Mark Spivak, CPT’s founder, is a nationally known trainer, behaviorist, canine researcher, and expert witness. Although he is based out of CPT’s headquarters location in Atlanta, to address complex cases Mark travels to CPT’s Eugene, OR location and throughout the USA. Plus, he is available on a regular basis for Zoom video consultations for persons residing worldwide. Furthermore, Mark Spivak is a highly experienced expert witness in criminal and civil legal cases involving issues of canine behavior. Attorneys in more than 20 states have prospered from Mark’s services.
Mark Spivak has trained dogs seriously for 32 years. As a competitor, Mark has titled his German Shepherds in AKC obedience, ASCA obedience, and Schutzhund. In the process he has received multiple ribbons, plaques, medals, and placements, including a Regional championship and invitations to prestigious national events. As coach of the CPT Competition Team, Mark Spivak has motivated and educated numerous CPT clients owning a wide variety of breeds. In the process, his students have achieved numerous victories and placements at all levels of obedience competition.
Mark’s German Shepherd Dog, Akbar, earned an AKC Companion Dog (CD) title and a leg toward her Companion Dog Excellent (CDX) title before needing to retire due to a health issue.
Mark Spivak’s German Shepherd, Topper, earned the titles of Schutzhund I, II, and III, FH, and CD. Topper was a national level competitor in the sports of schutzhund and KNPV. During his competition career, Topper won numerous high-in-class and high-in-trial awards in tracking, obedience, protection, and overall score.
Topper and Mark won the 1998 Southeast Regional Schutzhund III Championships held in Wilmington, North Carolina. Moreover, they qualified for the 1998 and 1999 USA National and North American Championships. Topper completed his ASCA CD with outstanding scores of 195 and 196 out of a possible 200 and finished high-overall-in-match in an AKC obedience event. In addition, Mark Spivak and Topper earned the prestigious advanced tracking title of FH with a score of 92 out of a possible 100 points. In addition to schutzhund and obedience, Mark and Topper participated in agility, herding, and KNPV. Topper and Mark appeared nationally on Fox SportsNet performing agility demonstrations. In 1997, they successfully competed at the KNPV National Championship Trial.
More recently, Mark Spivak owned a German Shepherd, Marlo. Mark trained Marlo for many pursuits. Marlo was proficient through the Utility level in AKC obedience and received training in schutzhund tracking, obedience, and protection, human search, and agility.
Mark also completed an AKC Open (CDX) title with a client’s Labrador Retriever and has competed at the Utility level with another client’s Boston Terrier. In addition, Mark Spivak has coached numerous people and multiple breeds to all levels of AKC titles, from Novice through Utility, and many first place finishes.
Two of Mark’s German Shepherds have participated as therapy animals. Through Comprehensive Pet Therapy (CPT), Mark Spivak founded the first professional Animal-Assisted Therapy programs in the state of Georgia. Mark designed the programs used in the rehabilitation departments at Shepherd Spinal Center, Dekalb Medical Center, and Egleston Children’s Hospital. He has also served as an officer for the non-profit organization Happy Tails Pet Therapy.
His work in therapy and obedience has been featured on CNN, Noonday, Living in the 90’s, Community and other television programs, plus WGST, 99-X, and B-98.5 radio. Mark was “The Pet Expert” on the Channel 11 Saturday Morning News. He has appeared in multiple segments on canine behavior for Fox-5 Eyewitness News, WGCL-TV CBS 46 News, and Comcast TV.
Local print media, including The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sandy Springs Reporter, Gwinnett Loaf, Alpharetta Neighbor, and Chai Magazine have featured Mark. Moreover, Mark has been featured in national print media as far away as The Denver Post.
Mark has trained and handled client dogs for several television commercials and a music video. Mark Spivak and his personal dogs have appeared in a prominent advertising campaign for a large dog food manufacturer and four feature films.
In addition, as a research consultant working in conjunction with Emory University’s Neuroscience Department, Mark co-designed the research study and designed the training protocols whereby the Emory/CPT research team became the first group worldwide to publish quality fMRI images in dogs without the use of sedation or physical restraints. Prior to the team’s work, neuroscientists believed the objectives accomplished by the Emory/CPT research team were impossible. To provide quality images subject dogs can not move more than 2 mm in any spatial plane for a period of 12 to 26 seconds. Moreover, they must remain motionless while confined to a small space- while withstanding noise that reaches volumes of between 95 to 110 dB.
Mark Spivak also had a provisional patent for the use of fMRI for taste testing within the pet food industry. The groundbreaking work conducted by Emory and Mark achieved coverage in the LA Times, Time.com, RollingStone.com, and ABC World News Tonight.
The team’s resultant publications
co-authored by Mark, were published in esteemed scientific journals, including PLoS One, Behavioural Processes, PeerJ, Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Animal Cognition, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN), Scientific Reports, Animal Sentience, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Frontiers in Neuroscience, Chemical Senses, Biology Letters, and The Journal of Comparative Neurology.
