Author: ACOAM

ACOAM’s 2025 Day of Training

Registration is now OPEN for ACOAM’s 2025 Day of Training: From Signals to Safety – Canine & Feline Behavior in Animal Welfare, instructed by Trish McMillan.

This training seminar will be available at two separate locations on Tuesday, October 7th and Wednesday, October 8th.

To register for this seminar please use to the QR code in the flyer, or click here.

Instructor:

Trish McMillan
M.S. in Animal Behavior
CPDT-KA, CDBC, ACCBC

 Trish McMillan is a certified professional dog trainer  and certified dog behavior counselor who holds a Master’s degree in Animal Behavior from the University of Exeter in England.  She specializes in training and behavior modification work with dogs, cats, and horses. She is an internationally recognized speaker, sharing her expertise in behavior modification, defensive handling, and animal welfare to trainers, shelter workers, veterinarians & vet techs, and dog daycares across the country and around the world.

Trish spent 7 years with the ASPCA, where she gained a wide variety of experience in the field of animal behavior. For three years she was the director of the animal behavior department at the ASPCA’s New York City shelter, helping staff, volunteers, and adopters work with animals and make great matches. Trish has also helped assess and rehabilitate animals from cruelty, hoarding, and dogfighting cases, as well as pets rescued from natural disasters. In addition to writing for the ASPCA’s Virtual Pet Behaviorist and other publications, she helped create and present several very popular webinars on dog and cat behavior and handling for the ASPCA Pro website.

ACOAM’s 2023 Day of Training

Registration is now OPEN for ACOAM’s 2023 Day of Training: The Forensics of Dog Aggression, instructed by Dr. James Crosby.

This training seminar will be available at two separate locations on Thursday, November 2nd and Friday, November 3rd.

To register for this seminar please use to the QR code in the flyer, or use the following link:

ACOAM’s 2023 Day of Training

Meet the Instructor:

Dr. Crosby is a Certified Behavior Consultant, a recognized expert in canine behavior, dog bites and attacks, and shelter management and operations. He is a retired Police Lieutenant from Jacksonville, Florida, and former Animal Control Division Manager in Bay County, Florida. He has combined his police experience and his animal specific experience to train Animal Control and Police agencies on animal issues, including dangerous dog cases and criminal cruelty investigations. Dr. Crosby has extensive experience in animal crime investigation and teaches crime scene and other investigative procedures to Law Enforcement and Animal Control agencies. Dr. Crosby has taught the Florida Animal Control Certification curriculum and, as Director for Canine Encounters for the National Law Enforcement Center on Animal Abuse, has developed a nation-wide curriculum for Police and Law Enforcement regarding the proper use of force in canine encounters. He is a regular consultant and expert witness regarding legal cases in local, State, and US Federal Courts. Additionally, Dr. Crosby has extensive experience in animal crime investigation and teaches crime scene and other investigative procedures to Law Enforcement and Animal Control agencies. He has substantial training and experience in the investigation of animal fighting cases and has extensive experience in the evaluation and rehabilitation of former fighting dogs. He has conducted many behavioral evaluations on former fighting dogs, aggressive and dangerous dogs, and those with mild to severe dog-dog reactivity.

If you have any questions regarding this training, please contact our Training Committee at training@acoam.org

Award nominations are now open!

ACOAM has been proud to recognize hard working individuals and organizations within the field of animal control and animal welfare at our Annual Meeting & Banquet.

We are now offering online nomination forms for a number of awards, including:

I.M.P.A.C.T. Award
Paul Murphy Golden Bone Award
Richard “Dick” Stein Award
Shining Star
Certificates of Appreciation
Organization of the Year
Animal Control Officer of the Year (awarded by Animal Rescue League of Boston and MSPCA-Angell)
… and more!

A description for each award, including nomination qualifications, and our new nomination forms can be found by clicking here.

We look forward to hearing your stories of all of the individuals deserving of recognition!