Susan Smith has always had animals in her life. As a kid she had dogs and cats, and because she lived in the bush of Alaska during her young years, she also often had wild, wounded animals in the house. Her first dog, Spot, was with the family for two years before she was born and died when she was twelve. 

In 1995 Sue sold her retail business and started thinking about what she wanted to do for a living. She knew she wanted something she enjoyed -- "That old mid-life crisis!" -- and it was fairly easy to narrow it down to dogs. Once she made that decision, she apprenticed under another positive reinforcement trainer and started reading every book she could get her hands on.

After attending the San Francisco SPCA’s Academy for Dog Trainers, which is a six-week intensive program run by Jean Donaldson, she hung out her shingle and the rest is history. Her goal is to help dogs stay with their original human family through education, training and behavior modification, as well as help educate trainers.

Sue is an active, professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers, graduated from the first class held at the Academy for Dog Trainers, was in the first group of trainers certified by the Certification Council for Pet Dog Trainers and is a certified and founding member of the International Association of Dog Behavior Counsultants. She also attends seminars and workshops around the country to keep up with the latest news and breakthroughs in training and behavior modification. In 2004, Sue was named APDT Member of the Year in recognition of her hard work and dedication to the profession of dog training.

Sue belongs to several e-mail discussion groups. She founded and moderates the PositiveGunDogs e-mail discussion group which promotes positive reinforcement training for hunting dogs and she moderates, co-moderates and belongs to numerous other lists.

Sue regularly contributes to the award-winning APDT newsletter as well as other professional journals, has been published numerous times in the newspaper addressing behavioral and training issues, and The Bark magazine.

Sue consults, free of charge, with potential adopters referred by the local shelter on dog-issues they should be aware of, and occasionally fosters shelter dogs with behavior problems for analysis.  

Sue also gained a great deal of experience and knowledge when she accepted the job of Director of Animal Haven Acres Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Center which is a dog sanctuary in upstate New York . Sue’s job was to start up the Sanctuary and assimilate the dogs into the environment. The dogs that came to the Sanctuary were unadoptable and had many problematic issues, including serious aggression. Sue stayed in this position for two and a half years. She then decided to return to Austin for various reasons – not the least of which is the weather!