Trish McMillan holds a master of science degree in animal behavior, and is a certified professional dog trainer, certified dog behavior consultant and associate certified cat behavior consultant. She has been involved in the animal rescue and sheltering world since the mid-1990’s. She worked for the ASPCA for nearly eight years at their NYC sheler, and then as part of their field team, helping assess and rehabilitate dogs from cruelty cases, dogfighting and hoarding situations. She has been involved
Trish does animal behavior consulting in Asheville, North Carolina, working with dogs, cats and horses. Her farm, Pibble Hill, is currently home to 17 fascinating animals of five species. Trish speaks and consults nationally and internationally on animal sheltering issues, dog, cat, and horse behavior, dog aggression, and defensive handling. Her online shelter dog behavior mentorship has been enjoyed by students worldwide.
Sharon Wachsler CPDT-KA, KPA-CTP is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner with more than 25 years of experience in the disability community. Sharon is owner of At Your Service Dog Training in Wendell, MA, in 2014, specializing in private training — as well as group classes, pre-adoption consulting, group classes, and prospect assessment — to service dog owner-trainers. Before she began her second career as a dog trainer, Sharon was a disability information and referral specialist and service dog owner-trainer, as well as the founder of the Assistance Dog Blog Carnival, a writer for the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners newsletter, and the blogger for the popular service-dog trainer’s blog, After Gadget. Sharon is an experienced presenter and writer on service dog topics and enjoys consulting with and speaking to trainers, owners, and community groups.
Dr. Bridgett vonHoldt is an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department. One of her research interests is learning about the genomic changes that occurred in canines due to strong selective pressures during their transition from wolves to dogs. Her research group studies a diversity of perspectives relevant to canine genomics, from hybridization and admixture genetics to the role of gene regulation and epigenetic modifications. She is currently investigating the role of transposable elements in shaping the variation in canine social behavior, through a large-scale evolutionary assessment coupled with functional genomics. She is an long-time cat owner and has recently adopted her first real canine, Marla, the English Sheepdog.
Dr. Christy Hoffman is an assistant professor in the Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation department at Canisius College (Buffalo, NY). In addition, she directs Canisius’ Master’s program in Anthrozoology. She offers courses focused on canine behavior and cognition, animal sheltering, and the psychology of the human-animal bond. Having received graduate and post-doctoral training in animal behavior and human development at the University of Chicago, her research explores both sides of the human-dog relationship. Some of her recent studies have examined factors that impact humans’ decisions to adopt particular dogs and cats, dog decision-making in multi-dog households, factors impacting animal shelters’ decisions to accept dogs from distant locations, and the effects of dogs on human sleep.
Cissy Stamm pioneered the use of service dogs for PTSD and has been partnered with a Service Dog in NYC for the past twenty years. Her dogs are multi-disability trained to mitigate her own PTSD, hearing loss, and balance issues. Cissy has had both canine partners who were professionally trained for her and those she owner trained.