Jo Maldonado is an animal reader. The information she  “translates” to humans from animals is based on intuitive, behavioral, and energetic processing. Jo helps people “shift their energy” to open channels of communication with their animals. On respite and recovery from two hip surgeries in 2007,  Jo Maldonado began studying her life long passion of animal-to-human communication, and the relationship of one to the other.  This led her to open Centers for Animal Therapies/C.A.T. an educational program for the understanding of animals in 2009. The program began with a handful of classes and quickly grew to over 50 classes a semester with local and well known national instructors offering the public general knowledge such as pet nutrition, training, alternative healing, animal communication, and pet first aid to name a few.   As the program grew, so did Jo’s ability to connect the relationship of the intuitive and behavioral aspects between the animal and human species. Volunteering at animal sanctuaries gave her the opportunity to observe and practice her studies. 100% of the time, all animals responded to the telepathic sending of messages, sending a response in return.  Continuing her observations led her to connect the theory that all thoughts, AS WELL AS SUBCONSCIOUS THOUGHTS, take on energy and that animals in turn responded to the energy that was being sent and were in fact responding to the thoughts that humans were sending. In addition to Centers for Animals, C.A.T.,  Jo is the founder of Kids N Kritters, a summer camp that teaches children respect and fun with animals and nature.  She also founded Rescue for the Rescue, a free educational program for animal sanctuary and shelter volunteers and employees.  Jo Maldonado is a writer for The New Barker Magazine , Velocity Magazine and Pet Planet. For more info on Jo Maldonado go to www.animalreader.com and www.cat-edu.com. Contact info: 386-279-0257/ jo@cat-edu.com

Recorded OnDemand Lecture: Tell Your Dog What To Do Without Talking

Ken McCort owns and operates “Four Paws” training center in Doylestown, Ohio.  Along with his wife, Marilyn, a veterinarian, he lives with 6 dogs, 4 cats, 7 large parrots, some finches, 2 mini horses, a donkeys and a lizard.  In his profession, Ken works with animals with behavioral concerns.  Most clients and animals are acquired by referral from veterinarians or other clients.  He has been training animals full time since 1986 and currently works with dogs, cats, birds and a few other species. In addition to his business, Ken is a certified evaluator and evaluator instructor with the Pet Partner program.  Not only does he evaluate and certify animal/handler teams to visit in hospitals, nursing homes and many other areas, but he also helped to develop the Pet Partner Skills and Aptitude Test which he has taught both nationally and internationally.  He also helped develop and operate the Doggie Brigade animal assisted activity and therapy program at Akron Children’s Hospital which has been ongoing since 1992. Ken has taught on the subject of animal behavior at the University of Akron (Ohio), Columbus State University, the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine, the Midwest Veterinary Conference, the Society of Anthrozoologists, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants, the Association of Professional Dog Trainers and many other animal related groups. Ken has also been going to Japan since 2004 to teach trainers how to better understand animal behavior.

Wolf Park in Battleground, Indiana, a is a research facility that studies wild canid behavior, utilizes Ken for some of its presentations and research projects. The park has been having Ken help train with their wolves, coyotes and foxes for many years.

Recorded OnDemand Lectures:
Aggressive Behavior With Dogs ~ Solutions and Strategies
Terriers: From Yorkies to Pit Bulls, What Makes Them Different?
Intentional Thinking in Animals: Can They Do It and Is It Necessary
How Understanding Basic Ethology Can Benefit Dog Trainers
Resource Guarding Between Animals-Causes and Remedies
A Brief Look at Arousal in Dogs

Lindsay Mehrkam is a third-year graduate student in Behavior Analysis (Psychology) at the University of Florida. Lindsay obtained her Bachelor’s degree in animal behavior from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where she studied the behavior of wolves and wolf-dog hybrids at a nearby wildlife sanctuary. Her interest in the behavioral welfare of captive animals led her to an opportunity assisting with research projects at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. on a wide range of endangered species, including Western lowland gorillas, tigers, Micronesian kingfishers, and Key Largo woodrats.

