Steven Appelbaum started as a professional dog trainer in 1980. Within sixteen years, his company had grown from a single proprietorship to the largest of its kind in North America. Not satisfied just educating dog owners,
Appelbaum then went on to create a school dedicated to training dog lovers to be dog trainers. In just five years, this school has grown to the largest of its kind in the world. In 1986 Appelbaum pioneered a unique profit sharing and marketing plan with Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. (Petco) in which Appelbaum’s company, Animal Behavior and Training Associates, Inc. (ABTA) would supply dog obedience training classes for Petco stores in the Los Angeles area.

By 1995, Appelbaum’s foresight and proven track record resulted in Petco naming ABTA as the exclusive provider of dog obedience classes for the entire chain of Petco stores. In 1998, ABTA was named exclusive provider of dog
obedience classes for all Canadian Petcetera Warehouse stores. These arrangements coupled with numerous others allowed ABTA to employ over 525 trainers in forty-three states, Washington D.C., and every Canadian province west of Quebec. In February 2004, Petco and Appelbaum concluded a negotiated agreement in which Petco hired ABTA trainers in the United States and took the obedience program in home. This freed Appelbaum to focus on his school for trainers, Animal Behavior College (ABC).

ABC is a highly innovative school for professional dog trainers. Founded in 1999 by Appelbaum, the ABC program takes between ten to twelve months to complete and focuses on effective positive motivational training methods. Under Appelbaum, ABC’s growth has been dynamic. The school enrolled 75 students in 2001, 250 in 2002, 651 in 2003, and is projecting over 938 in 2004. ABC currently has students/graduates in all fifty states and Canada.

Aside from his ground breaking work with ABTA and ABC, Steve Appelbaum also works with a number of pet product manufacturers by assisting them in capitalizing on the strong influence dog trainers have in stimulating pet product sales.

Appelbaum has written a book called the “ABC Practical Guide to Dog Training”, published by Howell. He has also had several articles on business building and marketing published in Off Lead magazine and is a featured columnist on
business building for Off Lead.

Steve has been featured as a speaker at the American Boarding Kennel Association’s (ABKA) annual conference, Barkleigh’s Animal Behavior Westconference, Hershey Groom and Train Expo, and the IACP annual conference.
Appelbaum has also been utilized as an expert witness on dog/animal related legal cases.

Steve Appelbaum is a former BOD member of the International Association of Canine Professionals (IACP). He also belongs to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC), Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Appelbaum is also an honorary friend of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association (SCVMA)