Tammy Donaldson

Tammy McCormick Donaldson, M.S., Ph.D., CAAB, was born in the Midwestern United States where she spent endless hours riding horses and playing with dogs. She was first introduced to the study of animal behavior and animal learning at Iowa State University in the Department of Psychology. She went on to pursue graduate degrees in Animal Behavior at the Center for the Study of Animal Well-Being at Washington State University (WSU). While studying at WSU, she trained in Clinical Animal Behavior at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital Behavior Clinic. She has been a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist since 2003. Her research areas include: play behavior as an indicator of well-being in piglets, behavioural evaluation for the detection of aggression in dogs and welfare of horses in equine rescue. Her passion is welfare of all animals in rescue and has volunteered at and served on the board of a number of rescues including, president of The Horse Protection League (Arvada, CO). Tammy consults on horse and dog behavior cases through her consulting business, Applied Animal Behavior Consulting. Tammy recently co-authored the book, “The Science Behind a Happy Dog-Canine Training, Thinking and Behavior” with her colleague Emma Grigg, Ph.D., CAAB. In her downtime, Tammy enjoys competing in competitive trail riding (NATRC) and expanding her knowledge in Positive Reinforcement horse training and classical dressage. She lives with her husband, daughter, three happy dogs and her lovely horse Joey in the foothills of Golden, CO.