The Association of
Professional Dog Trainers
Sue Sternberg
Sue has over 35 years of dog behavior experience, including as a dog control officer, kennel and animal care technician at various shelters, dog trainer, behavior counselor, instructor, temperament evaluator, boarding kennel owner and veterinary assistant. She is a successful competitor in a variety of dog sports and a teacher of dog trainers. In 1993, she started her own shelter programs to improve the lives of shelter dogs.
Sue has two main goals in life: to make the shelter dog world a better place and to make public dog parks safer and more fun for dogs who must use them. To do this, Sue travels and educates people on canine communication, body language and behavior.
She is the author of Successful Dog Adoption (Howell Book House) and numerous other books–most recently: How Old is This Dog? Sue has produced many DVDs on the dog behavior and aggression. They can all be found at Dogwise.com. Sue created an iPhone app, The Dog Park Assistant, which is a video repository of healthy and risky dog behaviors, to ensure that dogs are staying safe, not practicing unhealthy behaviors and that their humans remain vigilant and involved.
When not traveling and lecturing, Sue can be found hiking and exploring the high desert southwest with her two wonderful, adopted heeler mixes. While her dogs like to run and seek out lizards, Sue seeks out dinosaur fossils. Sue is also an accomplished fiddle player, loves a good cup of Earl Grey tea and is a major Star Trek fan.
Bill Hatherley
I love people and dogs and now that I am retired, my life focus is on these two treasures. I worked in corporate America for 40-plus years where my business degrees and certifications were more appropriate. I now live in Atlanta, Ga., and volunteer extensively with the American Red Cross. I also help train and socialize service dogs with the Canine Assistants organization in Milton, Ga. I am totally humbled to see a dog I have worked with being placed with a person with mobility issues and to see how that dog changes the life of the recipient. I am a member of several therapy groups where my dogs and regularly visit hospitals, children’s centers, retirement homes and adult day care centers. I am a member of a non-profit group called Hope Animal Assisted Crisis Response and I partner with my specialty-trained dog to provide comfort to people in high stress situations such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, shootings and wildfires.
I dabble with landscape, people and pet photography. I am also licensed in ham radio and I volunteer at many run and bike races, providing communication assistance and helping to run the various events. I frequently volunteer at the Peachtree Road Race where 60,000 plus people run a 10K race.
I have been attending the APDT conference for eight years. I joined the conference task force as a volunteer and have been leading the Border Collie Brigade for the last six years. I absolutely love this highly rewarding work! My team and I have the opportunity to help volunteers increase their conference experience by supporting conference attendees, speakers and staff. The BCs get to interact with other trainers and network and enjoy a fuller conference experience.
