The Seductiveness of Shock with Kathy Sdao

Join Kathy Sdao for this webinar on the seduction of Shock. Though you may refuse to ever use shock as a dog-training tool, some of your potential clients have used it (especially in the United States). And some will want to continue using it, in lieu of your suggestions of positive-reinforcement alternatives or possibly in addition to them.

Each of us dog-care professionals must decide how to respond to this dilemma. In doing so, it’s beneficial to understand the unique power that shock has to damage the psychological well-being of the animals in our care and also to deceive its users regarding its efficacy. We’ll examine a few of the complexities of this emotional and crucial issue.

About The Presenter

Kathy Sdao, MA, ACAAB.

Kathy is an associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist based in Tacoma, Washington and has spent the past two decades as a full-time professional trainer for dogs and other animals.

For her first ten years as an animal trainer, Kathy trained marine mammals at a research laboratory for the University of Hawaii, in the open-ocean for the US Navy and at a zoo in Tacoma Washington. Since 1995, Kathy has focused on training land-dwelling animals: dogs and their people.

She has been honored to be on the faculty of Karen Pryor’s Clicker Expos since 2003. She also has trained animal actors, written for The Clicker Journal and the APDT Newsletter, served as a subject-matter expert for the Delta Society's Service Dog Education System, conducted rat-training camp for Terry Ryan's DogSense, instructed at Dogs of Course’s Instructor Training Course and appeared as the "Way Cool Scientist" on an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy!

Kathy meets with dog owners in Tacoma, Seattle, and other areas in the Puget Sound region to design behavior modification plans, to teach basic manners to their dogs and to prepare for competition. She also travels extensively to lead dog training and behavior workshops that make the science of animal training accessible and practical for dog trainers and owners alike.