Scott Stauffer - Co-owner of
K9 Life Coaching, LLC; creator of ADB
and original K9 Life Coach
Throughout the contiguous US
Scott Stauffer is the creator of Affective Dog Behavior and co-founder of K9 Life Coaching, LLC. During most of his 25 years as a K9 Life Coach, Scott has worked with groups of people and dogs, and has gained many years of extensive experience in doggie daycares and as a dog walker of “problem” dogs ... the kind of dogs that were expelled from groups and daycares. Not only has he learned from dogs and developed a unique, emotions-based approach to handling dogs and humans, he self-educates in the fields of Affective Neuroscience, Social Neuroscience and Neuroscience; a combination of which is the foundation of Affective Dog Behavior.
Native to California, Scott now spends his time traveling the USA promoting Affective Dog Behavior and educating other canine
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professionals, volunteers and private individuals through workshops, Q&A meet-ups and private coaching sessions. Additionally, Scott assists fellow trainers with dog clients that are not responding well to typical training methods and may otherwise face an uncertain future. Click here to access Scott's page.
(*) Scott Stauffer has coined the term K9 Life Coach to convey the message that a human-dog relationship isn’t simply about training but about connection, emotional, mental and physical needs and self-expression.
Diana Kastner - Co-owner of
K9 Life Coaching, LLC
Trinidad, Colorado
Diana is a fulltime banker who has accumulated many years of experience volunteering with “problem” rescue dogs in Tennessee. Thanks to issues with her own adopted misfits, she has never stopped searching for answers; until, one fateful day in 2016, she discovered one of Scott Stauffer's YouTube videos. His mentorship to Diana finally turned into a business partnership, during which they founded K9 Life Coaching, LLC, and turned Scott's concept of Affective Dog Behavior into an educational program. In the meantime, Diana has earned two Diplomas through Canine Principles: One in “Force Free Canine Coaching”, and another in “Rescue Dog Cognition and Rehabilitation”. However, her education hasn’t stopped there, as a keen, active curiosity about the emotional canine brain through Affective Neuroscience, Social Neuroscience and Neuroscience has become another interest she shares with Scott. To get to Diana's page, please click here.
Alyssa Leigh Giles - Teacher
Clearfield, Utah
In 2008, Alyssa graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, focusing on Applied Behavior Analysis. She began dog training with the philosophy to create a positive experience for both dog and human. When she became a mom in 2012, her perspective on what was best for dogs was evolving. She wondered why training dogs wasn't more like modern parenting, where behavior is seen as a symptom of underlying emotional states and emotional connection is key to solving problems. She began focusing more on dog emotions but still felt she was missing something. In 2019, she reached out to and connected with Scott Stauffer, instantly knowing that Affective Dog Behavior is what she was looking for. She joined the ADB team, created the ADB logo, and now strives to help dog owners resolve conflict by connecting with their dogs and meeting their social-emotional needs. To learn more about Alyssa or to get in touch with her, please click here.
Katharina Pieper, ADB-C
Near Berlin, Germany
Although the love of animals and especially dogs has always accompanied her, Katharina's first professional path led in a different direction: she has a degree in Computer Science, her main research interest is Artificial Intellegence, and here especially Logic, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Neural Networks. It was only in 2009 -- with the arrival of `"Motte" -- that dogs came more to the fore. Since then, Katharina has lived with several dogs, attended many courses (including Roger Abrantes, Ian Dunbar, Grisha Stewart ...) and is actively involved with her dogs in a search and rescue; Katharina became an instructor for Mantrailing in 2012.
Katharina is very interested in applying scientific knowledge from a variety of disciplines to our interaction with our dogs, e.g.
Ethology, Biology, Philosophy, Positive Psychology, Creativity and Happiness Research, Cognitive Science, Trauma Therapy, Social and Affective Neuroscience. Needs, emotions of dogs and especially the relationship between dogs and their humans are always in the foreground -- and with Affective Dog Behaviour she has found the missing link between theory and practice.
Katharina lives near Berlin, where she operates a dog school that primarily offers Mantrailing as a species-appropriate form of activity for family dogs. But Katharina also utilizes her expertise in finding missing pets (Pettrailing), and she has been lending a helping hand in an animal rescue organization for many years. She is passionate about helping other dog people gain a positive, emotional and needs-based approach to their dogs and building a trusting relationship. Katharina is enrolled in the ADB Level 1 Certification Course soon to be certified. Katharina can be reached through her website here.
Nathan L Childs, ADB-C
Rochester, New York
Nathan L Childs, BS Psychology, CDT. Nathan has been working with challenging behavior modification for over twenty years, initially supporting adults with intellectual disabilities and then transitioning to canine clients over 7 years ago. Always looking outside the box, exploring new approaches to training and supporting both dogs and their owners or fosters with rehabilitating and helping pet and rescue dogs. He also is certified in pet massage and uses touch, relationship, and connection to help dogs relax and build confidence. Most recently he has been learning and has incorporated ADB into his toolkit, to supplement and guide the emotional basis of behavior. Nathan is in the final phase of obtaining his ADB Level 1 certification and has been asked to join the team of ADB teachers. To get in touch with Nathan, please click here.