Kyra Sundance

Kyra Sundance

Kyra Sundance: dog trainer, performer, international bestselling author

KYRA SUNDANCE is a world-acclaimed Stunt Dog Show performer, dog trainer, and internationally bestselling author, based in Palmdale, California.

Kyra's world-acclaimed acrobatic Stunt Dog Team performs on premier stages internationally at circuses, professional sports halftime shows, and on television shows such as The Tonight Show (twice), Ellen, ET, Worldwide Fido Awards, Animal Planet, Showdog Moms & Dads, and more. Kyra and her dogs starred in Disney’s Underdog stage show, and starred in a command performance in Marrakech for the King of Morocco.

Kyra is nationally ranked in competitive dog sports, works as a set trainer for dog actors, and lectures for international professional dog organizations.

Kyra authored many popular books including the international besteller 101 Dog Tricks (translated into 15 languages), 51 Puppy Tricks, The Dog Tricks and Training Workbook,The Dog Rules, and 101 Ways to Do More With Your Dog.

Kyra stars in several DVDs including Best of 101 Dog Tricks and Best Puppy Tricks which are sold at Petsmart and Petco.

As an animal spokesperson, Kyra serves as a media pet expert, hosts animal events and makes media and celebrity appearances.

Kyra is a marathon runner, former gymnast and windsurfing instructor for Club Med, a graduate of UCLA, was a technology director for Learning Tree International, and is a partner in a media technology firm.

Her current projects include a book about dog sports, and a DVD about ways to get fit along with your dog.

Kyra and her Weimaraners Chalcy and Jadie live with Kyra’s husband on a ranch in California’s Mojave desert.

Kyra's Training Philosophy:

 

Kyra Sundance—world acclaimed Stunt Dog Team performer, nationally ranked dog sports competitor, and movie dog trainer—holds the human-dog bond at the heart of her training method. She cares for her dogs with tenderness, trains them thoroughly, and inspires them to excel. Each behavior we train is like laying an individual brick of a structure. But bricks are laid upon a foundation, and if the foundation is weak, the entire structure will be weak. Kyra’s revolutionary “whole-dog” approach builds the solid foundation upon which real training can stand. It looks beyond sterile training methods that manipulate a dog solely through reward and punishment, and instead advocates humane behavior modification techniques—which don’t involve intimidation nor escalating corrections—to establish expectations without compromising love. Kyra’s method does not suppress behavior and teach subservience. It instead fosters confident, happy dogs who are motivated to do the right thing rather than fearful of making a mistake. Kyra shows us how to develop joyful relationships with dogs who balance enthusiasm and self-control.

Summary:
Kyra’s revolutionary “whole-dog” approach to dog training fosters confident, happy dogs who are motivated to do the right thing rather than fearful of making a mistake. Kyra's positive and force-free methods rely upon lure-and-reward training, marker training, bridge and target, and shaping. Instead of traditional pain and intimidation techniques, Kyra teaches discipline with the kinder "pressure and release" method popularized by the gentle horse whisperers of the natural horsemanship movement.

www.kyra.com