ABOUT

MEET THE BEHAVIOR CONSULTANT

Emily Dombrowski, CDBC, CPDT-KA

Emily Dombrowski, the trainer and behavior consultant behind Spotted Success, LLC, is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT).

In addition to certification as a professional dog trainer and behavior consultant, Emily also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Biology with an emphasis on animal behavior, conditioning, and learning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. With over 15 years of professional training, behavior modification, and teaching experience, she began training her own dogs in 2003 and started coaching people to train their dogs in 2006.

Present day, Emily is the Director of Training for the Service Dog Program at Southeastern Guide Dogs located in Palmetto, FL. This non-profit 501(c)3 organization trains and places working assistance dogs with deserving individuals as they pursue the confidence and quality of life that everyone deserves. In her role, Emily oversees all components of the Service Dog Program, including all aspects of dog training and placement, client coaching, and graduate services.

Emily also serves as an Accreditation Assessor for Assistance Dogs International (ADI). ADI accredits not-for-profit programs that place assistance dogs to ensure that they adhere to the highest standards in all aspects of their operations, including ethical treatment and training of dogs, ethical treatment of clients, solid service dog training and follow-up care.

Emily works as a behavior consultant for a number of rescue organizations to help evaluate the behavioral needs of dogs within rescue and foster home networks. Through Spotted Success LLC, she offers continuing education seminars, webinars, speaking engagements, and behavior consultations for rescue groups, shelters, veterinary clinics, and other animal organizations.

Emily routinely works with people who love dogs and with dogs of all ages, sizes, and breeds. She specializes in problem solving through complex behavior scenarios, and offers solutions for helping dogs who are exhibiting aggressive behavior, fear, anxiety, and other unique, potentially dangerous behavior problems. She is committed to using effective and humane behavior modification and training to help solve behavior problems and bring back the joy of living with dogs.

Some of Emily's past extensive experience with animal behavior includes a role as the Animal Behavior Director at a large intake, open-admission animal shelter in Daytona Beach, Florida, serving as the Training Director for a prison dog training program, and working for seven years in zoo and aquarium settings with California sea lions and Atlantic and Pacific harbor seals as a marine mammal trainer and educator at Ocean Connections within the Milwaukee County Zoo in Milwaukee, WI and at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, LA.

Emily has personally owned, trained, lived with, and loved dogs of all sizes, from Doberman Pinschers to Yorkshire Terriers. She currently lives with and trains three fantastic dogs - Widget, a Bull terrier mix, Bodhi, a Labrador retriever, and Beneteau ("Ben"), a Doberman pinscher - along with a steady rotation of foster dogs or dogs in training. Emily actively trains and competes in American Kennel Club (AKC) Obedience, Agility, and the sport of K9 Nosework with her own dogs, has dabbled in many other canine sports, and has participated in therapy dog visits through Therapy Dogs International (TDI). She and her dogs have also made appearances in national print ads, local news stations, and various performance venues, and she has been featured as a dog behavior consultant on The Pet Vet radio show on 620 WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Emily is an AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator and is an active, certified member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) and the International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association (IMATA). She regularly pursues continuing education events and other learning opportunities in the field of animal training and behavior to stay current with the most up-to-date knowledge and resources available.

Emily has a real passion for effective, pragmatic, and ethical animal training, and she enjoys sharing that passion with others and helping them bring out the very best in their companion animals!