Honor Your Pet with with L. Leigh Meriweather and guest Janet Velenovsky.

BIO from: http://www.velenovsky.com/Bio.html

"I was one of those little girls who preferred stuffed animals to dolls, who collected toads and brought them inside as pets, and who would have had a menagerie if Mom would have let me. My brother was given a beagle puppy about the time I was born; I thought that pup was my other brother. I was able to convince my folks to let me rescue two silver tabby cats, Ki-ki and Lucky, whom I adored. Dad, in an effort to keep me busy one day, challenged me to make friends with a couple of rough-looking ponies in a neighborhood field. No problem -- but once that task was accomplished, I wanted a horse, too!"

Janet Velenovsky is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant, Associate Certified Cat Behavior Consultant, and a Certified Training Partner from the Karen Pryor Academy. Janet led the Training & Behavior Education Department for Premier Pet Products for seven years. She was a speaker at the 2006 Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual conference in Kansas City, MO, where she talked about cat behavior, and about opportunities for therapy dogs and the 2008 conference in Louisville, where she spoke about teaching APDT Rally. Janet also spoke about the expanding role of therapy animals at both the 2007 and 2009 national conferences for the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. Janet served on the Board of Directors for IAABC, briefly as President in 2008, and is currently the Chair of the Working Animals division. In 2009, Janet received the IAABC's "Animals as Other Nations" award.

Janet and Kaizen, her first Golden Retriever, an experienced therapy dog, visited Katrina-ravaged Louisiana in December 2005 as members of Hope Animal-Assisted Crisis Response, a non-profit group whose teams offer comfort and support for aid workers and those affected by natural and man-made disasters. Janet now makes therapy visits with Teddy, Piper, Oscar, and Keiko, all registered with Therapy Dogs, Inc.

Janet has a passion for helping cats and dogs live peaceably together. There are many strategies for helping these species get along, including clicker training for the cats!

Janet attends many veterinary, training, and behavior educational events each year, enjoying seminars and workshops with leaders in each field. She speaks in public often for veterinary students, training groups, behavior consultants, and pet owners.