I received an Animal Science degree with a minor in Equine Science from Texas A&M. A native of Texas and a child of a home in the country gave me the privilege of spending lots of time surrounded by critters of all shapes and sizes. A lifetime with animals has beautifully shaped my life! My first dog was a female Chocolate Labrador who went by the name Bailey. For over 15 years, she went everywhere I asked and showered my young heart with love. Her best friend was my black cat Yoyo, and that cat ran the show! With my two companions, we explored the outdoors. I’ve held a tarantula, fed corn to deer, watched baby raccoons play on a ladder, and fished many frogs and snakes out of a pool at my childhood home. These experiences and much more inspired my love for animals and nature. I also begged to ride horses, and it quickly became my favorite hobby. I would work in the stable to help pay for my riding lessons, and then my hobby turned into a life passion. In college, I loved learning about each type of animal and their nutrition needs or means to survive. I can still bore an entire room with my random facts about animals! In my free time, I worked with service dogs through the University and also trained horses as a requirement for my minor. In the summer, I helped maintain a barn and taught kids of all ages how to ride horses. One child who faced a unique challenge once told me that “The most normal [they] felt was when [they] were riding a horse.” This inspiration encouraged me to volunteer at a hippotherapy program as a horse handler for the special needs therapy sessions. I have seen the healing powers that animals can provide to people, and it’s indescribable. As someone who aspired to be a Veterinarian from the time I was a little girl, even I was shocked the day I realized that I did not want to go to Vet school. As it turns out, I also never expected to be a military spouse either but here I am getting to live in a great new place with my husband! Even though I didn’t become a Veterinarian, I discovered that wasn’t the only way to work with animals. Many of the opportunities are also much more accessible to our traveling lifestyle! Everything really does happen for a reason. We now have two wonderful dogs of our own. A Great Dane/Labrador named Samson that we rescued over three years ago as a puppy and a full Great Dane we rescued last year. My boys are my very best friends! Samson enjoys going on walks, playing fetch and dinner time. He is trained to perform verbal and non-verbal commands, and can also "talk" to people when asked to. Jax enjoys meeting new humans, cuddling and spilling his dinner all over the floor (thank goodness Samson cleans up after him). Jax is also trained by verbal and non-verbal commands, but he only "talks" to people when he is not allowed to cuddle. Training them has taught me a lot about how individual each animal is and how to set expectations for each of them!