Terry Ryan is one of the most recognizable names in the dog training world. President of Legacy Canine Behavior and Training, Terry lectures and conducts workshops around the world. She is a best-selling author whose Coaching People To Train Their Dogs is a staple on dog trainers’ book shelves. Terry’s programs for dog trainers, including the famous Chicken Camps, are attended by trainers from across the country as well as by international students.
Terry competed internationally in obedience; nationally in tracking. She is an American Kennel Club (AKC) obedience trial Judge Emeritus.
Terry and her staff teach community classes including Puppy’s Head Start, Pet Dog Manners and several different continuing education courses such as agility, freestyle, scent work and training games. She also provides private consultation concerning behavior issues.
Legacy’s Training Center on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington hosts several long-term international courses. Numerous times a year Terry teaches the Karen Pryor Clicker Training Academy, Legacy’s Chicken Training Camps I-V and the Terry Ryan instructor’s course, “Coaching People to Train Their Dogs”. Many of the courses taught at Legacy’s Training Center involve training chickens as a science-based exercise in classical and operant conditioning. The students are then taught how to transfer those skills to training dogs.
Terry has had long-term contracts to create and instruct dog training courses in England, Japan and Australia. Periodically she teaches at several locations in North America, Europe and Asia.
Terry Ryan has maintained membership and held various offices in local, national and international organizations including past president and Life Member of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. She is a charter member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Terry was one of six chairpersons who wrote the national standards for humane dog training funded by the American Humane Association in 2002 which was later published at Guidelines for Humane Dog Training by the Delta Society. Terry also played a principal role in creating and teaching a national dog training program for the PetsMart chain of pet shops. She’s trained and exhibited her own dogs in conformation, obedience, tracking and other dog sports.
Terry writes or has written for several national dog magazines including the American Kennel Club Gazette, Dog Fancy, Off Lead, and Clean Run Agility magazines. She has written over 300 articles on dog training. Her books and booklets include: Puppy Primer, 1990; Leadership Education for Anyone with a Dog, 1992, 2003; Games People Play… To Train Their Dogs, 1995; Life Beyond Block Heeling, 1996; The Toolbox for Remodeling Your Problem Dog, 1998; The Bark Stops Here, 2000; Outwitting Dogs, 2004; Sounds Good CD series, 2006; Textbook for instructors: Coaching People to Train Their Dogs, 2005, 2008. Terry has a signature series of dog training products.
Terry was appointed to the behavior and training advisory board of the American Humane Society in 2010.