Vanya Moreno

Dr. Vanya Moreno moved to Tucson in 1993 to pursue her Ph.D. in Animal Behavior, specifically in animal learning and communication. Vanya received her B.S. in Biological Sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara she was an intern at the Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens, volunteered for the American Cetacean Society where she worked to rehabilitate abandoned or injured baby sea lions and harbor seals and did her undergraduate thesis on Brown-headed cowbird flight whistle dialects. At the University of Arizona she worked with Dr. Irene Pepperberg studying animal-human communication with Alex and other African grey parrots. Her dissertation focused on song choice in juvenile zebra finches, which she completed in 2002.She has worked in the field of behavior and training for pet dogs and cats since 1997, and most recently was certified as expert witness in the field of dog behavior for the Arizona Superior Court. Vanya's longtime interest is to help people to better communicate with their pet companions, and in doing so, to help them to strengthen their relationships with their dogs and cats.Vanya owns and operates Animal Magnetism in Tucson, Arizona. Vanya specializes in teaching dog and cat owners effective positive means of communicating with and training their pets. She believes strongly in teaching the owner how to work effectively with their pets and therefore focuses mainly on working with the owners and pets in their home environments where 90% of owner-pet interaction takes place.Vanya also specializes in continued behavioral education for veterinarians and their staff members and gives frequent educational seminars around the Tucson Area. She currently works in Tucson to provide private, in-home lessons, puppy kindergarten, basic obedience classes and rattlesnake avoidance training. Vanya lives and works in Tucson and shares her home with three cats, Hank, Cosmo and B.B., and with Jedi, a Belgian Malinois and Lila, just about the sweetest Pit Bull you'll ever meet.