LIABCS

Long Island Animal Behavior Consulting Services	Contact: info@liabc.com
Making positive changes one paw at a time...	Phone: 646-712-2949

Dr. Pezzanite writes:

I was raised in a multi-pet household since birth. My father adored pets, a fact known by all of our neighbors because somehow my front porch wound up being the neighborhood drop off for all of the local strays. We had cats, dogs, and my father had a pigeon coupe on our roof. Our pets were always treated as members of our family. I attribute my love of animals and my compassion for them to my father.

I never planned on becoming an animal behaviorist as a child. I never even knew what a behaviorist was until I was in college. All it took was one visit to an animal shelter, where I saw a dog spinning in his cage, to realize that I needed to do something to help. I had already been studying animal behavior when I it hit me, “I could join my studies in biological psychology with my studies in animal behavior to become a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist.” All I needed was the hands-on experience. As luck would have it, the ASPCA had recently established a 2-year postdoctoral behavior internship program for which I applied and got the job. The experience was incredible and prepared me for opening up my own behavior consulting practice. I love what I do and I’m dedicated to helping improve the behavior of your pet so that you and your pet can lead happy and enriching lives together.

Curriculum Vitae

Current Professional Experience

Long Island Animal Behavior Consulting Services:
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist
Services for Pet Owners: Behavior Consulting
Services for Shelters: Behavior Evaluations
Legal Consulting
Educational Seminars

Babylon Adoption & Animal Rescue Center:
Volunteer Coordinator

Farmingdale State College:
Associate Adjunct Professor: Introduction to Psychology and Child Development

Professional Experience

New York Institute of Technology:
Adjunct Professor: Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA):
Postdoctoral Resident: Behavior modification of shelter animals;Behavior consultations with companion animal owners; Dog training; Director of Volunteer Behavior Helpline; Principal Researcher in animal feeder study; Assistant Researcher
in DAP study

City College Biology Department:
Graduate Instructor: SAS Biostatistics Laboratory Instructor

Hunter College Psychology Department:
Graduate Instructor/Assistant: Introduction to Psychology & Experimental Psychology

TV/Internet Radio Appearances

Healthylife.net - Dr. Jill Pet Show
WCBS TV - Canine Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome
NY1 - Shelter Cat Adoption Series

Academic Preparation

Graduate Center of the City University of New York
Ph.D. in Psychology, Biopsychology/Animal Behavior Subprogram

Dissertation Title: The Foraging Behavior of Lesser Snow and Ross’s Geese on La Pérouse Bay

Hunter College, of the City University of New York, M.A. in Psychology

Queens College, of the City University of New York, B.A. in Spanish

University of Quebec, Trois-Rivieres, Intensive Summer French Program

Research Experience

Biopsychology Program/American Museum of Natural History
Analysis on goose foraging behavior
Teratology project on Lesser Snow Geese

Biopsychology Program/American Museum of Natural History
Analysis of sexual dimorphisms in the anal fin of the electric fish, G. petersi.

Guest Lecturer & Presentations

15th Interdisciplinary Forum for Applied Animal Behavior (IFAAB)
Dog Interrupted. The question of diagnostic labeling of pets with behavioral problems.

11th Interdisciplinary Forum for Applied Animal Behavior (IFAAB)
A Survey of Prescription Drug Usage in Felines

9th Interdisciplinary Forum for Applied Animal Behavior (IFAAB)
Arousal Conditioned to People Leaving

ASPCA Feral Cat Socialization Seminar

Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine Seminar on Shelter Animal Evaluations

8th Interdisciplinary Forum for Applied Animal Behavior (IFAAB)
Conditioned Reduced Barking in Shelter Dogs

10th North American Arctic Goose Conference
Differences in brood size and condition of gosling Lesser Snow and
Ross’s geese at La Pérouse Bay

9th North American Arctic Goose Conference
Abnormal Lesser Snow Geese embryos - A teratological examination

25th Annual Hunter College Psychology Convention
What Mormyrid electrically discharging fish can tell us about androgen effects on structure and behavior

77th Meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists & Herpetologists
Anal-fin ray bone expansion in Mormyridae

Peer Reviewed Publications

Pezzanite, B., R.F. Rockwell, J.C. Davies, M.J.J.E. Loonen, and R.J. Seguin. 2005. Has habitat degradation affected foraging behaviour and reproductive success of lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens)? Ecoscience 12 (4): 439-446.

Rockwell, R.F., B.M. Pezzanite, and P. Matulonis. 2003. Developmental abnormalities in wild populations of birds: examples in lesser snow geese (Chen caerulescens caerulescens). American Museum of Natural History Novitates 3400: 1-14.

Pezzanite, B., and P. Moller. 1998. A sexually dimorphic basal anal-fin ray expansion in the weakly discharging electric fish Gnathonemus petersii. Journal of Fish Biology 53: 638-644.

Publications

All I Want for Christmas is a Good Night's Sleep - Petfinder.com
Cats Are Meticulous By Nature - Petfinder.com
Oreo's Long Story-O - ASPCA Animal Watch Fall/Winter 2004

Professional Memberships

Animal Behavior Society
Interdisciplinary Forum on Applied Animal Behavior
American Psychological Association
American Museum of Natural History
LI Cat Fanciers