Caroline Brown
is Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service's raw food nutritional consultant. Caroline feeds according to the directives of Dr. Ian Billinghurst, and is a former partner in the Bones and Raw Food Emporium in Tidewater Virginia., where she routinely prepared over 7,000 lbs. of raw food mix each month. Caroline is also involved in master gardening, and has created a gardening method for dogs and cats. She also works with poodle rescue, therapeutic pet visitation, and homeopathic treatment for pets. She lives in Virginia with her Standard Poodle Service Dog, Shasha.Beverly Greenwood
is the Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service kennel manager and trainer. Her expertise in finding appropriate dogs from rescue organizations assists this program to give relinquished dogs a chance at a future as service dogs. Bev also serves as the Junior Volunteer Adult Liaison.Pat Gonser
is the founder of Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service. She is also its volunteer Executive Director. Pat's work with companion animals has been a lifetime endeavor. As a youth she worked with horses in upstate New York. A Vietnam Era Veteran, Pat began working with cats in 1987 when Kintoi Cattery was founded. Currently she breeds and shows Abyssinian and American Shorthair felines. Pat's retired service dog is Kayla and her current dog is Heather, both Golden Retrievers. During her 30+ year nursing career, Pat has had occasion to do much research about the human-animal bond.Danielle Huval
is the first junior volunteer member of Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service. Her work involves helping youth take charge of their own lives through working with others. Danielle holds training classes 3 times a week where youth 8-15 can become involved in the training of service dogs. Many of these dogs go on to be partnered with children and adolescents who live with disabilities. Danielle is currently a junior in high school, active in 4-H, and plans a career as a veterinarian.Mako Jacobs
is a special education teacher in Omaha Nebraska. Her dog Jozee goes to work with her every day, serving as a therapy dog to soothe and calm Mako's special education students. For some of the children, Jozee also serves as a service dog, helping children to walk, balance their gait, pick up things for them and keep track of everyone. Jozee is especially helpful on school outings.Mary Johnson
began her collaboration with Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service as a client in 1996. At that time her owner trained service dog was a black lab named Annie. Since then, Mary has become Pets and People's web mistress as well as Administrative Director. Having earned (post-disability) an MBA focusing on Computer Information Systems, she is now a Computer Programmer/Analyst at the University of South Alabama. She is accompanied every day to work by her current service dog, Michael, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.Nora Terrell
is from Colorado and has been training dogs for over 20 years. She was first introduced to the concept of owner or self-training by her grandmother. Nora now raises Chesapeake Bay Retrieves and works with people who live with disabilities in a one-on-one setting to improve the human-animal bond. She believes that this is the basis for successful service dog work. Recently Nora has joined the Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service Board of Directors.Scotty Richardson
has vast experience working with animals in visitation and therapy settings. He has witnessed first-hand the human-animal bond at work in nursing homes, extended care facilities, prisons, and juvenile justice settings. The team of Scotty, his wife Michael, and their Golden Retriever, Earnie, bring joy and friendship both in their home state of Oregon and their adopted winter home in Arizona. Earnie's duties have expanded to include serving as a Service Dog during Scotty's recovery from a life threatening illness.Susan Tucker
is a Pets and People: Companions in Therapy & Service Board member and West Coast representative. Currently partnered with Lance, a white Standard Poodle; she credits Ivan, her first Service Dog, with both seeing her through the beginnings of her disability and introducing her to the rewards of owner training. Susan regularly attends seminars about access issues regarding Service Dogs and has completed the Delta Society Access Rights certification.Gary Wilkes
, our featured speaker, has a long history of working with dogs. Gary is the originator of "Click and Treat® Training", applying the principles of operant conditioning to working with dogs. He has used this method to train dogs for Service work. More...