Behavior Team of New York City

Michelle Grace Danahy, CFTBS, CAFTP

Certified Feline Training and Behavior Specialist, Certified Advanced Feline Training Professional

Michelle Grace Danahy is a Certified Feline Training and Behavior Specialist with additional certification in Advanced Feline Training from the Animal Behavior Institute. Based in New York City, she is the founder of The Cat Behavior Studio, where she helps cats and their families overcome behavior challenges using gentle, evidence-based methods tailored to each home.

Her clients often say “she speaks cat,” a reflection of Michelle’s deep empathy, patience, and lifelong understanding of feline behavior. She specializes in issues such as aggression, anxiety, litter box avoidance, and multi-cat tension, helping cats feel safe and families regain harmony. Michelle is also certified in Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) and advocates for compassionate, fear-free care for all cats.

Michelle offers in-home appointments, as well as online and telephone appointments.

Specialties:

• Aggression
• Anxiety
• Litter box avoidance
• Multi-cat tension

Contact details:

The Cat Behavior Studio

🌐 https://www.cat-behavior.com/

📧 [email protected]

Julia Specht is a feline behavior consultant and founder of Park Slope Paws, based in Brooklyn, New York. She is on the board of Artemis Animal Rescue, a non-profit rescue operating in Central New Jersey. In addition to being a PPG member, Julia is a member of the IAABC and is working toward her Certified Cat Behavior Consultant (CCBC) certification. She is also Fear Free Certified through Fear Free’s shelter program.

Julia began her work with cats through rescue in Brooklyn, where she provided behavioral support to fosters and adopters. Through that work, she became keenly aware of the limited resources many people have to solve behavior issues, and so she prioritizes accessibility and practicality when formulating training plans. She specializes in house soiling and aggression, and has a deep passion for consent-based socialization.

Julia offers both in-home and virtual consultations.

Specialties:

• House soiling
• Socialization
• Aggression
• Cat-cat introductions
• Cat-human conflicts

Contact details:

Park Slope Paws

🌐 https://www.parkslopepaws.com

📧 [email protected]

Erika Liljefelt, CTBC, CSAP-BC, ADDP

Professional Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant

Erika offers remote services globally and in-person services in the San Jose, CA, area. She is a force-free, multi-certified dog professional who takes a holistic approach when working with dogs and their guardians. She believes that all dogs and their people deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion, and empathy, and she takes a bottom-up approach to look deeper at why a dog might be behaving in a particular way.

She specializes in canine pain assessments to look for those subtle signs of pain that are often missed but that may cause or exacerbate such behavioral issues as separation anxiety, reactivity, aggression, resource guarding, and so much more.

Erika is available to give webinars and online classes on separation anxiety in dogs and the pain–behavior connection in dogs.

She is a proud member of the Pet Professional Guild, Project tRade, and the Shock-Free Coalition.