Guest Speaker Biographies

Click here to return to the guest speaker series seminar descriptions.

Suzanne Clothier Biography
____________________________________________________________

Involved professionally with dogs since 1977, Suzanne’s background is widely varied, with experience in breeding, kennel management, grooming, showing, training, canine midwifery, puppy aptitude testing, instructing, behavior consultations, in-home training, K-9 Search & Rescue, holistic health care and various club memberships & activities. She served as a committee member for the American Humane Association's Task Force for the Development of Humane Standards for Dog Training, and as a member of the AKC's Agility Advisory Board. She has taught seminars on a wide variety of topics in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium, and Italy, and spoken from groups as diverse as FEMA Northeast Region Disaster Dog Teams, Association for Pet Dog Trainers, Alaskan Dog Mushers Association and Wolf Park.

Currently, she is a consultant for Guiding Eyes for the Blind’s Canine Development Center in Patterson, NY, developing a relationship based approach to the GEB puppy raising program, created using her Relationship Centered Training techniques and philosophy.

She continues to teach seminars in the US and internationally, and is developing new educational materials. Her book, Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs (Warner, 2002) has received widespread acclaim, and has been published in German and Italian. Read an excerpt from Bones.

Listed in "Who's Who in Dogs" by Connie Vanacore (McMillan, 1998), Suzanne is an award winning author whose articles have been reprinted worldwide by dog trainers, clubs, humane societies, veterinarians and breeders. Suzanne has been featured & quoted in various articles for a wide range of magazines as well as a number of books from a variety of authors, and has been a consultant for Steve Dale's syndicated pet column.. Her work has been published in the AKC Purebred Dog Gazette, Dogs In Canada, Dog Fancy, Wolf Clan, Delta Society, APDT Newsletter, Off Lead Magazine, TTEAM Practitioners Newsletter, German Shepherd Review. She has appeared on numerous radio interviews in the US and Canada.

She is also a long time breeder of German Shepherd dogs. Dogs produced by her Hawks Hunt breeding program have been active and successful in obedience, therapy dog work, tracking, agility, herding, Search & Rescue, and as companions.

Suzanne's life is shared with husband John Rice, and together, they care for a lot of animals - dogs, cats, parrots, tortoises, horses, donkeys, cattle, pigs, chickens, fish and other creatures that find their way to Hawks Hunt Farm.

Beth Duman Biography
____________________________________________________________

Beth is both a wolf specialist and educator and focused dog trainer. She has done wolf education programs in Michigan since 1972 and has been the Michigan representative for Wolf Park since 1974. She has lectured to over 1,000 groups, including the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Timber Wolf Alliance, the Michigan Association of Animal Control Officers, The Nordjyllands Dyreadfaerdsklinik, the Association for Pet Dog Trainers and the International Wolf Center.

Beth has been doing positive dog training for over 16 years. She is a core staff trainer for Dog Scouts of America and has helped hundreds of Dog Scout Camp Participants learn to effectively communicate with their dogs. She is a CGC Evaluator, American Temperament Test Society Tester, Dog Scout and Therapy Dog Evaluator, is on the advisory board of the Companion Animal Sciences Institute and is also a Victoria Stilwell associate trainer.

Beth is the author of two books: Differentiating Great Lakes Area Native Wild Wolves from Dogs and Wolf-Dog Hybrids and The Evolution of Charlie Darwin - Partner with your Dog Using Positive Training.

Beth is committed to helping pet dog owners understand and work with their dogs using empathy and sound positive teaching methods. Her experience working with wolves, dogs, and wolf hybrids, and her association with both captive and wild wolf researchers, allows her a broad overview of both wolf and dog behavior.

Beth lives in Michigan, USA with her husband Bob and four very talented but eccentric dogs.

Ken McCort Biography

____________________________________________________________

Ken McCort owns and operates Four Paws training center in Doylestown, Ohio. Along with his wife, Marilyn, a veterinarian, he lives with 6 dogs, 7 cats, 8 large birds, 2 goats, a pony and 4 llamas. In his profession, he works with animals with behavioral concerns. Most clients and animals are acquired by referred from veterinarians or other clients. He has been training animals full time and on a one-on-one basis since 1986. Currently, he works with dogs, cats, birds and llamas. In addition to his business, Ken is a certified master instructor with the Delta Society's Pet Partner program. Not only does he evaluate and certify animal/handler teams to visit in hospitals, nursing homes and many other areas, but he also helped to develop and now teaches the Licensed Team Evaluator Course given by the Delta Society both nationally and internationally.

Currently Ken is working with 15 hospitals that have visiting animal programs including the "Doggie Brigade" at Children¹s Hospital Medical Center of Akron, OH. Ken has taught courses on animal behavior at the University of Akron and Columbus State University. He has presented before the Midwest Veterinary Conference, the Society of Anthrozoologists, the Delta Society, Tufts University Animal Exposition, and many other animal related groups. In addition, Wolf Park in Battleground, Indiana, which is a research facility that studies wolf behavior, utilizes Ken for some of its presentations, and has allowed him to train with their wolves for several years.

Jan Martin McGuire Biography
____________________________________________________________

Jan Martin McGuire is recognized as one of the top wildlife artists in the world today. She has been painting professionally for 25 years. During this time she has studied with many artists including Robert Bateman, Carl Brenders and John Seerey-Lester. Jan has incorporated many of their techniques into her own style, and she will be sharing these with the seminar participants. There will be opportunities for constructive and gentle personal critiques of participants’ artwork by Jan.

Jan’s work has appeared in many magazines including a recent cover and feature in Wildlife Art News and Southwest Art. Her paintings have hung in many prestigious venues including the Smithsonian Museum, London’s Natural History Museum, National Geographic Society and Gilcrease Art Museum of Natural History. She has also had a one-person show at the Dallas Museum of Natural History and Woolaroc Museum. Jan has had her paintings included in many Birds In Art exhibits at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum as well as most of the Society of Animal Artists ‘Art and the Animal’ exhibits. Most recently she had her first solo show in New York. Painting Safari: Jan Martin McGuire’s scenes from the African wild hung in the corporate gallery of Forbes Magazine on 5th Ave. in New York, March 21-May 3, 2008.

Her work is in many private and corporate galleries worldwide including Forbes Magazine, Peregrine Fund/World Center for Birds of Prey and Raymond James Corporate Offices in Florida.

Clive Wynne Biography
____________________________________________________________

Dr. Clive D. L. Wynne is a professor of psychology at the University of Florida and Director of Research at Wolf Park. He has been studying cognition in dogs and other canids for some years and will be teaching a one-day seminar at Wolf Park discussing the origins of the domestic dog. He has been visiting Wolf Park regularly with his crew of assistants to do cognitive studies on our wolves, to compare to his dog studies.

To learn more about Dr. Wynne's research, visit www.caninecognition.com.

Copyright © 2010-2012 Wolf Park, Inc. All rights reserved.
Photography provided by Monty Sloan unless otherwise indicated.
Privacy Policy - Terms and Conditions