Lindsay has been fortunate enough to combine her interests in species generality and environmental enrichment working with Dr. Clive Wynne in the Canine Cognition and Behavior Lab at the University of Florida. Her current research focuses on the use of free-contact human interaction as environmental enrichment for socialized canids in sanctuaries and wildlife parks in Florida, North Carolina, and Indiana. These studies have provided data on the occurrence of species-typical social behavior, activity levels, and stereotypic behavior in response to interactions with familiar staff and volunteers. Lindsay is also conducting research to investigate the environmental conditions under which diverse topographies of social behavior – from human-directed aggression to social play – occurs in domestic dogs living in shelters and private homes. Her interest in the behavioral welfare of a wide range of species also allows her to train students in zookeeping in measuring and evaluating enrichment efficacy for collection animals at the AZA-accredited Teaching Zoo at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, Florida, where she collaborates with Dr. Nicole Dorey.

Outside of research, Lindsay assists with teaching courses at the University of Florida, the Teaching Zoo at Santa Fe College, and tutoring student athletes in psychology through the University Athletics Association. Lindsay is an active member of the Animal Behavior Management Alliance, the American Psychological Association, the Florida Association for Behavior Analysis, and the Society for Comparative Cognition, and has spoken at numerous professional conferences. In her spare time, Lindsay enjoys training her adopted Akita-mix, Kobe, for flying disc competitions.

Recorded OnDemand Lecture: Enriching the Lives of Canines through Human Interaction: Research Evaluations and Practical Applications

Holly is a researcher at the University of Valenciennes (France) who studies self-control in humans and dogs. As a graduate student at the University of Kentucky, Holly helped develop the Canine Cognition Lab and Science Dog Daycare at the University of Kentucky. There she conducted research demonstrating that an initial act of self-control by dogs can have a negative affect on subsequent cognitive behavior. Following a 10-min sit stay dogs remember less accurately on a search task, persist for a shorter duration on a puzzle task, and are more likely to approach a threatening, aggressive dog. Her research also found that glucose (but not a calorie-free placebo) eliminates deficits caused by initial self-control exertion. Holly has presented her research at national and international conferences and her work has been featured in The Scientific American Mind, Huffington Post, and the New York Times, among others. Holly hopes that her research will result in a greater understanding of canine self-control and impulsivity and lead to more effective training paradigms for impulsive, fearful, or aggressive dogs. In addition to her research, Holly is an experienced dog trainer and teacher. She owns a 7-year old Belgian Sheepdog named Edda and enjoys obedience, herding, and agility training.

Recorded OnDemand Lecture: Too Dog-Tired to Behave: Self-Control in Canines is Sensitive to Fatigue Speaker Holly Miller, Ph.D.

Jane earned her BA in psychology and biology, psychobiology/neuroscience with a focus on animal behavior from Oberlin College, and her MA in Clinical Social Work from Case Western Reserve University. Jane has appeared in the PBS program “Health Visions – Animals As Healers” on the healing power of animals and joined world-renowned veterinarian/author Dr. Allen Schoen to present a workshop on the topic of animals as healers at a national conference for medical professionals (See NICABM).  She is also a practitioner of QiGong and Reiki and teaches stress reduction techniques to her clients and their service dogs. After studying meditation, breathing and visualization techniques extensively since childhood she recognized the impact these modalities of healing impacted humans and their animals.  Author of Healing Companions: Ordinary Dogs and Their Extraordinary Power to Transform Lives, Miller currently focuses on educating others about the legal, ethical, and practical criteria of working with  Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSDs).  Jane Miller’s lifelong passion for healing has emphasized the human-animal connection, culminating in her certification as a Canine Massotherapist, reiki practitioner, energy worker,   and as a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC-CDBC) and the Association of Animal Behavior Professionals ( AABP-CDBT). She is a member of a number of canine organizations that include PPG, Truly Dog Friendly, IAADP, DWAA, Delta Society, etc. She attended The British School of Falconry with certification in hawk handling. www.healing-companions.org