In 2014, Mark appeared in the acclaimed BBC and PBS documentary series Nova. The Nova program was broadcast internationally in the UK and nationally in the USA. In addition, Mark was interviewed by Anderson Cooper for a 60 Minutes segment on canine cognition.
As an author, Mark Spivak co-authored the journal articles described above. Mark will imminently publish an outstanding book, “Effective Housebreaking- How to Housebreak Both the Easy and Difficult Dog.” The book should be available on Amazon.com and via other national sources. He has partially completed another book focusing on basic pet obedience.
For several years, Mark was a monthly columnist as “The Pet Expert” for Loving Pets Products. Loving Pets is a well-respected national manufacturer and distributor of gourmet pet treats and products. In addition, Mark has authored many abstract and full-length articles for the CPT website. Moreover, he has published many proprietary articles CPT uses internally for educating professional trainers, establishing corporate protocols, and maintaining quality control.
Mark co-presented ““fMRI Biomarkers of Potential Service Dogs”at the Department of Defense 2014 Canine Science and Technology Workshop in Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference brought together some of the world’s top researchers and experts in chemistry, biochemistry neuroscience, psychology, animal behavior, software development, hardware development, veterinary performance, security, and training related to the identification and preparation of military explosive detection dogs and service dogs.
He co-authored a paper presented internationally on June 26, 2015 at the Canine Behaviour and Genetics Conference in London, England. The conference brought together some of the world’s most esteemed researchers and experts in canine genetics, ontology, ethology, behavior, and veterinary medicine. Mark also presents locally at area dog clubs and organizations.
In 2016, Mark wrote and presented a well-received international webinar entitled, “Innovative Canine Neuroscience.” The webinar discussed how fMRI and behavioral research is improving the ability to select dogs for working roles, match pets with families, train working and pet dogs, detect illnesses, and improve our pets’ overall quality of life.
In 2017 and 2018, Mark presented at the Animal Law Symposium hosted by the Georgia Bar Association. During December 2018, Mark was one of 4 featured panelists during the 2018 International Animal-Computer Interaction Conference hosted at Georgia Tech University.
During August 2019, Mark Spivak was co-keynote speaker, presenting “Decoding Dog Brains- Practical Applications to Improve Training Outcomes,” at the AKC USA Detection Dog Conference held in Durham, NC. The conference focused on the selection, training, and performance of law enforcement and military scent detection dogs. In October 2019, Mark presented “What We Learned- Practical Applications of Canine fMRI for Researchers, Veterinarians, Behaviorists, Trainers, and Pet Owners” at the International Canine Science Conference held in Phoenix, AZ.
In November 2023, as the keynote speaker, Mark Spivak presented “Doctor Dogs: The Benefit of Highly Trained Dogs for Human Medical Patients and Practitioners” to the 2023 Bibb County Medical Society Conference held in Macon, GA.
Prior to starting CPT, Mark Spivak received a Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. Mark’s reputation and accomplishments have grown CPT from a one-person company to a company of multiple elite trainers who have become the most respected group of pet trainers in the Atlanta area. Furthermore, in June 2018 CPT expanded to Eugene, Oregon.
Over 80 Atlanta area veterinary clinics recommend Comprehensive Pet Therapy for the improvement of pet obedience, household manners, and behavioral problems. Mark expects similar veterinary recognition will soon occur in Eugene.
As President and CEO of CPT, Mark has trained or managed the training of over 50,000 pet dogs. In addition to pet dogs Mark has trained or coached many advanced and competition dogs.
Mark coached the CPT competition team, which has taken numerous first place finishes. He also coached CPT’s Georgia Force Black and Blue team, the nation’s first football mascots to retrieve the kicking tee during Arena Football League games.
Still, rather than resting on his laurels, Mark expands his knowledge by attending seminars and personal coaching sessions with world class trainers and behaviorists. Mark has attended seminars from Prof. Ian Dunbar, Brian McGovern, Gerianne Darnell, Dr. John Wright, Dieter Meyer, Jan Timmerman, Dean Calderon, Gary Hanrahan, Joel Silverman, and Appi and Robert Kamps. In addition, Mark attended the Department of Defense Canine Science & Technology Conference at North Carolina State University, the Canine Science Conference at Arizona State University, and the PennVet Working Dog Conference in Philadelphia.
When not working at CPT, Mark is a voracious reader, trivia aficionado, and traveler. He is also an exercise enthusiast, tennis player, and a USA Wrestling “bronze certified” wrestling coach. For seven years Mark coached the Alpharetta Junior Raider Wrestling program, including a three season stint as Head Coach.
Furthermore, along with Emory neuroscience professor Greg Berns, Mark co-owned, Dog Star Technologies. Dog Star
In addition to functioning as CPT’s CEO, Mark provides private lesson and in-home private lesson services for CPT.
Mark Spivak also performs Expert Witness Services for criminal and civil cases involving dog behavior. His expert work includes research, investigations, strategy, consultation, expert opinion, written affidavits, and trial testimony. Mark’s expertise has benefited attorneys and clients in more than 20 states.