| The following industry experts have made themselves available as special counsel to the Pet Professional Guild Steering Committee. We thank them for taking time out of their busy schedules to assist us in their areas of expertise. There ongoing support is very much appreciated. Jean Donaldson.
Jean Donaldson is the principal instructor of The Academy for Dog Trainers, which she founded in 1999. She is the award-winning author of The Culture Clash, Mine! A Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs, Fight! A Guide to Dog-Dog Aggression, Dogs Are From Neptune, and Oh Behave! Dogs From Pavlov to Premack to Pinker. Her latest book, Train Like a Pro, is her first written for the lay audience, and is about basic training for family dogs. She holds degrees in Comparative Psychology and Music, and competed in numerous dog sports before transitioning full time to pet dog training in 1990. The Academy has over five hundred graduates practicing dog training and behavior counseling in most states in the US and 25 countries world-wide. Jean lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her dog, Buffy, adopted in 2002. When she is not working, she is an ardent baseball fan and student of evolutionary biology. For more information about Jean Donaldson visit The Academy For Dog Trainers Dr. Karen L. Overall.
Dr. Overall has given hundreds of national and international presentations and short courses and is the author of over 100 scholarly publications, dozens of textbook chapters, of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals (1997) and Manual of Small Animal Clinical Behavioral Medicine (2012). She is the editor-in-chief for Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research (Elsevier). In 2004, Dr. Overall was awarded the Cat Writer’s Association, Inc., Certificate of Excellence for “The Social Cat” column, “Cat Fancy Magazine”. In 2005 she was the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC) Small Animal Speaker of the Year and in 2010 Dr. Overall was named one of the The Bark’s 100 Best and Brightest - Bark Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the dog world over the past 25 years. In 2008 Dr. Overall was appointed by PA Governor Rendell to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Canine Health Board. She serves on the US Department of Defense’s Blue Ribbon panel on canine-post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). Dr. Overall shares her life and passions with her husband, Dr. Art Dunham, and their 4 rescue Aussies. Victoria Stilwell
Victoria Stilwell is a dog trainer and behavior expert best known as the host of the international hit TV series It's Me or the Dog through which she promotes the power, effectiveness and safety of force-free, positive dog training. A best-selling author of three books, Train Your Dog Positively, Fat Dog Slim and It’s Me or the Dog: How to Have the Perfect Pet, Stilwell is Editor-in-Chief of Positively.com, President of the Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Training & Behavior, and the CEO of Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Training (VSPDT) – the premier network of world-class positive reinforcement dog trainers. The recipient of multiple awards and a regular contributor to print, radio, digital and TV media as a dog behavior expert, Stilwell is committed to helping the cause of animal rescue and rehabilitation and is heavily involved with organizations around the world to increase awareness of puppy mills, dogfighting, animal abuse, pet overpopulation, dog bite prevention and other animal-related causes. Stilwell is a National Ambassador for the American Humane Association and serves on the Advisory Boards of RedRover, DogTV, Dognition, The Grey Muzzle Organization and Canine Assistants. For more information about Victoria Stilwell and positive training visit positively.com Dr. Lynn Honeckman
Dr. Lynn R. Honeckman graduated from Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1993, after undergraduate studies in biology, biochemistry, psychology, and animal sciences. Upon graduation, Dr. Honeckman moved to the Chicago area working in private practice with small animals, exotics, and wildlife rehabilitation. After 4 years, she accepted a position as an associate veterinarian at New York's North Shore Animal League America, the largest no-kill shelter in the United States. While there, Dr. Honeckman witnessed first-hand the huge number of pet relinquishments every day due to behavior problems. It is currently believed that behavior problems are the primary reason for dogs and cats to be taken to a shelter. While working at NSALA, Dr. Honeckman worked closely with the shelter's Training Department along with New York area Veterinary Behavior Specialists to rehabilitate these pets. During this full-time position, Dr. Honeckman also worked in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey at a small animal/exotic practice, continuing her experience with birds, reptiles, and small mammals. Dr. Lynn Honeckman relocated to Orlando, Florida in 1999 and has continued working as a general veterinarian in the Orlando area. For the past 15 years, she has worked as the facility veterinarian at the Southeast Regional Campus of Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) located in Ocoee. She has continued to pursue her special interest in animal behavior by graduating from the Applied Clinical Behavior Medicine Course of the North American Veterinary Post Graduate Institute, both the general course offered in 2003, and the advanced courses in 2006 and 2011, taught by Dr. Karen Overall, BA, MA, VMD, PhD, DACVB. Dr. Lynn Honeckman remains fascinated with the power of the pet-owner relationship and looks forward to helping to prevent and treat any behavior issues which may interfere with this bond. Dr. Lynn Honeckman is a member of the American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior and American Veterinary Medical Association. For more information on Dr. Lynn Honeckman click here James O'Heare
