I was born in San Diego, California, but my family eventually moved to a small town about an hour north called Fallbrook, where we had more land. We grew up with dogs and cats, frogs and snakes, ducks and geese, horses and donkeys, goats and sheep. Fallbrook had a small, country hometown feel even though we were close to the cities and beaches, and 4-H and FFA were a big part of the community.

My parents instilled in me a love for animals from a young age and I always knew I wanted to help them. I had a realistic view of both companion animal and livestock medicine from my experiences with FFA and working at a small animal hospital in high school and college. While I knew every animal couldn't be saved, I knew I wanted to help improve the quality of animals' lives while they're here and when they need to leave us.

I earned my bachelor’s degree and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the University of California, Davis. While I took small animal courses in vet school, I focused on large animal medicine. For seven years after graduation, I worked at a large animal practice with mobile and in-house services. I had several clients with goats and sheep who were more like family members than production animals. I loved having the opportunity to work with them on cases that I likely wouldn’t have had in production settings.

Having so many pets growing up also meant that I've had to say goodbye to a lot of them. Whether they were young or old, lost suddenly or slowly declined over months, none of them were easy. It was a little more bearable when we were able to say goodbye in the comfort of our home or where our friend was most comfortable.

I was introduced to purebred Labradors when I met my husband, who is an avid waterfowl hunter. We have had several Labs who were professionally trained for waterfowl hunting and I have run in AKC and UKC hunt tests. I trained our youngest Lab myself, and he will start waterfowl hunting with us soon. We also compete in dock diving in the summer. The dogs love it and have earned numerous AKC titles. We have a 3-year-old daughter who keeps us on our toes! She's already won several placements as a junior handler with our dogs at dock diving events.