ClickerExpo Featured Speakers & Faculty

For the last 16 years Eva Bertilsson has shared her life and her passion for training with Misty (a phalène). Together they've excelled in agility, won the individual Swedish Agility National, and been part of the Swedish Agility Team. They've also earned titles at the highest levels in obedience and conformation, and have played around in several other dog sports.

Over time, Eva's pack has expanded to include phalène Soya, seasoned but now retired agility competitor, and Border collie Tizla, still a newbie. Agility has become the main focus for Eva and her dogs, and it compliments her strong interest in positive reinforcement training.

Eva has a degree in psychology and education, and has worked as a teacher. Eva has also worked for the Swedish Kennel Club for many years, educating agility instructors and future instructors' teachers, as well as offering pet dog classes and campaigning for clicker training at local clubs.

Currently she is busy fulltime as an instructor and writer, running Carpe Momentum with her friend and colleague Emelie Johnson Vegh. Eva and Emelie lead agility seminars at all levels all over Sweden and Norway, and are very much appreciated for their systematic, and well-planned approach that focuses on joy and success for both dog and handler. Eva and Emelie also offer TAGteach Primary Certification seminars; they are the only level 3-certified TAGteachers in Europe. The colleagues also write articles for magazines such as Canis (published by Morten Egtvedt and Cecilie Køste), and have released their first agility book, Agility Right from the Start, published by Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT). Learn more about Eva at her website.

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Aaron Clayton is a management executive with approximately 20 years experience, much of it associated with growing service-based businesses. For the last nine years, Aaron has been involved with reinforcement-based teaching and learning as the president of Karen Pryor Clickertraining (KPCT). Prior to joining TAGteach International, LLC, and KPCT, Aaron helped found and fund a human resources company and was a partner at a consulting firm focused on improving the market position and performance of Fortune 500 companies. Aaron holds a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a master of business administration degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Helix Fairweather has been training with operant conditioning since 1996 and is truly committed to this way of communicating with dogs. She offers group classes and private consultations, all with the goal of helping people and their dogs learn to live together and have fun. Helix's classes include an innovative clicker training pet manners class, Control Unleashed® classes, agility classes, and beginning clicker training classes in Salem, Oregon. She also teaches online agility classes for clicker trainers who wish to homeschool their clicker trained agility dogs prior to taking a local agility class.

A contributing author for Clean Run magazine and The Clicker Journal, Helix is a Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Certified Training Partner (CTP) and part of the KPA faculty.

Helix holds a bachelor of science degree in physics from Oregon State University and a master of science degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of New Mexico. She says, "I went off to grad school to be an astrophysicist and came back home hooked on dog training." Learn more about Helix at her website.

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Dr. Susan Friedman is a guest speaker at CickerExpo. Dr Friedman is a psychology professor at Utah State University who has pioneered the application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to captive and companion animals. ABA, with its roots in human learning, offers a scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard that can improve the lives of all learners. Students from 22 different countries have participated in Susan's online courses, Living and Learning with Animals for Professionals and Living and Learning with Parrots for Caregivers. She has written chapters on learning and behavior for three veterinary texts (Behavior of Exotic Pets, Clinical Avian Medicine, and Manual of Parrot Behavior), and is a frequent contributor to popular magazines. Her articles appear around the world in eleven languages. Susan has presented seminars for a wide variety of professional organizations around the world, including the Association of Avian Veterinarians, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management program, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She has been nominated for the Media Award given by the International Association of Behavior Analysis for her efforts to disseminate to pet owners, veterinarians, animal trainers and zookeepers the essential tools they need to empower and enrich the lives of the animals in their care.

Tia Guest is a dog trainer and instructor, an exotic animal trainer, and a business executive. As Program Director for Karen Pryor Academy, she oversees students and faculty, and is also involved in curriculum design and the development of teaching materials and programs.

Tia is a graduate of the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College in California, where she clicker trained animals ranging from rats to big cats. As a Moorpark graduate, Tia worked in the entertainment industry, training animals for television, movies, and commercials, and also presented wildlife education shows to the general public.

