Meet the Experts

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

– Sir Issac Newton

Below are some of the giants who took the torch and carried it into the 21st century whom Jay has been fortunate enough to learn from and train with... (Click on any photo to enlarge)

Robert F. Bailey
Bob Bailey even as a small child, had an interest in science, and especially animals. His mother had to contend with live rattlesnakes in the refrigerator and rocket fuel in her kitchen. Studying fishes, reptiles, and birds at UCLA in 1958 was Bob's first exposure to behavior analysis and ethology. After a stint in a biochemistry lab, and in the field as a fish & game biologist, he became the US Navy's first Director of Training.

Joining Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) in 1965, Bob became Research Director, and then General Manager. Over the years, Bob has trained more than 140 species of animals, and thousands of individuals, including many in a free environment training using long range control and guidance systems. Bob is also an inventor, designer, writer, teacher, diver, photographer, and video editor.

Bob Bailey and his wife Marian conducted the famous Operant Conditioning and Behavior Analysis Workshops at ABE using chickens as models, which became famous as the Chicken Camp. They spent many years searching for a better behavioral model than chickens, but they always came back to the common barnyard fowl.

Bob Bailey's philosophical point of view on teaching animal training is that training is a mechanical skill and the understanding and skillful practicing of a few simple behavioral principles are keys to trainer success.

Bob continues to teach and consult on animal and human behavior. Most of his teaching and consulting is in Europe where he teaches using chickens as behavioral models, and consults with various police and military organizations.

Dr. Ian Dunbar
Veterinarian and animal behaviorist Dr. Ian Dunbar is currently Director of the Center for Applied Animal Behavior in Berkeley, California. Dr. Dunbar received his veterinary degree and Special Honors degree in Physiology and Biochemistry from the Royal Veterinary College (London University) and a doctorate in animal behavior and aggression in domestic dogs.

Dr. Dunbar is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the California Veterinary Medical Association, the Sierra Veterinary Medical Association, the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (which he founded). Dr. Dunbar has written numerous books and hosted a dozen videos about puppy/dog behavior and training.

Karen Pryor
Karen Pryor is a behavioral biologist with an international reputation in two fields, marine mammal biology and behavioral psychology. Karen was a founder of Hawaii's Sea Life Park, where her work with dolphins pioneered modern, force-free animal training methods. She is the author of Don't Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training, a Bantam bestseller on teaching behavior without coercion, and of Nursing Your Baby, a classic guide for mothers with sales of over 2 million copies. She is also the author of several clickertraining manuals and many scientific papers and popular articles on learning and behavior. Karen Pryor's newest book is Reaching The Animal Mind: What The Clicker Training Method and What It Teaches Us About All Animals, Scribner and Simon & Schuster 2009.

Karen Pryor is a founder and leading proponent of clicker training, a training system based on operant conditioning and the ali-positive methods developed by marine mammal trainers. Clicker training is now in use world wide with dogs, cats, horses, birds, animals in zoos. A related technology, TAGteaching (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance) is used in the teaching of human skills, ranging from sports, music, and language skills to education and special needs children.

Pryor's business background includes co-founding Sea Life Park, the Oceanic Institute, and related commercial enterprises in Hawaii. She has consulted to industry, government agencies, autism schools, and non-profit organizations from 1972 to the present. She is founder and CEO of an information technology company, KPCT/Sunshine Books, Inc., and is active in publishing and product development, and the hosting of ClickerExpo, a yearly series of conferences on operant training. Pryor and her company have also developed an international trainer-teaching program, Karen Pryor Academy, with over 200 certified graduates in the US. Karen Pryor served as federal Commissioner, a presidential appointment, on the Marine Mammal Commission, and presently sits on the boards of the Pryor Foundation and the B.F. Skinner Foundation and the Advisory Board of the American Humane Association.

Terry Ryan
Terry Ryan is one of the most recognizable names in the dog training world. President of Legacy Canine Behavior and Training, Terry lectures and conducts workshops around the world. She is a best-selling author whose Coaching People To Train Their Dogs is a staple on dog trainers' book shelves. Terry's programs for dog trainers, including the famous Chicken Camps, are attended by trainers from across the country as well as by international students. Terry and her staff teach community classes including Puppy's Head Start, Pet Dog Manners and several different continuing education courses such as agility, freestyle, scent work and training games. She also provides private consultation concerning behavior issues.

Lydia the Chicken Training to discriminate between two pictures on a desk in a workshop that was held by Terry Ryan.

