Episode description

Podcast Outline

* 1:40 - Ryan introduces Kathy.

* 4:00 – Kathy shares where she first learned about positive reinforcement animal training and some of the first animals she trained.

* 22:22 – A couple of stories from Kathy about her time training dolphins.

* 19:38 – What Kathy is up to now and where you can find her at www.kathysdao.com.

* 22:57 – The difference between cues and commands and why this is important.

* 42:13 – Some potential phrases from non-violent communication to use in consultations.

* 47:31 – How Kathy deals with compassion fatigue or "attachment to outcome fatigue."

* 52:50 – Five tips listeners can use to move toward non-violent communication.

* 1:15 - Kathy discusses what she’d like to see happen in the next 5-10 years in the world of positive reinforcement animal training.

About Kathy Sdao

Kathy is an applied animal behaviourist. She’s been a full-time animal trainer for thirty years, first with marine mammals and now with dogs and their people. At the University of Hawaii, she received a master’s degree as part of a research team which trained dolphins to solve complex cognitive puzzles. She then worked for the United States Navy to train dolphins for open-ocean tasks. Next, Kathy worked as a marine-mammal trainer at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma Washington. After leaving the zoo world, Kathy created Tacoma’s first dog day-care.

Since 1998, Kathy has owned Bright Spot Dog Training. Services include consulting with families about their challenging dogs and mentoring professional trainers who want to maximize the power of positive-reinforcement training. Kathy is proud to be an original faculty member for Karen Pryor’s ClickerExpos and has taught at thirty-eight of these popular conferences. Kathy has travelled extensively across the United States, Canada and Europe, and to Australia, Israel, Japan and Mexico. In 2012, she published her first book, Plenty in Life Is Free: Reflections on Dogs, Training and Finding Grace.