Tia began teaching pet dog training classes in 1993. Starting in 1994, she served as the National Training Manager for a corporation contracted to provide dog training for a national pet supply retailer. Tia was responsible for producing curriculum, hiring and managing trainers, and increasing revenues. In 1999, Tia left her corporate position and opened her own facility in Texas, offering dog training, private consultation and coaching, group classes, daycare, and overnight boarding.

Tia's own dogs compete in agility, dabble in disc dog, and offer training demonstrations and entertainment at schools and animal events. Tia is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers, an Associate Dog Behavior Consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, and a Canine Good Citizen Evaluator for the American Kennel Club.

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Norwegian Cecilie Køste joined the ClickerExpo faculty in 2008. With her flat-coated retrievers, Cecilie has been a top competitor in both obedience and working dog trials. She has also competed in show jumping with her two clicker trained horses. Cecilie has experience with search and rescue dogs and dogs approved for military service.

With a degree in psychology, Cecilie is a doctor at a clinic for Child and Youth Psychiatry. She was an early adopter of clicker training and is one of Scandinavia's leading authors on this technology. Through Canis, the company she started with Morten Egtvedt, Cecilie edits and publishes a full-color magazine on dog training. Canis also publishes and sells Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot the Dog, as well as many other clicker titles in Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and Finnish. Cecilie is the co-author of Clickertraining: The 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer, one of the three books on clicker training she has co-authored.

Canis also runs a clicker training school with multiple locations in Norway, focusing not only on the average dog trainer, but also on using clicker training to win in competition—any competition. The school's teachers and students are not just top clicker trainers, but also top-notch competitors in European dog-related sports. Cecilie's focus is on how to use the clicker edge in obedience competition, with major emphasis placed on basic skills and back-chaining, the tools that she considers the key to precision and reliability.

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Alexandra Kurland began her instructional career as a dressage rider and teacher and as an accredited TTouch Practitioner. In 1998 she launched the rapidly growing field of clicker training for horses with the publication of her first book, Clicker Training for Your Horse. Alexandra teaches clicker training geared to any horse need or sport—including developing a gentle and companionable riding horse, halter training foals, training advanced performance horses, and reforming difficult and unmanageable horses. She travels widely, giving clicker training seminars in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. Several years ago, Alexandra trained a miniature horse, Panda, to serve as the guide animal for a blind owner.

A graduate of Cornell University, Alexandra has written The Click That Teaches: A Step–By–Step Guide in Pictures and The Click That Teaches: Riding with the Clicker. She has also produced The Click That Teaches DVD lesson series and is presently at work on new books and videos. Learn more about Alexandra at her website.

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Kay Laurence runs a training and education business, Learning About Dogs Ltd. Her business is located in the United Kingdom, in the Cotswolds at the Wagmore Barn Centre, and is focused on excellent training, thinking, and canine enjoyment. In addition to workshops at her own training facility and in the virtual learning environment, Kay holds workshops and seminars across Europe and the United States, teaching a wide range of clicker training skills and encouraging trainers to enjoy the expansive views outside the box.

Living intimately with many dogs over many years, observing their daily interactions, puppy-rearing, and activities, Kay has learned to view our world through their eyes. Dogs demonstrate the art of living skillfully and as a harmonious and connected group. Kay's understanding and skills are shared through her workshops, where consistent, high-quality results with a range of different dogs and people are achieved. With her passion for understanding dogs and her experience in teaching, Kay leads the way developing practical techniques that leave owners with a great sense of personal achievement and connection to their dogs.

Kay is considered one of the world's advanced clicker trainers. With 10 titles published and translated into German, French, and Spanish, her exciting books and videos offer her unique combination of talents. Kay has been a presenter at the twice-annual Karen Pryor Clickertraining's conference ClickerExpo more than 15 times and continues to enjoy exploring new cities in the US as part of the ClickerExpo faculty. A regular presenter at the ORCA "Wicked Minds" Conference at the University of North Texas, she has also been a Presenter at the Australia APDT Conference, Sydney 2011.  Learn more about Kay at her website.

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Debbie Martin received a bachelor of science degree in human ecology from The Ohio State University and an associate of applied science degree in veterinary technology from Columbus State Community College. She has been a fulltime registered veterinary technician since 1996, and is actively involved in the field of animal behavior. Debbie is the animal behavior technician for Veterinary Behavior Consultations, LLC, a mobile veterinary clinic located in New Orleans, LA, and Austin, TX, with practice limited to animal behavior. She assists Dr. Kenneth Martin, her husband, during in-home behavior consultations.

A Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Certified Training Partner (CTP) herself, in November of 2009 Debbie was honored to become a KPA faculty member. She provides "traveling" workshops for the KPA Dog Trainer Program.

Debbie is a Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) in Behavior. She is the president-elect for the Academy of Veterinary Behavior Technicians and an active member and previous recording secretary for the SVBT (Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians). Debbie is a member of APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers) and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA). She lectures frequently to veterinary professionals on animal behavior, and has also published several articles on that topic.

In 2009, Debbie and her husband wrote a book on normal development and training in dogs, Puppy Start Right: Foundation Training for the Companion Dog. In her free time, Debbie enjoys mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, and training and relaxing with her dogs and husband. Currently, she shares her home with three Belgian Malinois, Jazmin, Iliana, and Polo, and a one-eyed beagle/terrier mix, Iris. Debbie is training Jazmin in agility. Learn more about Debbie.

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Theresa McKeon, BA, is a co-founder and senior vice president of TAGteach International, LLC. TAGteach™ began in 1998 when Theresa, a national-level gymnastics coach, combined her knowledge of sports coaching with the clicker training principles she used with her horses. The results just "clicked." Theresa teamed with scientist Joan Orr, dance teacher Beth Wheeler, and Aaron Clayton and Karen Pryor of Karen Pryor Clickertraining to found TAGteach International, LLC. Since then, TAGteach has evolved into an entire teaching protocol benefiting an endless variety of human applications.

Theresa delights in designing new TAGteach programs for groups around the world including: gymnasts in Iceland, classroom teachers in New Zealand, military personnel in Norway, fishermen in Alaska, equestrians in Ireland, zoo keepers in Illinois, and professional dog trainers in Japan. Learn more about Theresa at her website.

Emma Parsons, BA, former president and head instructor for the New England Obedience Club, is the Canine Behavior Training Consultant for the VCA Rotherwood Animal Hospital, and Training Director for Karen Pryor Clickertraining. She is also the author of the popular book, Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog. The book was inspired by her work with her golden retriever Ben, who became aggressive to other dogs after being severely punished by an “aggression expert.” Emma turned to clicker training and successfully eliminated Ben's dog-on-dog aggression.

Emma has been featured on numerous television shows, and gives seminars around the US on training and managing the reactive dog. She has also taught clicker training classes to graduate students at Tufts Veterinary School of Medicine and at Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue. Emma runs her own dog training business, the Creative Canine, specializing in canine aggression issues. To learn more about Emma, visit her website here.

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Michele Pouliot, with her dogs Cabo, Listo, and Deja, is the winner of multiple national and international freestyle competitions, including the World Canine Freestyle Organization (WCFO) World Championship in 2009. In November 2008, Michele and Listo made WCFO history as the first team to receive perfect "10s" for both Artistic and Technical scores in the Championship division of Perfect Dance Partners. They have since repeated this incredible achievement nine more times, receiving the special "Perfect 10" award a total of ten times. Among the ten awards for perfect 10s, six different routines are represented.

WCFO again honored Michele Pouliot, naming her "Trainer of the Year" for 2011. The award paid tribute to her teaching skills working with both people and dogs. At that time, Michele and Listo also received special awards for garnering "Double 10" scores seven times in 2011.

Michele has been a professional guide dog mobility instructor for more than three decades. In 1974, Michele joined Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), the largest guide dog school in the US, and attained her Guide Dog Mobility Instructor license qualification in 1977. In addition to personally training more than 350 guide dog teams over 20 years, Michele contributed to the GDB organization in many different ways through several positions of increasing responsibility. Michele has led Guide Dogs for the Blind through a gradual changeover from traditional training to clicker training in guide dog work, and has worked to instruct the organization's blind clients in the use of the clicker.

GDB and Michele actively support and assist other guide dog schools in their efforts to adopt clicker training; great strides are being made in the guide dog industry. In 2011, they held their second International Guide Dog Clicker Conference, continuing to assist schools in making the transition to clicker training. Michele is recognized internationally for her innovation and creative development in guide dog training and service to blind clients.