Terry Ryan has maintained membership and held various offices in local, national and international organizations including past president and Life Member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. She is a charter member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, and serves on the behavior and training advisory board of the American Humane Society.

Terry was one of six chairpersons who wrote the national standards for humane dog training funded by the American Humane Association published at Guidelines for Humane Dog Training by the Delta Society.

Terry has written for several national dog magazines including the American Kennel Club Gazette, Dog Fancy, Off Lead, and Clean Run Agility magazines. Her books and booklets include: Puppy Primer, Leadership Education for Anyone with a Dog, Games People Play ... To Train Their Dogs, Life Beyond Block Heeling, The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog, The Bark Stops Here, Outwitting Dogs, Sounds Good CD series, Toolbox for Building a Great Family Dog, and Textbook for instructors: Coaching People to Train Their Dogs.

Jean Donaldson
Jean Donaldson is a native of Montreal, Canada and a graduate of McGill University with degrees in Music and Comparative Psychology. She has trained dogs since 1975, and, in 1989, she founded the Montreal Flyball Association and in 1990, Renaissance Dog Training. Ever the over-achiever, Jean participated '" a variety of dog sports such as Obedience, Tracking and Flyball.

In 1996, Jean decided to share her more than 20 years of experience and published her first book, The Culture Clash, which has won numerous awards, including The Dog 'Writer's Association of America's Maxwell Award for the best training and behavior book of the year. Since its publication, The Culture Gash has been the number one recommendation for dog trainers of The Association of Pet Dog Trainers APDT). Jean's other books include the multiple award-winning MINE! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs, Fight! A Guide to Do~ Dog Aggression, and Oh Behave! Dogs from Pavlov to Premack to Pinker. She has also authored a DVD on basic obedience called Perfect Paws in Five Days.

ln 1999, Jean founded The Academy for Dog Trainers at The San Francisco SPCA, which has gained a reputation as the "Harvard for dog trainers." The Academy offers a six-week, full-time, accelerated program for aspiring dog trainers.

Jean is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Evolutionary Biology. She lives with her Chow, Buffy, adopted from The San Francisco SPCA, and is currently the only Chow registered with the North American Flyball Association.

Dr. Gray Stafford
Dr. Grey Stafford is author of the pet training book, Zoomility: Keeper Tales of Training with Positive Reinforcement (foreword written by Jack Hanna). Zoomility & Grey have been featured on NBC's Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He has also appeared on national news programs such as CNN's HLN Prime News and Issues with JVM to provide expert commentary on topics such as: the importance of zoos, reinforcement-based training, and wildlife behavior.

For more than 20 years, he has cared for, trained and presented a variety of birds, mammals, fish and reptiles. As Director of Conservation for the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium in Phoenix, he actively promotes wildlife conservation and positive reinforcement training through weekly televised segments in Arizona and animal contributions to programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, Larry King Live, Martha Stewart, Good Morning America, and more. Grey particularly enjoys offering pet owners positive reinforcement-based solutions during his live bimonthly viewer call-in TV segment on a KTVK.

Currently, he serves on the editorial advisory boards for the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (lMATA) and the European Association of Aquatic Mammals (EAAM). He is also a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), and has served on both the Animal Welfare and Public Relations Committees.

Joshua Leeds
Joshua Leeds is a sound researcher, music producer and educator. He specializes in the field of psychoacoustics-the study of the effects of music and sound on the human nervous system, and bioacoustics-how human sound affects other living beings.

Publications include: The Power of Sound (2010/2001, Through a Dog's Ear, and Sonic Alchemy. Collaborating with leaders in health, psychology, and neurodevelopment, Joshua's 40+ application-specific soundtracks are used in clinics and classrooms around the world. He is the producer of the clinically tested Through a Dog's Ear CD series and his psychoacoustically designed soundtracks are used in animal care facilities worldwide. Used in animal shelters, kennels and doghouses.

With a great interest in the cross-species effect of music and sound, Joshua's psychoacoustics techniques were clinically tested with 150 dogs in 2004-2005. Research is currently taking place at Tufts University (canines) and the University of Colorado (felines).

Residing in Ashland, Oregon, Joshua presents seminars internationally to music, healthcare, and education professionals.

Nicole Wilde and Grisha Stewart
Nicole Wilde is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer who specializes in behavior issues. She is the recipient of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers' prestigious Ian Dunbar Member of the Year Award for 2006, and a popular speaker at the organization's conferences. Nicole is also on the advisory board for the Companion Animal Sciences Institute, the educational branch of the International Institute for Applied Companion Animal Behavior.

