ABOUT DEB JONES, Ph.D
Fascinated with behavior, social psychology, and dog training for the last 30 years.
Deb Jones is a psychologist who has been training dogs for 30 years. Her academic background in behavioral & social psychology has provided a strong foundation for her understanding of learning and behavior.
In addition, her experience with a wide variety of breeds in a wide variety of dog sports and activities has given her comprehensive hands-on experience. Deb has successfully shown her own Retrievers, Papillons, Shelties, and Border Collies in obedience, agility, and rally.
She has also successfuly worked with thousands of students with a wide variety of breeds, issues, and goals.
Her books include:
- Clicker Fun
- Focus
- Puppy Focus
- The Dog Sport Skills series (written with Denise Fenzi)
- Cooperative Care: Seven Steps to Stress-Free Husbandry
- and many more…
“Never train an unfocused dog!”
— Deb Jones, Ph.D
Deb taught at Kent State University as a psychology professor for 20 years. Since 2013, she has also taught a variety of courses online at Fenzi Dog Sports Academy.
Her special interests include Focus training (which she developed with Judy Keller in the early 2000s), helping students develop solid foundation skills through her Performance Fundamentals class, shaping, retrieves, any and all trick training, and her most recent obsession, Cooperative Care for husbandry work.
What Deb Does Now
- Teaching
- Training
- Hiking
- Writing
The Current Pack (2020)
“I was totally ‘stuck’ teaching my dog a shaped retrieve. We had reached one step in the process that we could not get past. We were stalled there for months with both of us getting frustrated. I took Deb Jones’ retrieve class and she got us going almost immediately. Deb’s insight and encouragement were just what we needed. My girl is super confident in her retrieve now and just earned her Junior Hunter title!”
“Deb Jones is a talented dog trainer and educator. She has a keen eye and can quickly and astutely analyze a team and come up with suggestions for a forward-thinking training plan.
I have a sensitive dog and Deb was quick to notice small changes in her emotional state that were affecting training.
To be an effective coach, one has to be a good listener and communicator. These are major strengths of Deb Jones. If you want to understand your canine partner better, and come up with a kind, effective way of moving your training to the next level, Deb will help you on your way.”
“Hi Deb, my name is Cash, I’m an almost three years old male Tervueren, and I live in Austria with my mom. Before she knew you and your books, your FDSA classes, your podcasts and your webinars, she sometimes didn’t understand me and very often didn’t know what to do when I was stressed and didn’t feel safe and confident.
Thank you for everything you taught my mom during the last 10 months! She says that you are a wonderful instructor: supportive, patient, intelligent, knowing, and you are able to break things down into tiny little doable steps. That’s what she is trying to do with me also, and I feel much better in general, I love being with her and started to trust her. Your ideas were life changing for us. Thank you!”
“I started Deb’s class with a dog who had the skills to compete in agility but quickly worried when we got in the ring, often shutting down and unable to complete more than 4 obstacles.
She transformed Envy into a dog who is now engaged, confident and happy. We are once again successfully trialing, which is a goal I never thought we’d reach again.”