Terena Thomas, BS, CPDT-KA, CEIP

Terena Thomas, BS, CPDT-KA, CEIP

Terena Thomas began successfully training and competing with dogs as a child. Now, with more than two decades of running the Canine Country School she has refined her skills at successfully instructing, both animals and their humans effectively without fear, intimidation or pain for all species.

Growing up as a birth child in a therapeutic foster family, she learned the importance of respecting life. She say first hand how neglect, violence and intimidation had negatively affected the children in her home but she witnessed that animals softened the often angry demeanor of the foster kids - the animals were a conduit for healing the human spirit from trauma.

The children changed Terena’s life, but it was an experience as a twelve year old while teaching the forced retrieve to her beloved German Shepherd Dog “IQ” that changed her future. When the ear-pinch technique was presented as the “only training option”, Terena began searching elsewhere for guidance, and then she discovered the writings of Karen Pryor. Terena and “IQ” won the Colorado State Championship soon after that, and the seed of training with positive methods was planted.

Terena developed and modified equine lessons to benefit her high-risk brothers and sisters. The riding program evolved and was tested for effectiveness, and implemented into equine assisted activities across the nation and published as, It’s Not Just Horsing Around With Defiant Kids.

Terena earning her Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and co-authored the story of her family in, Dandelion On My Pillow, Butcher Knife Beneath.  

Speaking publicly about training and integrating animals into youth treatment programs has taken Terena around the world. Formal education gives Terena the knowledge, while experience adds passion and realism. She performs with her menagerie and speaks publicly on behalf of all man’s domesticated best friends - and how their very existence improves our lives on so many levels.

The Small Business Development Center (an SBA program) awarded her the 2003 WIRED award: Willpower, Initiative, Resolve, Enthusiasm and Determination, for her work on an apprentice training business plan. The resulting training company, Animal Behavior Academy teaches multiple facets within the animal world. Apprenticeship openings are full more than a year in advance.

She is a CGC Evaluator, Therapy Dog International, Inc Certified Evaluator, authorized instructor for the American Red Cross, a registered therapeutic horseback riding instructor with NARHA and certified as an Equine Interaction Professional by the CBEIP. Sharing Terena’s life on her farm is her adoring husband, Jack and their four-legged kids: a myriad of dogs, plethora of cats, Scottish Highland cattle and a herd of Arabian horses.

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