Michele joined the ClickerExpo faculty in 2008, and partnered with Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) to create the online canine freestyle course. The course has received rave reviews from students and is popular even with clicker enthusiasts who are not involved in the freestyle sport. Learn more about Michele.

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Karen Pryor is a scientist with an international reputation in two fields, marine mammal biology and behavioral psychology. Through her work with dolphins in the 1960s she pioneered modern, force-free animal training methods. Karen is the author of many scientific papers and monographs and seven books. She is a founder and leading proponent of clicker training, the worldwide movement involving new ways to communicate positively with pets and other animals. She is the founder and CEO of the behavioral publishing company Sunshine Books, Inc., and its online divisions. Karen has three children and seven grandchildren. She lives in Boston with two clicker trained dogs and a clicker trained cat.

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Ken Ramirez, executive vice president of animal collections and training at Chicago's world-famous Shedd Aquarium, develops and supervises animal care programs, staff training and development, and public presentation programs for the entire animal collection. He oversees animal care and training for over 32,000 animals including whales and dolphins, sharks and turtles, sea horses and jellies, and so many more. He joined Shedd Aquarium in 1989.

A 35-year veteran of animal care and training, Ken worked for nine years at Marineworld of Texas. He also coordinated training programs at Ocean Safari in South Padre Island, Texas, and has acted as a consultant for many zoos and aquariums throughout the world. He began his training career working with guide dogs for the visually impaired and has maintained a close connection to dog training throughout his career. His work with dogs has included search and rescue and scent detection. He hosted a popular television series on pet training Talk to the Animals that ran for two years in Australia.

Ken has been active in several professional organizations, including the International Marine Animal Trainer's Association (IMATA), of which he is a past president, and the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network, where he has served on the board of directors since 1987. He also has served on the board of the American Cetacean Society and is a professional member of both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Animal Behavior Management Alliance (ABMA).

In addition to his other work, Ken has written for several scientific publications, including Marine Mammals: Public Display and Research, and Soundings, published quarterly by IMATA. He teaches a graduate course on animal training at Western Illinois University, and authored the book ANIMAL TRAINING: Successful Animal Management Through Positive Reinforcement, published in 1999. The book has become required reading for many animal trainers in the zoological field.

Learn more about Ken's work, visit the Shedd Aquarium's website or his personal website.

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Jesús Rosales-Ruiz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas. He obtained his PhD from the University of Kansas in 1995 under the direction of Dr. Donald M. Baer. He serves on several editorial boards, including the European Journal of Behavior Analysis and the International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy. His areas of interest include antecedent control of behavior, generalization, behavioral cusps, fluency-based teaching, treatment of autism, teaching of academic behavior, animal training, and rule- and contingency-shaped behavior.

To learn more about the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas, visit the school's website website.

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Kathy Sdao, an associate certified applied animal behavioralist (ACAAB), has earned her living as a fulltime animal trainer for twenty-five years. She received a master's degree in experimental psychology from the University of Hawaii in 1990. At the University's Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, she was part of a research team that trained dolphins to solve complex cognitive puzzles. These dolphin "mind games" were designed to allow analysis of the animals' language-processing capabilities. When Kathy completed her graduate studies, the US Navy (Department of Defense) hired her to train dolphins to perform applied, open-ocean tasks. Training sessions took place in the waters off Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, with the trainers on a small boat and the dolphins swimming alongside unrestrained.

Later, Kathy accepted a job in Tacoma, Washington, as a marine mammal trainer at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. For five years, the zoo's beluga whales, walruses, porpoises, sea lions, polar bears, and otters taught her to be a better trainer. In 1994, as vice president of the International Marine Animal Trainers Association, she organized and chaired the organization's annual conference.

In 1996, Kathy made the big leap from wet mammals to dry ones. In partnership with a fellow zookeeper, she created and managed Puget Hound Daycare, Tacoma's first dog daycare. There she had the opportunity to spend 10 hours a day observing a wide range of canine behavior. In the evenings, Kathy taught pet owners how to "dolphin-train" their dogs.

Kathy now owns Bright Spot Dog Training and provides behavior consultation services and private training lessons to dog owners.  She also teaches educational seminars and workshops to trainers and pet owners around the world. She is an enthusiastic clicker training advocate,having experienced its awesome power to communicate clearly with so many species. To learn more, read a profile of Kathy, or visit her website.

