Hosted by Melissa Breau, with panelists Amy Cook, PhD., Sarah Stremming, and Sophie Liu, DVM. This lunchtime discussion will be streamed via YouTube, free and publicly available, even to those not paying to attend the conference. Our panelists will discuss how trainers can handle errors in training in a positive way.
Amy Cook, PhD
Dr. Cook (she/her) is an International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, a longstanding professional member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), and was one of the first trainers nationally to become a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through independent evaluation. Dr. Cook received her Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Berkeley, with her research focusing on the dog-human relationship and its effect on the problem solving strategies dogs employ. Dr. Cook is the founder and creator of the Play Way and a popular instructor for the online school, The Fenzi Dog Sports Academy. She has been training dogs for nearly 30 years, and has specialized in the rehabilitation of shy and fearful dogs for over 20 years.
Sarah Stremming
Sarah Stremming (she/her) of The Cognitive Canine has spent the last 15 years coaching people and their dogs to better understand each other. Twenty years competing in the sports of dog obedience and agility, a Bachelors of Science degree in psychology from Colorado State University, a constant quest for more education, and vast experiences ranging from aggression case consulting to puppy kindergarten all come together in Sarah’s work. Today she primarily focuses on private consulting on behavioral concerns in sport dogs, and shares her experiences in the field through her podcast, Cog Dog Radio. She spends her spare time hiking the woods of the Pacific Northwest with her border collies and Icelandic sheepdog.
Sophie Liu, DVM
Dr. Sophie Liu (she/her) originally fell in love with dog behavior when she found herself with a very challenging and aggressive Doberman mix. That experience pushed Dr. Liu to dive deeply into animal behavior, dog training, and eventually to veterinary medicine. After graduating from Cornell University College of Veterinary medicine, she entered private practice in small animal general medicine and is now completing a behavior medicine residency at San Francisco SPCA. She is particularly passionate about critical thinking, objectivity, and evidence-based practices when it comes to dog behavior. At the core of everything is her love of dog training. Dr. Liu believes there is no feeling more wonderful than a dog’s full engagement and no sight more lovely than beautiful training. She currently trains her Doberman in protection sports and her Taiwan rescue dog in agility.