James O’Heare is a behaviorologist, having earned his Doctoral Certificate in Behaviorology from The International Behaviorology Institute, and is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant. James has worked with people and their companion animals (dogs, cats, parrots, ferrets, rats, rabbits etc.) for over 15 years, has written over 15 books geared to professionals, which are published throughout the word translated into several languages. The Companion Animal Sciences Institute (CASI), which O’Heare founded, now provides a completely behaviorological set of courses and programs of study at the technologist level (i.e., basic professional proficiency, not full professional behaviorologist level). The courses have been approved for consideration toward certification and as continuing education units toward recertification educational requirements by the industry’s leading professional associations and certifying bodies. O’Heare also founded the Association of Animal Behavior Professionals (AABP). This professional association for behaviorologically oriented animal–behavior technologists provides certification and other benefits such as the only peer–reviewed journal for animal–behavior technologists, the Journal of Animal Behavior Technology (JABT). These expand the influence of behaviorology within this field. James teaches behaviorology through The Companion Animal Sciences Institute. For more information about James O'Heare click here Dr. Robert King
Dr. King received his B.B.A. in Marketing, an M.B.A. in marketing, and a M.S. in Finance & Economics from West Texas A&M University before earning a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Mississippi.Dr. King teaches principles of marketing and advertising to undergraduates as well as marketing strategy to graduate students. He serves on several boards of directors as well as enjoying his own small business ventures and uses this knowledge to aid in the teaching of his class. Dr. King’s research includes a wide variety of topics, but most fall under the scope of marketing strategy, electronic word-of-mouth, technology use in business, and business ethics. His work has appeared in Journal of Interactive Marketing, AMS Review, Journal of Business Ethics, VOLUNTAS, Journal of Global Business Management, Journal of Business & Economic Research, and Empirical Economic Letters. Dr. King enjoys spending time with his wife and their two dogs. When not at work he enjoys reading and cooking. Helen Phillips
Phillips is the Author of the popular ‘Clicker Gundog’ Training Book. Gundogs have inherited specialized skills that have been honed over hundreds of generations. Phillips takes this natural skill, enhances it and uses it to enrich a working partnership that is a joy to experience. With Clicker Gundog the focus is on learning how to develop a partnership using reinforcement strategies and how to use careful planning so that you build a high level of control that exceeds the stimuli of the hunt and shoot. Phillips has developed a range of workshops and seminars to help teach these skills to both the handler and the dog. For more information contact helen@clickergundog.co.uk. Clicker Gundog Training, Ryden Lane, Charlton WR10 3LH. www.facebook.com/clickergundog Pat Miller  Pat Miller is a Certified Behavior Consultant, Canine (KA), Certified Professional Dog Trainer (KA), past president of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (US) and past board member of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. Miller worked at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, California from 1976 to 1996, first as a volunteer, then in customer service, as a humane officer, Customer Service Supervisor, Field Supervisor, and for the final ten years as Director of Operations. During this time, she obtained an Associate Degree in Administration of Justice and a BS in Business Administration. In 1996 Miller left the Humane Society to launch Peaceable Paws in Monterey, California. Miller now offers group good manners classes, private training and behavior modification services, dog training workshops and trainer academies at her Peaceable Paws 80-acre training facility in Fairplay, Maryland, where she and her husband Paul live with their three dogs, eight cats, four horses, five chickens, and a pot-bellied pig. In addition, Miller presents seminars and workshops around the world on a variety of training and behavior topics. She has authored seven books on dog behavior and training: “The Power of Positive Dog Training,” “Positive Perspectives,” “Positive Perspectives 2,” “Play With Your Dog,” “Do-Over Dogs,” “How to Foster Dogs” and “Beware of the Dog.” Miller is training editor for The Whole Dog Journal, and also writes for several other publications. In May of 2015, Pat was named by Dog Fancy Magazine as one of 45 people who have changed the dog world. You can reach Pat at www.peaceablepaws.com. Pat joined the PPG Special Counsel in March 2018. |
Dr. Karen Overall received her BA, MA, and VMD degrees from Penn and her PhD from UW- Madison. She completed her residency in behavioral medicine at Penn, is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Behavior and is certified by the Animal Behavior Society as an Applied Animal Behaviorist. Dr. Overall has spent most of her teaching and research career at Penn, running the Behavior Clinic at Penn Vet for more than a dozen years before moving to the Medical School to concentrate on research. Her ongoing research focuses on neurobehavioral genetics of dogs and the development of normal and abnormal behaviors.
