Michele Pouliot worked 42 years as a professional guide dog trainer for the largest guide dog school in North America. Before entering the guide dog field, she studied under Linda Tellington Jones and Wentworth Jones at The Pacific Coast Equestrian Research Center, working for them after graduating with honors. In 1972, Michele acquired her first dog, sparking her interest in dog training.  Michele discovered Clicker Training in 2000 and has never looked back. Michele has been responsible for promoting science based Clicker Training to the international guide dog field. Michele actively assists and consults guide and service dog programs around the world in adopting positive reinforcement techniques. In addition, Michele has successfully competed in horse and dog sports since 1970, having competed in extensively in Competitive Obedience, Agility and, Canine Musical Freestyle. Over 18 years in competitive obedience, she gained 3 OTCH titles on her Labradors and numerous titles on clients’ dogs.

Since 2006, Michele has been involved in the sport of canine musical freestyle. She thoroughly enjoys the creative challenge in this artistic sport that combines precision movements with trick behaviors to music. Michele has won 5 international competitions and attained 8 Championship Titles with 3 canine partners. In 2008, Michele made freestyle history in the World Canine Freestyle Organization when she received perfect scores of double 10’s for Technical and Artistic in a performance. Michele repeated this remarkable accomplishment with her celebrated Australian Shepherd “Listo” an incredible 24 times. Currently, Michele is performing with her English Springer Spaniel “Déjà vu” and her Australian Shepherd “Saké”. Since 2007, Michele has been an admired member of Karen Pryor’s faculty for Clicker Expo Conferences, presenting at all Clicker Expos in the USA and Europe. Michele’s enthusiasm in teaching effective clicker training is infectious and she has a remarkable amount of hands on experience (over 45 years) to draw upon.  Michele is sought after for seminars and workshops due to her clarity of instruction, incredible training skills, along with her entertaining presentation style. Michele’s website:  michelepouliot.com

Patty Dobbs Gross is the executive director of North Star Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization she founded whose mission is to place high quality assistance and therapy dogs with children who face social and emotional challenges. Patty earned her BA from the University of Massachusetts in Psychology and her MA from the University of Connecticut in Educational Psychology; she is also the author of THE GOLDEN BRIDGE: A Guide to Assistance Dogs for Children Challenged by Autism or Other Developmental Disabilities (Purdue University Press, 2006).

Patty has been married for thirty-three years to a man on the autism spectrum, and she is the mother of four children who are all an integral part of North Star’s work. Over a quarter century ago her son Danny received an assistance dog named Madison from Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) to work with his challenges from autism, and from that experience, North Star was born. What Patty has learned about raising a child with a social/emotional challenge with the help of an assistance dog forms the very heart of North Star’s work.

That son, Dan Gross, recently graduated from USC’s prestigious School of Cinematic Arts with an MFA in filmmaking and has created North Star’s extensive video library. He is now working with as an editorial assistant in Connecticut and doing freelance film work in Los Angeles and New York City.

Lola Ball is a graduate of MIT with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a Minor in Economics, as well as a M.S. in Technology and Policy.  She volunteers at Pasado’s Safe Haven, a local animal sanctuary, where she enjoys being surrounded by dogs, cats and farm animals of all kinds.  She is also an active volunteer in the local and national MIT Alumni Association.  She currently serves as Secretary on the AHELP board and is a Founding Member of the International Association of Animal Hospice and Palliative Care.  She has been an avid animal lover since she was a little girl, but wasn’t allowed to have a pet as a child due to family allergies.  Once she was settled in her late 20′s, she bonded quickly with her first puppy, a chocolate lab named Porter.  It was when Porter was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma that Lola inadvertently employed hospice care to ensure that his last few months would be of a high quality of life.  After his death, she decided to capture her canine hospice experiences in her book entitled, “When Your Dog Has Cancer:  Making the Right Decisions for You and Your Dog.”  During the writing of her book, a dog she adopted from Pasado’s was diagnosed with mast cell tumor and she again used hospice techniques on the path to a natural death.

Recorded OnDemand Lecture: Canine Cancer Insights:  A Holistic and Balanced Approach

Dr. Mariana Bentosela is a comparative psychologist and researcher of the National Research Council (CONICET) in Argentina. She is interested in animal behavior and works in the area of experimental comparative psychology.   In the last years, she created the Canid’s Behavior Research Group (ICOC) to study how learning and experiences during ontogeny modify communicative responses towards humans in domestic dogs.

Recorded OnDemand Lecture: Communication between dogs and humans: are dogs naturally smart or good learners?