Nicole is an internationally recognized author and lecturer. Her nine books include So You Want to be a Dog Trainer, Help for Your Fearful Dog, and Don't Leave Me. Nicole presents seminars both domestically and internationally for conferences, training clubs, shelters, and other groups. She writes training and behavior articles for various publications including an ongoing training column for Modern Dog Magazine, is a regular contributor to various blog sites, and co-stars in the DVD "Train Your Dog: The Positive Gentle Method."

Nicole has always had a special place in her heart for dogs in need. She was Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles' Animal Services, and Executive Director for Villalobos Rescue Center, a sanctuary for rescued wolves and wolfdogs, pit bulls, and exotic animals.

Nicole has been a professional gymnast, competitive bodybuilder, driven motorcycles, played bass guitar in rock bands, and lived with wolves for over ten years. She continues to write, educate, and teach owners to train their dogs.

Grisha Stewart specializes in dog aggression in Seattle. Her six-trainer facility, Ahimsa Dog Training, has a range of classes, including Growly Dog and over a dozen weekly puppy classes, and has been voted Best of Western Washington. "Ahimsa" is a Buddhist doctrine of nonviolence to all living things, which reflects Grisha's focus on force-free methods to promote the well-being of dogs and their humans.

Grisha has a Master's in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College and is now pursuing a Master's in psychology with an emphasis in animal behavior, while still running her business and providing private consults for aggression cases. Her first career as a theoretical mathematician serves her Nell in dog training and behavior consultations, because she relies heavily on the problem solving and critical thinking skills she gained in that field. She has always been an educator, but since founding Ahimsa Dog Training she has found her canine and human students to be much more excited about learning than her college students!

Animal behavior, particularly dogs, fascinate Grisha and she is a big fan of continuous process improvement. This led her to develop Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT), an operant counter-conditioning method for problem behaviors, with protocols for fear and aggression.

Teoti Anderson
Teoti Anderson, Certified Pet Dog Trainer and owner of Pawsitive Results, LLC in Lexington, South Carolina, has been a professional dog trainer for more than 15 years. Teoti is the author of Your Outta Control Puppy, Super Simple Guide to Housetraining, Puppy Care and Training, and Quick and Easy Crate Training, winner of the Dog Writers Association of America's Maxwell Medallion. She is a contributing author to Christmas Dogs: A Literary Companion and The Dog Trainer's Resource: An APDT Chronicle of the Dog Collection (1 and 2). She is also a columnist for Modern Dog magazine.

Teoti served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) for six years, serving as President from 2004-2006. She's been quoted in Dog Fancy magazine, The New York Times, Whole Dog Journal, Puppies USA, and other national publications. She is a frequent public speaker at conferences, and civic and humane organization meetings across the country, sharing information on training, dog behavior, bite prevention, and volunteering with animals in healthcare facilities. Teoti is also a founding member of the Carolinas Trainers Forum, a networking group of dog trainers in North and South Carolina.

A licensed Delta Society Pet Partner for more than a decade, Teoti visits health care patients with Logan, her Labrador Retriever, and Finian, her Papillon. The Delta Society trains and registers human-animal teams across the nation in animal assisted therapy (AAT) and animal assisted activities (AM), teaching them to safely and effectively work with patients in a variety of facilities. In 2000, she earned the national Delta Society Beyond Limits Animal Therapy Team of the Year award with her team of Cody, a three-legged Labrador Retriever, and tabby cat Sebastian. Teoti also serves as a Delta Society Instructor and Evaluator, teaching others how to volunteer with their pets and screening teams for the program.

Teoti is the founding member of Prescription Paws, a Delta Society® Pet Partner® affiliate group. She assists local and national dog rescue groups with behavioral and training consultations.

Suzanne Clothier
Suzanne Clothier is a professional trainer who teaches seminars internationally on a wide variety of topics, ranging from behavior, to gait analysis, to puppy evaluation. Her work is known as Relationship Centered Training, a humane and holistic relationship-based approach to the dog/ human partnership.

She is an awardwinning author of books, videos and articles, many of which have been reprinted worldwide. Her book Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs was twice voted a Top Dog book by the Wall Street Journal.

Since 2007, she has been working as a consultant to one of the largest guide dog organizations, helping them create a puppy rearing program based on Relationship Centered Training. A long-time breeder of German Shepherds, Clothier lives on a working farm in upstate New York with husband John Rice, a pack of German Shepherds, a Chow/Lab cross, a herd of Scottish Highland cattle, six equines and many other furred, scaled, and feathered animals.