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-Ann Gillen, DVM |
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The Journey
Both
Carol & Dana were long time members of Lilac City Dog Training Club in Spokane,
where Carol began
her instructing career and
over many years served as an officer, board member, and assistant director of
training. She helped develop their first Puppy Preschool curriculum.
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Carol has been involved with training and showing dogs in both conformation and obedience since 1974. She began assisting in 1977 and teaching in 1978. Dana started instructing and assisting for LCDTC in 1989. During the 80's they were founding members of the Inland Empire Doberman Pinscher Club and Doberman Rescue. While following every show circuit competing in AKC conformation and obedience and hanging ribbons on the wall was once a focus, Carol & Dana started traveling great distances to spend weekends at behavior seminars instead of show rings. Captivated by the study of canine behavior, they found their calling: teaching families to better understand their pets. They abandoned their choke chains and military style "forward & halt" training in favor of motivational no-force methods and haven't looked back. |
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LCDTC awarded Carol with the Ken-L-Ration Medal for Good Sportsmanship in 1994.
Carol & Dana instructed for The Family Dog from 1992-96. During the years when the greyhound track was operating in Post Falls, ID, they provided occasional foster care for retired racing greyhounds through the Eastern Washington Chapter of Greyhound Pets of America. They continue to work closely with area rescue organizations and occasionally provide foster care/rehab for dogs with special needs for SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. |
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In
the community Carol
enjoys providing classroom presentations
for Spokane area schools, clubs and libraries as part of her "day
job" as humane education director for SpokAnimal C.A.R.E. She
presents bite safety seminars for letter carriers, meter readers and
other delivery professions and has spoken at emergency medical conferences
and for the Washington Animal Care & Control Association. |
 Association of Pet Dog Trainers professional member #4069P |
 Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed ......Why choose a Certified Professional Dog Trainer? Carol #1040663 - Dana #1040664 |
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 National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors endorsed #820N |
Credentials
In 1995, Carol completed the required endorsement test and was accepted as a
member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors (NADOI). Carol
and Dana are professional members of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT).
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In March of 2004, Carol and Dana took a 4-hour Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers certification exam and passed, becoming two of only four trainers in Eastern Washington to earn their Certified Professional Dog Trainer titles. The other two CPDTs were also DITR instructors, Cathy Fox and Lisa Lucas!
In April of 2005, Carol was accepted as an Associate member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is completing the application process to become a certified member. |
In January of 2012, Carol was accepted into the Pet Professional Guild, the only pet industry member association that not only advocates for force-free dog training and pet care professionals but also publicly states its “Guiding Principles” and holds strong to those principles to protect our integrity. "To be in anyway affiliated with the Pet Professional Guild all members must adhere to a strict code of conduct. Pet Guild members, affiliates & sponsors understand Force-Free to mean, no shock, no pain, no fear, no physical force, no physical molding, no compulsion based methods are employed to train or care for a pet."
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"We are building a community of “like minded souls” who believe in scientific force-free dog training and pet care philosophies and methodologies." |
In
print
Carol's other interests are website design, graphics and illustration. Carol
is the illustrator for "Forward"
- the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructor's quarterly newsletter
and
commissions illustrations for east coast clicker trainer Virginia
Broitman including the video cover and chapter headings for video, "The
HOW of BOW WOW," which won the 2004 Dog Writers Association of America competition.
in 2006 Carol completed cover artwork for Virginia's newest DVD in the series:
"The Shape of Bow Wow." In 2011, Viriginia contacted Carol to do the
cover for a new DVD called "The Zen of Bow Wow". "Several of
her illustrations appear in Terry
Ryan's new book "Coaching
People to Train Their Dogs" and she provided illustrations for Dani
Weinberg's new book "Teaching
People, Teaching Dogs - Insights and Ideas for Instructors."
Carol is also SpokAnimal's web designer and the editor of their quarterly newsletter, "Companion Animal News."
In 2006, Carol was interviewed by "Dog Fancy" magazine writer Cherie Langlois for an article entitled "Winter Games" featured on page 17 in the November 2006 issue. She was also featured in the book "Careers with Animals" by Andria Pavia. She was the trainer source for articles in Men's Health magazine in the May 2011 issue and featured in the premier issue of Northwest Pet magazine..
Carol released a CD of her Power Point presentation "What is My Dog Saying?" in 2008, selling over 100 copies all over the world in a matter of months. It is part of the curriculum at the Australian Dog Trainers Academy and available for purchase through DogTrainingSolutions.com. In 2009 Karen Pryor contacted Carol to sell her CDs through Sunshine Books on Karen's online store at www.clickertraining.com. It is now available through Tawzerdogvideos.com and Dogwise.com. She has presented her workshop on reading body language and understanding canine communication for the Washington Animal Care & Control Association in Oct 2007 and for the Intermountain Search Dogs annual Washington Dog Meet in Sept 2008.
In 2011, Carol started work
on "What is My Dog Saying - at the Dog Park?"
which was released in the fall of 2011. In January of 2012 she began work on
"What is My Cat Saying?" in collaboration with cat behavior specialist,
Jacqueline Munera of Positive Cattitudes in Florida.
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On
screen "A Dog. Two Kids. A Nanny & A Loveable Con-Man Unwrap The True Meaning Of Christmas" <
Shown at left, actors Abby, Brant, Stanley and Dave Coulier in a shot
from the movie. |
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"The Family Holiday" is a story about 2 homeless kids, a homeless dog and people coming together in time of need. It's not a story about a dog per se' but the dog takes you from scene to scene and he guides the viewer to the various settings introduces each of the human characters. Stan's training and social skills were put to the test as they were on set for all but two days of filming over the course of a 3 week shoot.
See Stanley's interview on Luken's at Large on KXLY, Monday April 2nd, 2007 |
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In September of 2007 Carol was again contacted for movie work for The Golden Door later renamed "Falling Up". Stanley was requested to play the role of "unconscious dog in an elevator." His training challenge this time around was to play a dog whose leash was caught in an elevator who must be resuscitated via CPR and mouth-to-snout by lead actor Joseph Cross.
Carol
on-set for the Golden Door Several of our instructors' and students' dogs appeared in the film. We're always keeping an eye out for that special student for future projects!
At
right, Rachel Leigh Cook and Joseph Cross |
Stanley
with actors Joseph Cross, Sam Pancake,
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 Carol & Benny on a classroom visit. |
DIAMONDS
IN THE RUFF Carol is an avid clicker trainer. She continues to be amazed at the power of operant conditioning and the connection that develops between canine and human as the two learn how to learn together. |
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Making training fun.
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1992
- 2003 |
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