Becky Kier is a dog trainer and educator specializing assistance dog training. She co-founded Freedom Canines International (FCI) with her husband Todd to fulfill the mission of Pups Empowering People! FCI raises and trains life-saving assistance dogs, partnering them with Texans in need of their specialized skills at no charge. In addition to empowering clients, FCI created a training process designed to empower high school students through their involvement in training future assistance dogs.
As the former Director of Training for Service Dogs Inc. Becky played an integral role in the enhancement of the training program. For over 20 years, she was involved in every aspect of the training department encouraging innovation with the training of both dogs and humans. She served as the primary instructor for apprentice trainers and excels at coaching both dogs and trainers through training plateaus and challenges.
As the lead instructor of Assistance Dog Training for Professionals, Becky creates curricula and serves as the primary instructor. This unique program grants professional dog trainers the opportunity to study all aspects of assistance dogs in training including working with program dogs.
Through a partnership with the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s PAWS program, Becky helped establish one of the nations first service dog training program within a juvenile detention facility.
Adept in shelter dog assessment, she has traveled to shelters across the southern US and as far away as Istanbul, Turkey. She has used her experience evaluating thousands of shelter dogs to develop assistance dog evaluation protocols.
Becky created her former business, Seize the Click! to provide consultation and educational services to other trainers. Her passion is thoughtfully training dogs to become engaged, advanced learners, and teaching others to do the same. Becky presented the seminars Click for Independence I and II around the nation.
Highlights of her speaking engagements have included Assistance Dog International, Clicker Expo and Fundación Bocalán. She traveled to Malta to consult with Service Dogs Malta Foundation as they organized their training department and established training protocols. The Association of Pet Dog Trainers’ (APDT) Chronicle of the Dog has published Becky’s articles on assistance dog training. She has also presented webinars for APDT.
As a graduate of Texas A&M with a B.S. in Animal Science, Becky is a diehard Aggie and was thrilled to consult with the A&M faculty on the search and selection of their Collie mascot, Reveille VIII.