McMillan Animal Behavior
125 Bowens Drive, Mars Hill NC
212-203-2896
About Trish
Certified Pet Behavior Professional
Looking for an experienced, certified behavior professional in the Asheville area to help you with your pet’s behavior or training problems?
Trish McMillan holds a Master’s degree in Animal Behavior from the University of Exeter in England, and is a certified professional dog trainer (through CCPDT). She specializes in training and behavior modification work using positive reinforcement with dogs, cats, and horses.
Animal Shelter Behavior Expert
Trish started in animal welfare as a volunteer in the mid 1990’s. Over nearly eight years of employment with the ASPCA, Trish gained a wide variety of experience in the field of animal behavior. For three years she was the director of the animal behavior department at the ASPCA’s New York City shelter, helping staff, volunteers, and adopters work with animals, many of them from a background of neglect or abuse. Trish has also helped assess and rehabilitate animals from cruelty, hoarding, and dogfighting cases, as well as pets rescued from natural disasters. In addition to writing for the ASPCA’s Virtual Pet Behaviorist and other publications, she helped create and present several very popular webinars on dog and cat behavior and handling for ASPCA Pro. Trish also runs an online shelter behavior mentorship through Shelter Behavior Hub twice a year. She has spoken nationally and internationally on shelter behavior issues, and also offers in-person and remote consulting services.
Extensive Training and Behavior Background With Dogs, Cats and Horses
Prior to her work with the ASPCA, Trish managed dog daycares, volunteered in animal shelters, taught obedience classes, and worked with board-and-train dogs in her home. She has also trained and shown horses in various disciplines, and has been incorporating clicker training in her equine work for many years now. Trish has also worked with cats with behavior problems, and enjoys helping our feline friends have more enriched lives through clicker training as well.
Trish presents and consults nationally and internationally on canine, feline and equine behavior as well as on sheltering topics.
Pibble Hill
Pibble Hill is Trish’s little farm in Mars Hill, North Carolina. She currently shares her life with an assortment of animal friends of five species. She offers in-person dog training on location, with plenty of interesting distractions and socialization experiences
