I’m an English professor and part-time dog trainer.  As the former, I direct the First-Year Seminar Program at Lafayette College, and I work on the “long” 19th-century, especially the circulation of reading and writing practices.  That work reflects more generally a fundamental interest in learning (really in how learning happens)–one that took an “animal turn,” when my husband and I adopted our first dog and realized we had a lot to learn about communication across the species divide. In addition to writing and teaching about writing, literacy, literary history and related topics, I write and teach about animals; I train and occasionally compete with my dogs in various dog sports; I serve as faculty adviser to Lafayette College’s Dog House LLC, and I’m a volunteer trainer at my local shelter.  When I can (when my schedule permits), I take some private clients.  (I keep a Facebook page for clients here.)

I earned my trainer certification in 2010 from Kutztown University’s program in Canine Training and Management (the program has since moved to Carroll Community College in Westminster MD).   In order to stay current, I regularly attend workshops on dog behavior and training.  (Scroll down a bit to see the list.)  I’m also a member of the Pet Professional Guild and the Animal Training Academy.

I created this blog to have a space for exploring my interest in animals—especially dogs. (Previous blogs of mine can be found here and here.)  I’m interested in thinking about how dogs and other animals learn, how that learning is represented in language and discourse, how we (humans) represent our relationships with other animals and, consequently, our moral obligations to them.

Bianca Falbo

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CONTINUING EDUCATION

Instructor	Topic	When & Where
Dr. Kathy Murphy, Behavior Vets	Training is More than Doing – Thinking Beyond the Quadrants	Online webinar 3/11/23
Heartdog International Wellbeing Summit	Various topics	December 2022, online conference
FDSA	The Less Obvious Signs of Stress	PPP Workshop July 27-Aug 7, 2019.
FDSA	Training Camp 2019	Lebanon PA. May 17-19, 2019.
Karen Pryor Academy	Clicker Expo	Washington DC. March 21-24, 2019.
Pat Miller	Real Solutions for Canine Behavior Problems.	Dog Training Club of Chester County. Exton PA. Sept 24-25, 2016.
Jean Donaldson	Negative Punishment, Negative Reinforcement and the Humane Hierarchy	PPG webinar.  June 22, 2016.
Dr. Susan Friedman	Living and Learning with Animals	Dog Training Club of Chester County.  Exton PA. June 11-12, 2016.
Karen Pryor Academy	Clicker Expo	March 17-20 2016
Chirag Patel	Expanding your Force Free Dog Training Toolkit	Dog i-box webinar.  February 8, 2016.
Pam Dennison	Cleaning Up Your Act:  The Fussy and Meticulous Behaviors Needed for Competition/Rally, Parts 1 and 2	February-March 2014, online course.
Pam Dennison	Magic of Shaping	11 January 2014 Let’s Speak Dog, Nazareth PA
Denise Fenzi	Relationship Building Through Play	20 November 2013-9 January 2014, online course
Rise Van Fleet	The Human Half of Dog Training	9-10 November 2013, Positive Motivation Dog Training, Washington, NJ
Grisha Stewart	The Power of Choices:  Behavior Adjustment Training for Aggression, Frustration and Fear	20-21 April 2013 Let’s Speak Dog, Nazareth PA
Denise Fenzi	Heeling Games	26 May-9 July 2013, online course
Renee Hall	Treibball Workshop	5 January 2013 Let’s Speak Dog, Nazareth, PA
Ken Ramirez	Making the Impossible Possible!	21-22 July 2012 Dog Training Club of Chester County, Exton PA
Suzanne Clothier	Relationship Centered Training	25-27 May 2012
Nicole Wilde	Helping Fearful Dogs	6 August 2011
Pam Dennison	Managing the Multiple Dog Household, Parts 1 & 2	August-September 2011, online course
Kathy Sdao	So Many Choices:  A Workshop for Trainers and Dogs	20-21 November 2010
Ali Brown	Reactive Dogs Workshop	31 October 2010