Linda Kohanov is an author, speaker, riding instructor, and horse trainer who specializes in Equine Experiential Learning and Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. In 1997, she founded Epona Equestrian Services, a Tucson-based collective of riding instructors and counselors exploring the healing potential of working with horses. In addition to formal equine-facilitated psychotherapy sessions, Epona offers equine experiential learning programs in stress reduction, parenting skills, leadership techniques, consensus-building relationship models, mindfulness, intuition, creativity, sensory awareness, and women's empowerment.

Kohanov has fifteen years experience as a radio producer and announcer and has also worked as a music critic and print journalist, writing for such publications as CD Review, Down Beat, JAZZIZ, Jazz Times, Pulse! and New Age Journal.  Her books include  Riding Between The Worlds: Expanding Our Potential through the Way of the Horse and  Spirit Horses.

She lives with her husband, composer and musician Steve Roach, and their horses outside Tucson, Arizona.  Visit her website.

Jane Brackman specializes in the cultural history of canine domestication. The author of two books about pets in 19th century America, she consults with museums and her articles appear regularly in popular publications.   She was a guide dog school administrator for several years and currently works as the Executive Officer for the California State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind, a consumer affairs board that regulates guide dog schools in California. Brackman's interest in the dog as a social science topic is a result of a unique combination of experience in a variety of disciplines including education, special education, guide dog school management, canine biology and history.  Visit her website.

Jay Kopelman is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA in September 2004, as the Special Operations Forces Liaison Officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (IMEF), Jay deployed to Iraq to train the Iraqi Special Forces. In October, he was assigned as the liaison officer to an Iraqi Army battalion, and in November they entered Fallujah to battle insurgents for control of the city. It was there that he met and adopted Lava, a five week old puppy abandoned during the during the invasion.

Following his return to the United States, based on his experiences in Iraq, Jay was asked to help train the Marines who would return to Iraq as advisors to the Iraqui armed forces and the police. He currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for advisor training at I MEF.

Jay lives in La Jolla, CA, with his wife, Pam: son Mattox; stepson Sean; their two dogs, Lava and Koda, and Cheddar the cat.  Both Jay and his wife, an anthropologist, are avid surfers who make annual pilgrimage to Costa Rica. They also spend time skiing, camping waterskiing/wakeboarding and rock climbing. Visit his website.  Watch a video of Jay and Lava.

In the scientific area he has published many research related books, a widely used textbook on sensation and perception, and over 300 research reports in professional journals. His research has covered many areas in psychology, including human vision and hearing, neuropsychology, brain laterality, handedness, birth stress, sleep, behavior genetics and cognitive processing.

He is a prolific researcher and has published over 300 items, including research reports in well respected scientific journals including; Science, Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, British Journal of Medicine, Psychological Review and others. He has also published 14 books and monographs for professionals and students.

Coren's easy-going style of interacting with peope has made him popular with the media. In addition to his national TV program on the Life Network called "Good Dog!" he has also given numerous interviews, and has been the subject of many programs and articles. Visit his website.

Though best known to the public for his series of best-selling books on dogs, Stanley Coren is also well-respected scientist and Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and completed his doctorate Psychology at Stanford. In the scientific area he has published many research related books, a widely used textbook on sensation and perception, and over 300 research reports in professional journals.

After teaching at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, in New York City, he moved to the University of British Columbia, which is located in the city of Vancouver in Canada. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology, and is also the Director of the Human Neurophysiology and Perception Laboratory there.

His research has covered many areas of in psychology, including human vision and hearing, neuropsychology, brain, laterality, handedness, birth stress, sleep, behavior genetics and cognitive processing.  He is a prolific researcher and has published over 300 items, including research reports in well respected scientific journals including  Science, Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, British Journal of Medicine, Psychological Review and others. He has also published 14 books and monographs for professionals and students.

Coren's easy-going style of interacting with people has made him popular with the media. In addition to his own national TV program on the Life Network called "Good Dog!" he has also give numerous interviews, and the been the subject of many programs and articles.  Visit his website.

After spending several years in this area of research, he founded the Animal Behavior Clinic - one of the first of its kind - at Tufts in 1986. He received an additional board certification in animal behavior from the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists. Dr. Dodman began to see clinical cases in 1987 and since 1990, he has devoted all of his time to his specialty practice of animal behavior.

