Jill Marie O'Brien, CPDT, Director
Animal Training & Behavior

Jill Marie has been working with and training dogs for twenty years and has been with spcaLA for more than 10. Her accomplishments include the creation and ongoing development of the agency's first Animal Training & Behavior Department.  

During her tenure with spcaLA, Jill Marie has taught Humane Education classes to inner-city youth. As part of her involvement with Humane education, she wrote the Dog Training Curriculum for the T.L.C program, a nationally known program.

Jill-Marie also created the H.E.A.L. (Helping Enhance Animals' Lives) program. The H.E.A.L. program trains spcaLA volunteers and staff about training and socializing the dogs at the shelter to increase the animals' chances for long-term successful adoptions. In addition, her experience and knowledge have enabled her to develop the STANDARDS Program, a behavior assessment protocol that helps spcaLA gather critical behavior information on dogs to facilitate adoptions and life-long placements.

Jill Marie's twenty years of dog training experience includes Schutzhund, agility, tracking, Animal Assisted Therapy, and detection training.  Her training philosophy is one of building strong working relationships and bonds between dogs and their handlers using positive, fun and motivational techniques.  She is a strong advocate of ongoing education and development of skills. Not only has she attended many educational conferences and courses, but she has also organized many educational events featuring some of the world's most sought-after lecturers and behavior experts.

Jill Marie competes and trains regularly in agility with her dog, Beckett. Recently, they were nationally certified as a Narcotics Detection Team.  In addition to her work with Beckett, Jill and her other dogs have earned many training titles and have competed at the USDAA's Grand Prix of Dog Agility two years in a row.