Pia Silvani, CPDT,
 CABC
Pia's love of teaching began over 30 years ago as a private
fitness trainer, dance instructor, and swimming and track and
field coach for the Special Olympics.
She was also Regional Clinician for an international
aerobics corporation where she trained new instructors in the
field. After 13
years of paralegal/office management work, she decided to make
her part-time teaching career a full-time dream. She combined her love of teaching people with her other
fondness--dogs.
Pia is Director of Training and Behavior at St. Hubert's
Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey.
The nonprofit organization’s Dog Training School
offers one of the largest and most comprehensive training
programs in the United States. Pia has developed various
courses focusing on positive, reward-based techniques, which
are extremely effective in the enhancement of the human-animal
bond. The result
of her efforts is an astounding 100+ classes per week, which
includes eight levels of pet training classes, specialty
courses designed for dogs with extreme behavioral problems and
much more. She
has written six training manuals, which are being used around
the country as a resource guide for other trainers.
Pia also developed a behavior department and conducts
private consultations specializing in aggressive and
anxiety-related problems for dogs and cats.
She contributes behavior articles for the shelter's
newsletter and library and has been featured many times in
national and international publications.
Pia has made numerous guest appearances on television
and radio and is called upon frequently to lecture all over
the United States as well as Canada, Japan, Belgium and
Bermuda. She shares her expertise with various shelters to
assist them in improving and expanding their programs.
Pia’s newly published book, Raising Puppies and Kids Together - A Guide for Parents, was voted
in the top three parenting books for a Franklin D. Roosevelt Foundation Award. She
is a contributor to several other published books including:
Professional
Standards for Dog Trainers:
Effective, Humane Principles, sponsored by Delta
Society, The Dog Trainer's Resource, published by Dogwise, as well as The
Dog Behavior Answer Book by Storey Books Publications.
Other accomplishments:
-
Member of the American Humane Association Task Force for
Humane Dog Training
-
Business Practice chairperson of the Delta Guidelines for
Humane Dog Training
-
Past V.P. of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and
charter member
-
Restructured the training curriculum for over 500 PETsMART
stores in North
America and part of the educational team who educated the
trainers
-
Staff instructor with Dogs of Course Instructor Training
Courses (www.dogsofcourse.com)
-
Telecourse instructor for Animal Behavior Associates (www.animalbehaviorassociates.com)
-
Past Board Advisor to the National Association of
Professional Pet Sitters
-
Subject Matter Expert and past V.P. of the National
Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers
Pia shares her home with her husband, Marty, as well as
their 9-year-old Belgian Tervuren, Lance and his 3-year-old
daughter, Guinn. Pia
competes in Obedience, Rally-O, Agility, and plays around with
Freestyle.
Pia is an upbeat, gifted teacher.
Affiliations:
Publications:
-
Raising Puppies and Kids Together:
A Guide for Parents TFH Publications,
Neptune City, N.J.
-
The Dog Trainer’s Resource – The APDT Chronicle of the
Dog Collection, Dogwise Publishing, Wenatchee, WA
-
The Dog Behavior Answer book – Practical Insights &
Proven Solutions for Your Canine Questions – Storey
Publishing, North Adams, MA
-
Staff Instructor for Instructor Training Course run by Dogs
of Course
- www.dogsofcourse.com
-
Telecourse: Becoming
a Better Instructor - www.animalbehaviorassociates.com
-
Videos of lecture tours by Tawzer Videos - www.tawzervideos.com
-
St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center - www.sthuberts.org
-
The Chronicle – Association of Pet Dog Trainers
newsletter
Contact Information:
Pia Silvani, CPDT,
Director of Training and Behavior
St. Hubert's Dog Training School
22 Prospect Street
Madison, New Jersey 07940
(973) 377-0116 Ext. 223
psilvani@sthuberts.org
www.sthuberts.org |
