Koru K9 Mentor Program

Growing up on a working horse ranch, Heather’s work with animals began at a youn age. With 30 head of cattle, several dozen chickens, and various other species to look after; she began training her rescue German Shepherds how to herd and help with ranch work. In high school, her bond with animals continued to grow as she began competing in ranch horsemanship, reining, trail competitions. and dog agility. Her love for science and animals lead to Heather pursuing her degree in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior at the University of California Davis. During her time at UC Davis, Heather worked for the UC Center for Neuroscience as an Animal Behaviorist. There she would asses various exotic species for training. Heather would design behavioral experiments to test various aspects of the neuroanatomical findings for labs and act as a behavioral consultant for a variety of projects. She also worked on her own behavioral research and is currently working towards publishing her findings. While at Davis she continued her work with dogs and started a dog rehabilitation program for dogs sanctioned to be euthanized for aggression issues. It became her goal to save as many dogs as possible and she continues to take on “project” dogs for rehabilitation to adopt out as therapy dogs for hospice, children’s hospital and various other non profit organizations. Because of her time spent at UC Davis, and seeing the lack of results purely positive methods gave clients, lead Heather to moving to become a balanced trainer. Heather and her dog Quigley have also piloted a program to give emergency therapy dog services to those in need. Through interactions with local cancer support groups, she have been able to create a network of emergency dog therapy support lines.