Bio for dog bite expert witness, Richard Polsky, Ph.D.

Bio & Qualifications for Richard Polsky, PhD

Summary of Qualifications

Bio

Richard Polsky began his career as an academic conducting research in animal behavior at various universities in the United States and England (Ph.D. from the University of Leicester (England), 1975; Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Birmingham (England) (1974-1976) and post-doctoral fellow and research associate in animal behavior at UCLA, (1976 - 1981). After 10+ years in academics, Dr. Polsky phased-out his career in academics to pursue a career in applied animal behavior. He open his office in Santa Monica, CA. in 1981. At that time he limited his work to dogs, but in 1984 he expanded the practice to include cats. Shortly thereafter, he moved his office to the Rancho Park section of West Los Angeles.

In 30 years of private practice as an applied animal behaviorist, Dr. Polsky has been retained to help dog and cats owners solve a wide variety of behavioral problems, ranging from territorial and dominance aggression in dogs to litter box problems and compulsive disorders in cats. In 1985, he started his Head Start Puppy Training Classes. The dog training classes function to train owners to train their puppies in humane and scientifically proven ways. Dr. Polsky has trained and counseled owners and their dogs and cats on over 10,000 occasions. He is certified as an applied animal behaviorst by the Animal Behavior Society.

In addition to the behavioral counseling services and training servivces Dr.. Polsky provides. he has served as a paid consultant in animal behavior to Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation and the Los Angeles SPCA. In particulart, he helped formulate the guidelines used in determining dangerous dogs by the hearing officers at the Los Angeles City Department of Animal Control.

Dr. Polsky has been public speaker and seminar leader on many occasions to veterinary groups and dog clubs in California. He is author of the text User's Guide to the Scientific Literature on Dog and Cat Behavior, 2nd edition. He has authored over 50 papers published in the animal behavior and veterinary literature, many of which are peer-reviewed.

Dr. Polsky has been frequently retained by attorneys as an expert witness in both criminal and civil matters. He served as the expert for the defense in the well-publicized San Francisco dog mauling case, and he has served both prosecution and defense on other dog mauling cases throughout the United States. He has qualified in civil matters at trial using Kelly-Fry and Delbert standards.

His professional affiliations include the Animal Behavior Society, International Society of Applied Ethology, American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

As an academically trained animal behaviorist, Dr.Polsky has a strong interest in keeping abreast of the current scientific literature in dog and cat behavior for the purpose of applying these findings to the analysis of dog and cat bite cases. Dr. Polsky lives with his human family, and two loyal and trustworthy canines: a standard schnauzer, Obi-Wan and a Border collie, Swoozy.