Training for Generalization

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Topic: Understanding generalization in building dog and animal behaviors.

Guests:

Nan Arthur is the author of Chill Out Fido! How To Calm Your Dog, a KPA faculty member and the owner of Beacon of Hope Dog Behavior and Training Services in San Diego, CA. Nan has 23 years of experience and works with dog professionals, shelter employees and volunteers, and pet dog owners and has developed volunteer training programs and lectures for many local shelters, ensuring that the dogs not only receive environmental enrichment, but positive training to help improve the adoptability of the dogs. Nan holds memberships in PPG, and APDT, IAABC, KPACTP, studies Improvisational techniques and also a certified DogSafe First Aid Instructor and an instructor with DogTec’s Dog Walking Academy.

Cassie Pestana is a certified professional dog trainer through the Karen Pryor Academy and Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers. Prior to working with dogs, Cassie had the opportunity to research the behavior of a variety of species, including rats, African Wild Dogs, elephants and vervet monkeys, while completing her bachelor’s degree in Biology from Brown University. After graduating, Cassie decided to pursue dog training as a career and worked with a several different types of trainers and methods. Her heart naturally settled on a force-free practice of primarily positive reinforcement, which aligned perfectly with her knowledge of learning theory and animal behavior. In 2017 Cassie opened Cassie’s Dog Training in Orange County, CA with the goal of enhancing communication and understanding between owners and their dogs. Since then she has worked with hundreds of dogs and puppies both in the home and in group class settings. It is her goal to one day open her own training facility in order to further spread the knowledge of force-free training methods.