seminars in the USA, UK, Netherlands, Germany) and experience. Her priorities are combining learning science and practice, dog-handler relationship and balance between maintaining precision and fun.

Lindsay Wood Brown Bio Lindsay Wood Brown is a board-certified Associate Applied Animal Behaviourist (ACAAB) with a master’s degree in Animal Behavior.  She specializes in finding solutions for behavioural challenges and consults for animal shelters on the design and implementation of behavior programs, effective behavior modification methods, and the development of robust operational strategies to achieve behavioral health for animals within the shelter environment. Lindsay teaches seminars and workshops around the country and serves as a faculty member for Karen Pryor Academy and Clicker Expo.  She offers coaching and 1:1 mentorship opportunity for behavior consultants. Lindsay has a long history of leadership and building high functioning teams within animal shelters.  She served as the Director of Operations for Lynchburg Humane Society (LHS), an open-admission animal shelter located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  Her role at Lynchburg Humane included the oversight of all shelter operations, with a strong focus on behavior and behavior modification to increase the number of animal lives saved and successfully rehomed. Lindsay served for 8 years as the Director of Animal Training and Behavior for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colorado.  She developed Boulder Humane’s Training and Behavior Department, including their comprehensive behavior modification program, which focuses on rehabilitating dogs with specific behavior conditions, including resource-guarding, fearful behavior, body-handling sensitivities, separation anxiety, and dog-dog aggression.  Lindsay also developed the Humane Society of Boulder Valley’s curricula for a wide array of positive reinforcement, clicker training classes for community members.

Jean is the founder and principal instructor of The Academy for Dog Trainers.  The Academy is celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2019.  She is a four-time winner of The Dog Writers' Association of America's Maxwell Award.  In 2017, Jean was recruited to create Dog Training 101 for The Great Courses. Born in Montreal, Canada, Jean founded the Montreal Flyball Association, and Renaissance Dog Training, the first positive reinforcement-based school, and counseling service in the province.  Her own dogs and dogs she has trained have earned numerous titles and wins in a variety of dog sports, including OTCh, TDX, HIT and FDCh.  While a student, she worked as an adoption counselor at the Montreal SPCA and later served on its Board of Directors.  Before founding The Academy, Jean did exclusively referral aggression cases for six years.  She lives in Oakland, California, with her dog, Brian, adopted in 2015.

Laura Ryder  - Bio Laura is the Head Dog Trainer at Morley Vet centre in Perth, Western Australia. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer (CPDT-KA) a Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP), a Full Member of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT) and is also on the Fear-Free Speakers Bureau. Laura has three passions when it comes to dog training: As a member of the Fear-Free Speakers Bureau, she passionately brings low-stress handling and Fear-Free training into veterinary clinics – focusing on both the physical and emotional health of patients. Laura is one half of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers Australia education team. IMDT Australia launched in January 2019, and Laura hopes to see it follow in the IMDT UK’s footsteps – where it is known as the leading education provider for dog trainers and behaviourists. Laura also spends a lot of her time creating fun and engaging training courses for pet dogs. 2014 saw Laura create The Canine Adventure course – a non-competitive dog sport, for the family dog to enjoy. The Canine Adventure Course saw Laura travel to Las Vegas in 2016 to presents at the annual APDT conference, and then to London in 2017 where she presented at the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers Conference. There are now trainers all over the world running their very own fun Canine Adventure Courses – which for Laura, means more dogs out there, having fun with their families! Laura shares her home with her husband, daughter, her four Border Terriers – Wicket, Malani, Lando and Rogue - and her 30-year-old horse, Arnie. LINKS Morley Vet centre https://vetcentre.com.au/ https://www.facebook.com/VetcentreMorley/ Institute of Modern Dog Trainers Australia https://www.imdt.com.au/ https://www.facebook.com/IMDTAustralia/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/641813072887843/ Institute of Modern Dog Trainers UK https://www.imdt.uk.com https://www.facebook.com/TheIMDT/ Fear Free https://fearfreepets.com/ https://fearfreehappyhomes.com/ Canine Adventure Course https://canineadventurecourse.com/  

Ken Ramirez, a 40+ year veteran of animal care and training, discusses topics such as early exposure to positive reinforcement training, using behavior management for conservation, working with others in animal training, and the benefits of positive reinforcement in various training purposes.

Sabrina Brando - Bio   Sabrina Brando is Director of Animal Welfare with the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Her favourite job title, however, is ‘I am in the business of animal happiness’. For the last 27 years, she has been working in and with the global zoo and wildlife profession, including zoos, aquariums, wildlife centers, and sanctuaries. Sabrina has a BSc. in psychology and has an MSc. in animal studies, which focused on “An evaluation of zoo animal welfare assessment from inspection to daily practices with recommendations for a holistic approach”.  Sabrina is fortunate to be involved in book chapter writing, presenting at conferences, running workshops, and to collaborate on several research projects on animal advocacy, welfare, and behaviour. Sabrina teaches, and always learns new things when teaching as a guest lecturer at various universities and colleges on e.g. animal welfare, behaviour, and the human-animal interaction and relationship. Sabrina loves storytelling and writing - particularly about animals and the natural world, wearing a button with “I love stories” almost all the time. The button sparks a lot of great conversations and storytelling about animals among many other topics, from people she meets at a conference, to a stranger on a plane. Do you have a story you want to share about the animal(s) you care(d) for, a special friendship you have with your favourite animal, a great action of animals or the planet you were involved in, or anything else that makes your heart sing concerning animals and nature, Sabrina would love to hear from you! You can connect with Sabrina on FaceBook HERE or email her at sabrina.brando@waza.org CLICK HERE for the WAZA website Check back soon for brand new website! CLICK HERE for the WAZA welfare & conservation strategies CLICK HERE for the Animal Concepts website  

Joan Orr is a scientist and internationally recognized clicker trainer. Along with Theresa McKeon, Joan is one of the co-founders of TAGteach International, a company that promotes the application of marker-based positive reinforcement training for humans. Joan was a member of the Karen Pryor Clickertraining Clicker Expo Faculty for 9 years and content creator and advisor to the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training and Behavior. She is a pioneer in the field of clicker training rabbits and co-author of a book on the subject. Joan and Teresa Lewin are co-founders of Doggone Crazy Inc, a company dedicated to dog bite prevention through education. They created the board game Doggone Crazy!, the “Doggie Detective”  bite prevention education program for elementary school children and the Clicker Puppy training DVD. Joan has published many articles on dog bite prevention, positive training methods and the importance of understanding dog body language and has received many awards for her work. Most recently Joan has teamed up with behavior analyst Ryan O’Donnell to put on the annual conference: The Convergence of Human & Animal Training and Technology.