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Julie Shaw obtained an associate's degree in veterinary technology from Purdue University and is currently working toward her bachelor's degree in veterinary technology. Julie worked in private practice for 16 years, and has trained two service dogs for her physically challenged son. She began training dogs in 1984 and started teaching organized classes in 1992. She owned and was the head trainer for the Academy for Obedient Paws, a dog training company utilizing clicker training methods.

Julie became the animal behavior technologist at the Purdue Animal Behavior Clinic in 1999. Her current responsibilities include organizing and assisting in teaching the five-day DOGS Behavior Modification course, teaching courses in behavior modification to veterinary and veterinary technician students, and leading continuing education seminars for veterinary technicians, veterinarians, and trainers. She also assists Dr. Luescher during referral behavior consultations, teaches puppy classes and clicker training classes, and does pet-selection counseling.

Julie is a charter member of the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians (SVBT), past-president of the Academy of Veterinary Behavior Technicians (AVBT), and section editor of the Veterinary Technician journal. Julie is also the editor of Animal Behavior for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses, published by Blackwell Publishing and expected to be released in 2011. She is a faculty member of both ClickerExpo and Karen Pryor Academy.

Julie Shaw is a popular national and international speaker on problem prevention, practical application of behavior modification techniques, and other companion animal behavior related topics. She was the recipient of the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) 2006 Veterinary Technician Speaker of the Year Award and was named the 2007 NAVC Mara Memorial Lecturer of the year for her accomplishments and leadership in the veterinary technician profession. Julie was a co-recipient of the 2008 SVBT Research Award and received the Western Veterinary Conference Veterinary Technician Speaker of the Year Award in 2009. She also received an award for her outstanding teaching skills from Karen Pryor Academy in 2010. To learn more, read an interview with Julie or see her Karen Pryor Academy trainer profile.

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Laura Monaco Torelli is the founder of Chicago-based Animal Behavior Training Concepts (ABTC). Laura began her professional animal training career in 1991 at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago where she trained beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, river otters, and penguins. In 2000, she joined the San Diego Zoo and Brookfield Zoo as a supervisory keeper. Working within the zoological community, Laura trained a wide variety of species, including primates, large cats, birds of prey, horses, parrots, macaws, tree kangaroos, red pandas, and dogs.

In addition to heading ABTC, Laura serves as a faculty member of Karen Pryor Academy and is on staff at Chicagoland Veterinary Behavior Consultants. She has been a consulting trainer to the Niabi Zoo (Niabi Zoological Society) and a speaker at many professional conferences including the APVMA (American Pre-Veterinary Medical Association). Laura has appeared on various broadcast media, including WGN Midday News and NBC 5 Chicago News.

Emelie Johnson Vegh began training dogs as a teenager, after many years of involvement with horses. Her first dog was a mixed breed that competed successfully in both agility and obedience. Emelie's first Border terrier came into her life in 1994; all in all she's had three terriers, with "My" still sharing her life. The Border terriers have mostly been involved in agility, but also in some freestyle and ground work.

In 2009, a Kelpie made an entrance into the family. With her, Emelie is working in agility, obedience, and freestyle, with the hope of adding some search work. Emelie and her dogs have won medals at the Swedish Nationals, both as youths and as adults, with a silver team medal as the best placement.

Although trained as a high school teacher (degrees from Lund University and Malmö University), Emelie works solely within Carpe Momentum, which she runs with Eva Bertilsson. Together Emelie and Eva give seminars, private lessons, and lectures; they also write articles for magazines such as Canis (published by Morten Egtvedt and Cecilie Køste), and have released their first agility book, Agility Right from the Start, published by Sunshine Books.

Emelie and Eva also offer TAGteach Primary Certification seminars; they are the only level 3-certified TAGteachers in Europe. The Carpe Momentum colleagues work in both Sweden and Norway, and are very popular. Their approach is systematic and well-planned, and focuses on joy and success for both dog and handler.

Emelie lives in the very south of Sweden, in the country's third largest city, Malmö. She shares her life with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. Learn more about Emelie at her website.

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