Introducing Susan Tripp, BA, MS
Director of Education, Practice Consultant
Syndicated Pet Behavior Columnist

Susan Tripp earned her California Life Teaching Credential from San Jose State University.  Always an advocate for pets, as a SJSU Resident Director, Susan was able to change the housing department rules by adding her first cat, Toby, to her dormitory residence. Soon, a Resident Director dog, and a Floor Advisor rabbit were added. Susan likes to point out that her teaching credential is appropriately - K9 - kindergarten through ninth grade. 

After a few years teaching in public schools, Susan taught for eight years at Hillbrook, a private school in Los Gatos, and began additional coursework in Early Childhood Education. She added her new puppy and Netherlands Dwarf rabbit to the pre-kindergarten classroom and curriculum, initiated a parent education class, authored a book, and began speaking at regional and state conferences. As an author and speaker, Susan was a guest on KABC television and radio, as well as others. She become the Program Director for a local cable program, People in Progress.

Interested in both human and pet behavior, Susan joined husband Rolan Tripp in their first pet-related business, TeleVet, Veterinary Telecommunications, in 1985. As Executive Director for TeleVet, Susan was instrumental in expanding the business to serve five Northern California Counties with veterinary referred clients for canine behavior and optimal health lectures by Dr. Rolan Tripp, and puppy socialization classes provided by seven top trainers in the area, supervised by trainer Steve Grunow (apprenticed under Dr. Ian Dunbar's Sirius Puppy Training, now working for Guide Dogs for the Blind).

Susan created the curriculum for the off-leash puppy socialization classes,  off and on leash classes "puppy graduate" and "puppy honors" classes, all held in the WellPet (now Petco) stores. Class tuition included a series of booklets by Dr. Ian Dunbar, William Campbell, and audio cassettes by Dr. Dog, Dr. Dennis Fetko.

Susan and Rolan owned and managed the La Mirada Animal Hospital for ten years before selling to VCA. During those ten years, Susan developed new staff phase training, Animal Care Counselor Units and Certifications, implemented management by statistics, and helped Rolan transform their practice into "The Cookie Place" and  "The Puppy Place!" by offering community seminars, a volunteer program, puppy kindergarten classes, daycare, deluxe boarding and gentle grooming. Susan taught the Puppy Kindergarten classes from 1991-1997. With innovative programs in place,  the practice grew from 400K to 1.25 million in ten years. From there, Susan developed her consulting business, Putting Principles into Practice with her first client, Dr. Gary Burge, founder of National Pet Centers. Susan earned a Veterinary Economics Merit Award for an article published on client service in 1993.

Susan has attended lectures and workshops by leading trainers and behaviorists since 1986. In 1989, she joined the Tustin Study Group, now the Southern California Dog Trainers Forum, a Southern California network of trainers that met monthly to share cases and knowledge.

Susan was presented with the Los Angeles County Quality and Productivity Award for initiating a monthly Pet Adoptions cooperative with La Mirada Animal Hospital, L.A. County Animal Care and Control, and Petco. Susan selected hundreds of orphaned puppies and kittens over a period of five years and placed them into new homes with early behavior training and health care information.

As a community volunteer, Susan has served as a La Mirada Chamber of  Commerce Board Member, Community Presbyterian Church Elder, Co-Chair of the Communitywide Disaster Preparedness Committee, Coordinator of the La Mirada Neighborhood Watch, and as the La Mirada Kiwanis Club Sponsored Youth Leader. She received the Norwalk-La Mirada School Board Superintendent's Community Award, the City of La Mirada Volunteers in Action Judges and Innovative Leadership Awards. Susan was elected to the La Mirada City Council in 2001, and was honored to serve as Mayor prior to her re-election in March 2005.

Susan is co-author of Positive Pet Parenting™ and Error-Free Puppy Raising™ Tips  in addition to writing and editing web content for AnimalBehavior.Net, Susan is a syndicated pet behavior columnist for Pet Connection Universal Press.

In 2007, Susan founded Positive Pet Parenting Saves Lives 501c3 to provide free education to shelter volunteers and teams and send home adopted pets with pet parents enrolled in Positive Pet Parenting Courses. The goal is to prevent pet neglect, abuse and surrender by providing behavior education and services during the critical period of adjusting to a new home.

Susan's passion is creating kinder, gentler experiences for pets in the veterinary practice, shelter and home setting through pet behavior education and services. The goal of Positive Pet Parenting Courses is to improve relationships between people and pets through convenient, email, at-home education.