Since the mid 1990s, Dr. Dodman has written The Dog Who Loved Too Much, The Cat Who Cried for Help, Dogs Behaving Badly, and If Only They Could Speak.  Puppy's First Steps: Raising a Happy, Healthy, Well-Behaved Dog by Faculty of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine Tufts University, Lawrence Lindner, and Nicholas H. Dodman will be published by Houghton Mifflin in April 2007.

Dr. Dodman is internationally recognized and sought after as a leader in his field. In addition to his four trade books, he has authored two textbooks and more than 100 articles and contributions to scientific books and journals. He appears regularly on radio and television including: 20/20, Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and many others.

A former senior editor for PetPlace.com, Dr. Dodman is currently a columnist for the American Kennel Club's quarterly publication, AKC Family Dog, where his column was nominated for 2005 "Column of the Year." Additionally, he is a Pet Expert for Time, Inc. and also writes a monthly "Expert Advice" column for LIFE magazine that is read by twelve million people. Visit his website.

Kat Albrecht is an award-winning former police bloodhound handler, crime scene investigator, search and rescue manager, and police officer turned investigative pet detective. She is the founder of Missing Pet Partnership, a national nonprofit organization working to establish community-based lost-pet services.

Kat lives in Clovis, California, with her three dogs and three cats.  Visit her website. For suggestions on how to find a lost pet, visit Missing Pet Partnership.

Traer Scott, a fine art photographer with a background in portraiture and fashion, was raised as an only child in a house full of animals. A menagerie of cats, wounded wild animals, birds, snakes and dogs were her most constant childhood companions. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with her husband and two beautiful rescued dogs.  Visit her website.

Reverend Gary Kowalski is the author of bestselling books on animals, spirituality and nature. His first volume, The Souls of Animals, which explores other species's capacities for love, creativity, and self-awareness, has been re-released from New World Library, after being translated into Chinese, German and French, and selling over 80,000 copies worldwide. His second book, Goodbye Friend: Healing Wisdom For Anyone Who Has Ever Lost A Pet, was featured in both One Spirit and the Quality Paperback Book Clubs and remains a valued resource for those grieving their animal companions.

In 2001, he published The Bible According To Noah: Theology As If Animals Mattered (Lantern Books), a critical look at our religious traditions and the need for a more earth-friendly scripture. Most recently, his book Science and the Search for God (Lantern, 2003) probes discoveries in physics and life sciences that point toward a new estimate of humanity's place within the wider universe.

A graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Divinity School, Rev. Kowalski is an ordained minister currently serving the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vermont.

Lori A Greene, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been helping people grieve the loss of their pets for more then twenty years. In 1986, Greene cofounded the San Diego County Pet Bereavement Program, one of the few programs in the Unities States offering continuous support for those who have lost companion animals. Dr Greene conducts frequent pet-loss support groups, and she speaks nationally and internationally on the topic of pet loss and the human animal bond. She maintains a private practice in San Diego, CA. Visit her website

Randy Grim is founder and President of Stray Rescue in St. Louis, Missouri. In October 2002, he received the first Guardian Award for his work with Stray Rescue. Grim and his volunteers have received the Red Cross Life Saver Award for rescuing a dog wrapped in 30 pound chains and drenched in battery acid, and the St. Louis FOCUS Award for innovative solutions.

Grim is the subject of the critically acclaimed book, The Man Who Talks to Dogs: America's Wild Street Dogs and Their Unlikely Savior and the author of Miracle Dog: How Quentin Survived the Gas Chamber To Speak for Animals on Death Row. Animal Planet, National Geographic, People Magazine, The Today Show, and numerous other media have featured Grim. Visit his website   Listen to Randy's radio show Animal Tails.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Stray Rescue of St. Louis

Randy Grim is founder and President of Stray Rescue in St. Louis, Missouri. In October 2002, he received the first Guardian Award for his work with Stray Rescue. Grim and his volunteers have received the Red Cross Life Saver Award for rescuing a dog wrapped in 30 pound chains and drenched in battery acid, and the St. Louis FOCUS Award for innovative solutions.

Grim is the subject of the critically acclaimed book, The Man Who Talks to Dogs: America's Wild Street Dogs and Their Unlikely Savior and the author of Miracle Dog: How Quentin Survived the Gas Chamber To Speak for Animals on Death Row. Animal Planet, National Geographic, People Magazine, The Today Show, and numerous other media have featured Grim. Visit his website   Listen to Randy's radio show Animal Tails.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Stray Rescue of St. Louis