I have over 45 years of experience in caring for pets, beginning as a teenager caring for neighbors' animals while they were on vacation, and working as a vet-tech in an emergency animal clinic throughout high school and university. I hold a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Texas Tech University, where I majored in pre-veterinary medicine, with emphasis in animal nutrition, genetics and comparative anatomy and physiology. I have pursued post-graduate study in reproductive physiology and chemical engineering.

I have been a registered sanitarian since 1987 and have held twelve other certifications in public health and employee safety and health. A sanitarian is an expert in the prevention of the transmission of communicable diseases from the environment to man, with or without insect or animal vectors. My work history includes conducting medical research at the Texas Tech Medical School, chemist for the City of Lubbock water department, sanitarian for Texas Department of Health, and as an industrial hygienist at the US Department of Labor - OSHA.

After retirement from government service, I spent ten years at a 35-run boarding kennel, the last five years as its manager, where I learned the business from the bottom up.