2025 ADI Conference - Inspire. Impact. Innovate.

Thank you so much to all of our speakers and sponsors for such a successful conference in Orlando, Florida! 

The 2025 conference will build on the tremendous success of our last conference and take place at the magnificent Rosen Shingles Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida on March 2-5, 2025.  ADI is extremely thankful to our friends at Canine Companions for agreeing to host this conference, and to the entire Conference Committee for diligently working to build amazing content, content that will allow ADI members and candidate programs to "Inspire. Impact. Innovate."

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Presenting Sponsors

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Gold Sponsors

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Guest Speakers

Ken Ramirez

Keynote Title: Succeeding as an Assistance Dog Trainer in the Modern World 

Keynote Description: 

The role of an assistance dog trainer is vital and important! But being successful in today’s world is filled with challenges. We expect our dogs to be reliable, but we are told that giving them choice is a critical part of good welfare. We want our dogs to stay focused and on task, but we are asked to do that without aversive tools.  How do we meet the changing needs of the assistance dog world and still provide valuable and critically important services to our clients? Ken will share his perspectives and experiences while hoping to inspire you, impact your training, and share ways to innovate as you navigate today’s modern training world. 

Session Title: Success Under All Conditions

Session Description: 

Every good working dog trainer desires good impulse control. But what do we mean by impulse control? How do you achieve it with reliability? Ken spends much of his consulting life sharing techniques for gaining control over the unexpected! Teaching animals to stay on task and focused despite the many distractions that are present in real world working dog environments. Ken will share desensitization techniques that focus on the use of positive reinforcement designed to help you prepare your dog for working successfully in in the most distracting environments.    

Biography:

Ken Ramirez is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Training Officer at Karen Pryor Clicker Training where he helps to oversee the vision, development and implementation of training education programs for the organization. Previously, Ken served as EVP of animal care and animal training at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, where he developed and supervised animal care and animal health programs, staff training and development as well as public presentation programs for more than 32,000 animals. He worked at Shedd Aquarium for over 25 years and continued as a consultant for several years after. A more than 50-year veteran of animal care and training, Ramirez is a biologist and animal behavior specialist who has overseen or consulted on training projects for many zoological organizations throughout the world. He began his training career working with guide dogs for the visually impaired and has maintained a close affiliation to pet training throughout his career. He hosted two successful seasons of the pet training television series Talk to the Animals that compared pet training to the important work done with training and caring for animals in zoological facilities. He has also worked closely with several search and rescue dog organizations, service dog groups, as well as with bomb and narcotic dogs. Ramirez has been active in several professional organizations, including the International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association (IMATA), of which he is a past president. He taught a graduate course on animal training at Western Illinois University for 20 years. Ramirez has written for numerous scientific publications and authored countless popular articles. He authored the book ANIMAL TRAINING: Successful Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement, published in 1999. His most recent book The Eye of the Trainer: Animal Training, Transformation, and Trust, was published in 2020. Notably, in the past ten years, Ken has received three lifetime achievement awards from different professional training organizations: ABMA (Animal Behavior Manager’s Alliance), IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers Association), and APDT (Association of Professional Dog Trainers).

Suzanne Clothier

Session Title: Introduction to RAT™ (Relationship Assessment Tool)

Session Description:

RAT™ (Relationship Assessment Tool) is a rapid assessment tool that focuses on the dynamics of the dog/human relationship. RAT™ identifies the strengths and weaknesses of any dog/handler team, and helps you create a sensible, targeted training plan for improving and strengthening the relationship. Ideal for dog/handler evaluations, tracks changes, easily shared results.

Session Title: Go Say Hi 1-2-3: Orchestrated Greetings for Success

Session Description: 

Go Say Hi 1-2-3 focuses on developing appropriate greeting skills. Suitable for any age, Go Say Hi 1- 2-3 is a win-win for the dog who remains in connection with handler, practices self-control, and is rewarded on multiple levels. Orchestrated greetings keep the dog safe and comfortable, with an emphasis on connection and communication. Fun and easy to teach, there is an emphasis on connection and communication, and building the dog’s confidence and skills.

Biography:

Suzanne Clothier has been working with animals professionally since 1977. Her positive and humane approach, Relationship Centered Training™ (RCT) promotes promote healthy, respectful and joyful dog/human connections. The author of Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs (2002), her innovative programs include Treat/Retreat, the Enriched Puppy Protocol, CARAT™, RAT™, FAT™, as well as many RCT techniques, online courses and webinars. A trainer of trainers, she has taught on a broad range of topics throughout the US and internationally, and served as a consultant to major service dog schools. 

Kim Brophey, CDBC, CPDT-KA, FDM

Keynote Title: Ethological Contributions to “Behavior Problems” in Dogs (Pt. 1)

Keynote Description: 

Participants will be introduced to Kim’s widely celebrated and endorsed L.E.G.S.® system of Applied Ethology. Learn how to identify, understand, and integrate the full scope of potential factors influencing behavior– Learned, Environmental, Genetic, and unique internal conditions of the individual animal’s own Self. We will examine how many of the erroneously labeled “behavior problems” commonly observed are the natural consequence of the friction created by modern conditions. Through a greater understanding of the behaviors for which the various working groups were designed, we will appreciate how readily these artificially selected patterns manifest problematically as well as how paramount certain adjustments to our expectations and common practices of stewardship need to be in our profession and culture.

Session Title: Ethological Contributions to “Behavior Problems” in Dogs (Pt. 2)

Session Description: 

This session will take a deep dive into the ten genetic working groups of dogs, exploring their original historical purpose and the resulting selective forces on behavior for specialized perceptions and responses in various conditions. We will examine how many of the erroneously labeled “behavior problems” commonly observed in pet dogs are the natural consequence of the friction created by modern conditions - the preservation of genetic keys (niches) that no longer fit the environmental locks (habitats) in which they find themselves. Through a greater understanding of the behaviors for which the various working groups were designed, we will appreciate how readily these artificially selected patterns manifest problematically in the average pet dog lifestyle, and how paramount certain adjustments to our expectations and common practices of stewardship need to be in our profession and culture.

