Kellyann Conway and Traci Theis of Animal Planet Pet Video are cowinners of the 2006 Outstanding Trainer of the Year Award, presented by Comfort Zone with D.A.P. The pair was chosen for their work advancing the education of pet owners’ training techniques and for producing the PetsIncredible training DVDs for shelters.
Conway and Theis founded the PetsIncredible project in 2004, with an idea for spreading reward-based training techniques to dog and cat owners and helping them to keep their pets home for life. “So many of the old training models are outmoded,” Conway says. “Getting animals to work for a reward is fun for the animals and the owners.”
With help from sponsors, Conway and Theis were able to make the PetsIncredible DVDs extremely affordable to pet owners and easily accessible at shelters and veterinary offices. What started as a side project has blossomed into a full-time endeavor, Theis says. PetsIncredible was purchased by Animal Planet, a Discovery Communications Company, in November 2006. The PetsIncredible project has since changed its name to Animal Planet Pet Video.
Conway fell in love with dog training in 1986, after seeking obedience classes to tame her wild German Shepherd Dog. “I ended up working for the trainer part time in exchange for lessons,” Conway says. “Both me and my dog were hooked.” The self-proclaimed “behavior junky” then went on to study sociology at the University of Florida and continued her work as a dog trainer. “Throughout college I knew that it was dog training that I wanted to do,” she says.
After college, Conway worked at local animal shelters in Pinellas County, Fla., and the Pasco County SPCA. She still volunteers, in addition to working full-time as Animal Planet Pet Video’s director of animal behavior and training and head writer for creative content. She lives with an Akita, a Border Collie, and a pit bull mix.
Theis has worked at the Humane Society of Pinellas in Clearwater, Fla., for more than 13 years and has come to think of it as her “home away from home.” She has experience training shelter animals, pet adopters, shelter staff and volunteers.
Theis says that her job as director of shelter relations and a trainer for Animal Planet Pet Video is a labor of love. “So many animals that are adopted end up being returned unnecessarily,” she says. “Through reward-based training, there really are simple solutions to many of these common problems.” She shares her home with a German Shepherd mix, an Akita mix, a pit bull mix and a Bulldog.
“We feel extremely excited and validated to have won the Outstanding Trainer of the Year Award,” Theis says. “There is a critical need to recognize the power of reward-based training, and Comfort Zone has been incredibly supportive in this area.”
Comfort Zone with D.A.P. is a synthetic pheromone formulated to comfort dogs that are newly adopted, moving to new homes, adjusting to new pets, or are otherwise frightened or uncomfortable.