Animal Behavior and Training Associates, Inc. (ABTA) is currently the largest provider of dog obedience training in the United States. Michael Steinberg and Steven Appelbaum, both previous owners of established canine firms founded the Los Angeles based company in 1985. In 1994, Steinberg departed the company leaving Appelbaum as president and sole shareholder. ABTA was formed to help make a difference in the dog training industry using positive and effective training methods by highly motivated and qualified trainers. Initially ABTA operated only in the southern California area, offering private lessons in the home. The company focus was and still is on problem solving and obedience using positive reinforcement methods. Group class training was added in 1986 and within four years ABTA became the largest group class training company in California, offering training classes in approximately sixty Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. (Petco) stores throughout the Los Angeles vicinity. In 1994, Appelbaum signed a contract with Petco naming ABTA the exclusive provider of dog obedience classes for every Petco in the state of California. The California test proved such a huge success that within a year a new contract went into effect placing ABTA classes in every Petco in the United States. Today the company runs approximately 240 classes each month in thirty-four states, British Columbia, and Canada collectively. In 1997 alone, a little over 41,000 dog owners hired ABTA for their dog-training needs, with projections for 68,000 students in 1998. ABTA presently employs over 300 trainers and is extremely proud of their growth, as well as the quality of their training staff. ABTA offers puppy, basic and advanced group obedience classes, as well as, basic, advanced, and behavior modification programs in home. Although we have grown to national size, we have never forgotten our beginnings and are still privately owned and carefully managed. Although ABTA is a business, Appelbaum and his staff always keep in mind the nature of this business is man's best friend. To that end, ABTA conducts several hundred free pet problem-solving clinics in 450 locations across the United States. Each month hundreds of these free clinics are offered to pet owners who need instruction and guidance so their family pet may have a happy and healthier life.