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Federal Way
Member Since January 2009
My Story
I'm a dreamer, not a quitter. Back in 1996, I had a life changing moment that set me on a new path in life. I was a police officer and bloodhound handler in Santa Cruz, California when one day my beloved bloodhound, A.J., escaped from my yard and was lost in the woods. Suddenly, I was a panicked pet owner who needed to find my lost dog! I immediately called in another search-and-rescue dog that I used to track A.J. down and find him. Within 20 minutes of sniffing A.J.'s bedding, my friend's search dog found A.J.! That experience caused me to ask this question: I know how to train dogs to find PEOPLE--WHY aren't we training dogs to find lost pets? We have all types of detection dogs (bomb, drug, termite, etc.) but why don't we have CAT DETECTION dogs? So, my idea turned into an experiment. I took one of my retired cadaver dogs, Rachel, and trained her to find lost pets. In her first 4 searches, Rachel found 2 lost cats and 1 lost dog. That was 1997 and since then, I've launched a national nonprofit organization (www.missingpetpartnership.org) that has trained over 100 pet detectives and helped train search dogs in the USA, Canada, and Ireland. But as great as this sounds, the development has been a complete struggle. Pet owners tell me that the work that I'm doing is "a great idea" and yet I seem to encounter challenge after challenge(the economy being the most recent). What keeps me going, besides my faith in God, is knowing that NOTHING in life comes easy. That we learn the most important life lessons through making mistakes. That we grow in character when we learn how to forgive and stop focusing on ourselves but on the needs of others. Back in 1997 when I first had the idea of pursuing my idea to train dogs to find lost pets I was told that I was "having a pipe dream" if I thought I could make a living as a pet detective. Well, I am here to tell you that following a "pipe dream" is just like working out at Curves...it is extremely hard work that takes determination and commitment. Some days it feels so overwhelming that I am tempted to just quit. But the rewards from the hard labor are beyond anything that I could have imagined! My workouts keep me focused and I am working towards improving my health. I am, after all, a Curves member, not a quitter!
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