Jennifer Cattet, PhD, has been training dogs professionally since 1984. Her career as a dog trainer started with traditional training techniques, which were the only methods available at the time. Frustrated and concerned with the effects such methods had on some of the dogs and on their relationship with their owners, she went back to college and studied Psychology and Ethology (animal behavior) at the University of Geneva, Switzerland (she spent most of her early years in France). After her bachelor’s degree, she worked as the Assistant Professor in the Ethology Department and completed her studies with a doctorate on spatial navigation in dogs.
As more positive, science-based methods were gradually coming forth, Jennifer started the first professional dog-training company promoting the use of clicker training in France in 2001.
Back in the US, Jennifer Cattet has since specialized in the training of service dogs since 2008, a specialty that combines her knowledge of both animal and human psychology. As Director of Training for a prison-based organization in Indianapolis, she oversaw the training of dogs for mobility and autism. During that time, she also developed a training program for diabetes alert dogs and collaborated with a team from Eli Lilly, in the first study proving the ability of dogs to detect hypoglycemia samples through smell.
Since 2013, Jennifer Cattet and her husband Jack Topham have operated Medical Mutts, an Indiana-based company, dedicated to the training of rescue dogs as service dogs. Medical Mutts specializes in the training of dogs for diabetes as well as epileptic seizures, psychiatric and other medical conditions. Their team is also involved in research on diabetes and prostate cancer detection.
Jennifer still spends time in France, where she consults and teaches service dog organizations in the training of dogs for diabetes and seizures.