Jill Marie has been working with, training, and advocating for dogs since 1987. Jill Marie spent fourteen years as Director of Behavior and Training for spcaLA. During her tenure with spcaLA, she supervised the creation and development of that agency's first Animal Behavior and Training Department since the agency’s inception in 1877. Jill’s career at spcaLA started in 1996 when she joined the agency to fulfill a grant from KalKan to educate inner-city youth on dog bite prevention and feral dog safety. While there she participated in the Teaching Love and Compassion program (TLC), a program that matches at-risk youth with shelter dogs for a 3 week program that teaches young people life skills in patience, anger management and conflict resolution. Jill Marie also developed a Canine Behavior Assessment protocol in 2000 that was the only in-house assessment used for the evaluation of the shelter dogs housed at the agency.
Over the years, Jill Marie has gained extensive knowledge and experience through her participation in agility, tracking, Animal Assisted Therapy, pet dog training, Schutzhund/IPO training, canine behaviour assessments, canine behaviour rehabilitation along with professional detection dog training and handling. As Co-Founder of NACSW she is involved in both the competitive sport and the activity of K9 Nose Work®. Through the NACSW K9 Nose Work® Instructor Education and Certification program she has dedicated the majority of her time to continuing the development and growth of the K9 Nose Work® style of training; both as a tool to develop teams for competition in a variety of trialing venues and as an activity to facilitate the behavioural well-being of our canine companions.
Her training philosophy is one of building strong working relationships and bonds between dogs and their handlers using positive, fun and motivational techniques. She is a strong advocate of ongoing education and development of skills. Not only has she attended many educational conferences and courses, but she has also organised educational events featuring some of the most sought-after lecturers and behaviour experts in the world. She believes education for the humans is as important as education for the canines. Jill Marie is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer, and a long time member of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.