Biography:

Kim Brophey, CDBC, CPDT-KA, FDM, is an applied ethologist and accomplished behavior consultant and trainer who has been working with dogs and their families for over 25 years. Kim’s commitment to Family Dog Mediation® has been recognized internationally, awarded the APDT Outstanding Trainer of the Year in 2009 and the Best Dog Trainer of WNC eight years in a row. She is a member of the International Society for Applied Ethology and the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, and a certified member and past board member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants as well as the Asheville Humane Society. Kim Brophey’s L.E.G.S.® model of integrated canine science has been endorsed by prominent canine scientists such as Raymond Coppinger and embraced by reputable academics and dog trainers worldwide. Her market-disrupting L.E.G.S.® Applied Ethology Family Dog Mediation® Course is the flagship of a rapidly growing worldwide initiative that, combined with her online Family Dog Mediation Education Center ® and the thousands of active FDM student community members collaborating in a functional professional ecosystem, is leading the charge in setting a new direction for the pet industry and culture. Her groundbreaking sold-out first edition book, MEET YOUR DOG, TED talk, Beyond The Operant (BTO) collaborative, numerous public speaking venues at institutions & conferences around the world, and countless radio and podcast features have made profound waves throughout the dog behavior world as well as the general public. Due to the tremendous growth of the Family Dog Mediation Education Center since its inception, Kim recently sold her local behavior consulting business in order to focus exclusively on the L.E.G.S. Initiative so that she may continue to endeavor to build bridges and invite others to contribute to a new conversation about dogs- one that challenges us to redefine how we perceive, talk about, provide for, and live with our canine companions as a society.

Karen London, Ph. D.

Keynote Title: Treat Everyone Like A Dog

Keynote Description:

Dr. London will share how to use many aspects of positive dog training for a variety of interactions with people. The critical importance of a strong relationship will be a theme throughout the aspects discussed which include positive reinforcement, classical conditioning, putting undesirable behavior on cue, teaching an incompatible behavior to replace the undesirable one, and more. Additionally, Dr. London will use lessons from ethology, discuss the use of physical connections and proximity cues, boundary training, targeting, and the importance of repetition and practice. 

Session Title: Harnessing the Dog Trainer’s Skill Set to Influence Human Behavior

Session Description: 

Dr. London will discuss skills and strategies learned from training dogs that can be applied to people, even when dealing with challenging individuals and difficult situations. The talk will cover important details that enhance the power of using positive reinforcement as well as learner-driven decisions, accounting for distractions, giving a job to those who need them, startling and redirecting, the skill of getting another individual's attention, and setting others up for success. There will be a focus on building relationships and maintaining them.

Biography:

Karen B. London, Ph.D. is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist and Certified Professional Dog Trainer who specializes in the evaluation and treatment of serious behavior problems in domestic dogs. She began working with dogs in 1997, and has spent the years since working with clients in one-on-one consultations in addition to teaching group training classes, and giving seminars about canine ethology for trainers, veterinary and shelter staff, and the public. Karen is an award-winning author of six books on dog training and behavior, five of them co-authored with her mentor, Patricia B. McConnell, PhD. For many years, she wrote the Behavior and Training columns for The Bark Magazine and blogged for TheBark.com. She now writes for Kinship (formerly The Wildest) and also writes the animal column, The London Zoo, for the Arizona Daily Sun. A collection of her columns from the newspaper, Cows, Ants, Termites, and Me: Revealing the World of Animals One Newspaper Column at a Time, was published last year. Her most recent dog book is Treat Everyone Like a Dog: How a Dog Trainer’s World View Can Improve Your Life. Karen and her husband live in Flagstaff, Arizona, where they raised their two sons. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University, where, before the pandemic, she taught tropical field courses in Nicaragua and Costa Rica called “Tropical Forest Ecology and Conservation” and a class for freshman about the importance of insects to society called “Sex, Bugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

Dr. Bernice Patterson

Keynote Title: The Courage to Care: Putting You Back on Your To-Do List

Keynote Description:

Dr. Bernice Patterson understands the complexity of going on the journey to learning to love yourself well in a world that treats this as a taboo choice. As a speaker, preacher, and professional psychologist, she uses her gifts to motivate audiences to do the work of valuing and investing in themselves and their mental health. As a speaker, Dr. Patterson captivates audiences as she spreads the message of hope, healing, and grace towards self. She is a proud wife and mother of three beautiful children and counts it a blessing and privilege to do this life changing work.

 

 

 

Theresa McKeon 

 

Keynote Title: TAGteach® Tools for Creating and Delivering Instructions That Lead to Success

 

Keynote Description: 

 

In a world full of time and financial constraints, we are always looking to get the most from each interaction with clients, volunteers, and staff. TAGteach® tools are created specifically to streamline human to human communication, especially when fast and accurate skill acquisition is important. During this session we’ll introduce two tools from the TAGteach toolbox, “Focus Funnel” and “Tag Points”. These tools will help you create the perfect instructions (and success) for the learner in front of you.

 

Session Title: TAGteach® Practical

 

Session Description:

 

 

Want to practice the TAGteach tools before trying them with clients or staff? This will be a working session and a safe environment to share ideas with others as we create and deliver instructions via Focus Funnels and Tag Points. Your human learners will thank you and say, “There is no question about your expertise with the dogs - what I appreciate is your expertise with me.”

Matt Clarin                                           Greg Webb