Rose Browne, KPA CTP, the Owner and Lead Puppy Trainer at Dynamic Canines Inc., was the first Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner in St. John’s in the Canadian province Newfoundland and Labrador. A dog trainer since 1995 and a positive-training convert, she first learned about Karen Pryor Academy via the internet in 2009, Rose enrolled in the KPA Dog Trainer Professional (DTP) International program in the fall of 2011, finishing in the spring of 2012.
Hu Wang, KPA CTP, changed careers to improve the image of dogs in Chinese society. A TV producer in Beijing, Hu felt frustrated and helpless when he covered stories that focused only on problems caused by dogs. “As a lifelong dog lover, I knew that shouldn’t be the whole story, but I didn’t know how I could help when society lacked understanding of canine behavior.”
Marsha Penner, KPA CTP, was pretty much a dog training novice when she first attended ClickerExpo “to see what it was all about.” She had just started as a group training class assistant , but “knew very little about anything.” From “not knowing a soul” back then, Marsha now reports that some of her dearest friends are people she met at that Expo conference. “We are in close contact and try to see each other at Expo and outside of EXPO when we can.”
Michelle Wieser, KPA CTP, lives in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, a remote northern area near Alaska. She first became involved in dog training as a teenager, sharing that interest with her mother. “My mother was involved in our local dog training club. She and I were very close. We read training books together, competed in obedience and agility, and met new friends in the dog sport training community. Sadly, my mother passed away from cancer in 2010,” Michelle shares.
Vijay Joshi, KPA CTP, is the Puppy Development Coordinator at Leader Dogs for the Blind, a guide-dog training organization. She also offers dog-training services to private clients. Vijay learned about Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) and the Dog Trainer Professional (DTP) program from a KPA CTP when she was a volunteer puppy-raiser at Leader Dogs for the Blind. “The more I learned about teaching my puppy, the more I wanted to improve my skills,” she explains.
The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB) position statement on humane dog training emphasizes the belief that Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) and Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT) devote 100% of the organizations’ energy toward sharing: “Current literature on dog training methods shows a clear advantage of reward-based methods over aversive-based methods with respect to immediate and long-term welfare, training effectiveness, and the dog-human relationship.”
Waltham, MA, August 4, 2021—Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) is pleased to welcome KPA Certified Training Partner (CTP) Breanna Norris as the organization’s Alumni Relations Coordinator, supporting a rapidly growing constituency of more than 1,800 alumni worldwide.
Jennifer Long, KPA CTP, was working at a local animal shelter and contemplating a certification program to further her interest in animal training and behavior. A veterinary behaviorist who was advising Jen and the shelter suggested the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Dog Trainer Professional (DTP) program. Jen says, “I’m forever grateful. That was the best advice, as it reshaped my entire career direction.”
When her first dog passed away, Reanna Ali, KPA CTP, was heartbroken. Around that time, she left the corporate world and moved into the dog-training industry, first offering dog-walking services. When Amelia, a 4-month-old rescue dog from Texas, entered Reanna’s life in 2018, Reanna began to think of training as a career. A friend had completed the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Dog Trainer Professional (DTP) program several years earlier. Reanna completed the DTP program herself in 2019, in Ottawa, Ontario, with Carolyn Clark. She has not looked back since then! The name of Reanna’s business, Trizane, is combination of her first dog Trina’s name and the name of her bird, Zane.
Cindy Benson, KPA CTP, offers positive training for working livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) and their owners at Benson Ranch, and online through training videos and Zoom. She has raised and trained livestock for the last fifty years, including several hundred Miniature Donkeys over thirty years. Cindy has been raising and training Maremma livestock guardian dogs for six years. In that time, she has owned, or trained, more than 250 Maremmas.
