Trish King is the Director of the Behavior and Training Department at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, CA. MHS is a medium sized shelter, processing about 4,000 animals a year. She started there as a trainer in 1989, a year after her child, Robin was born. Previous to that and concurrent with it for some time, Trish was a radio news reporter and anchor at a variety of radio stations in San Francisco.
When Trish took over B&T, there were 3 instructors, 8 volunteers and 8 classes per week. The methodology was primarily compulsive. Over the next 20 years, she built the department to its present size – with 22 employees, well over 100 volunteers and 35 or more pet dog classes per week. Among the classes are agility, tricks, and Nose Works. She also has a cat behavior consultant and a small companion animal expert on her staff.
While building the department, Trish was also active in the national arena. She was a member of the American Humane Association Task Force for Humane Dog Training and a charter member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. Trish was one of the developers of the training curriculum for Petsmart stores and participated in the education of the trainers. She has taught seminars all over the United States and Canada. Among the venues are APDT, HSUS, AHA and the California Animal Care Conference, presented by a variety of animal care professional societies, including the CVMA. She also teaches telecourses for Raising Canine, and has taught behavior evaluation classes in the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of California at Davis.
Trish has written two books – “Parenting Your Dog” and “DogSense,” a manual on raising and training pet dogs. She established the Canine Behavior Academy at the Marin Humane Society, a two level Academy teaching the fundamentals of dog handling, training, evaluating and consulting skills.
Trish’s primary love is consulting with owners and helping them overcome their dogs’ behavior problems. To her, this is the best way of combining detective work with her love of dogs and it is always fascinating.
Trish lives with her partner and their three well loved former shelter dogs – Australian Shepherd “Boo,” Bull Terrier/Heeler/something mix “Luke,” and Pomeranian mix “Aspen.” Her daughter, Robin, is an artist with a special affection for canine art, and a desire to become a behavior specialist herself.
