Dr. Sasha Protopopova, PhD, CAAB

Dr. Sasha Protopopova, PhD, CAAB

Dog Behaviour Consultant and Educator

I am a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist through the Animal Behavior Society, which is the highest possible level of certification for an animal behaviourist. I have an MSc and a PhD in behaviour analysis from the University of Florida. I am currently a university professor in the Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia and an active researcher on the topic of companion animal behaviour and welfare and supervise students in animal welfare research. My education is in ethology, comparative cognition, and behaviour analysis. Prior to and during my university studies, I worked as a dog trainer teaching reactive dog classes, puppy and basic classes, and providing dog behaviour consulting for animal shelters. I currently teach university students principles of animal learning and animal sheltering. I am honoured to be a frequently invited speaker at dog training conferences and greatly enjoy connecting advanced behaviour analytic topics to practical solutions for dog experts.

• BSc in Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2010 (thesis supervisor: Dr. Melinda Novak)
• BSc in Pre-Veterinary Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2010
• MSc in Behaviour Analysis, University of Florida, 2012 (thesis supervisor: Dr. Clive Wynne)
• PhD in Behaviour Analysis, University of Florida, 2015 (dissertation supervisors: Drs. Clive Wynne and Brian Iwata)

For a list of my peer-reviewed research publications, see my Google Scholar page.

Expertise

My specialties are in providing support to other dog trainers for complex cases as well as identifying empirically-based humane strategies for owners to help their dogs thrive in their environments. Owners are treated as partners in ameliorating their dogs’ problematic or abnormal behaviours, such as reactivity, stereotypy, etc. I have a passion for working with owners and non-profit organizations to improve their dogs’ care and wellbeing through welfare assessments.

Booking for Seminars

I’m available to speak at professional and public seminars/workshops. Please contact me for my rates and availability. I am happy to speak on the following topics, but contact me for other topics relating to dogs, animal behaviour/learning, and animal sheltering:

• Advanced animal training: Motivating operations
• Advanced animal training: Choice, control, and preference
• Advanced animal training: The science of counter-conditioning and desensitization
• Advanced animal training: Functional Analysis
• Pet care topics: Climate change and companion animals
• Pet care topics: The ethology and natural history of dogs
• Applied research: Dog training at the shelter to improve adoption
• Applied research: Enrichment and training at the animal shelter