I was invited to speak at
the APDT in Australia for their 11th annual conference! Alongside me were
Jennifer Messer, DVM and Roger Abrantes, PhD, all
speaking for 3 days – October 31 through November 2, 2008.
It was a big thrill for me to be speaking at the conference
with these two people and a huge thrill for me to be
asked to speak in the first place! Who knew my name
has traveled to “down under!”
I met Jennifer in February at the DWAA banquet, but
this was my first time meeting Roger. Both are very
lovely and very compelling speakers. I did five
presentations;
- Camp R.E.W.A.R.D. for aggressive and
reactive dogs (Parts 1 and 2),
- Setting Up Your Own
Aggressive Dog Classes,
- Juvenile Delinquent Dogs
and
- Putting Fun Into Pet Dog Classes.
Each one was
a lot of fun to do and it was great to "dress
up," knowing
that I wouldn’t
be getting accosted by muddy footprints.
This was my first time speaking to such a large crowd – about
300 people and the second time speaking
without dogs in the room! I must have done okay
because people laughed at the right moments and
everyone applauded. Of course, it could have just
been because Australians are nice and polite, but
they did purchase a ton of my books and DVDs, so
I am assuming I did alright 
The Board were all so wonderful and took great care
of me – we had a few dinners out, they catered
to my dietary needs and took care of me before and after
the conference as well. The membership was fantastic – eager,
appreciative, had a bunch of great questions and the
best part – they put
my name down at the end of last year’s conference
when asked what speakers they wanted for the next
conference!
A very special thanks goes to
Pauline Ferguson and Jacki King, both who showed
me the sights and sounds, flora and fauna of Australia.
Incredibly knowledgeable in every detail about all
things Australian – politics,
animals, birds, trees, plants, history and more. If
they came here to the US now, all I could say would
be, "yup, that’s a tree, that’s a
bush, that’s a bird, that’s a deer."
There will be more pictures to come, but these
are the ones I have available at the moment. I hope
you enjoy seeing them as much as I did! Pam (To
read the full travelogue - click
here to visit my blog!)
Click anywhere on
the screenshow to view these one at a time by clicking
the right and left arrows near the bottom.
