MEET THE TEAM

MEET THE TEAM AT 
CANINE COUNTY TRUCKEE

We have a great staff here at Canine Country dedicated to providing your pets with loving and reliable care. One of our primary goals here is to reduce their anxiety, give them plenty of exercise, and lots of friends to interact with. Get to know the team that takes care of your pets while they are at Canine Country Truckee.

Debora, is the Founder, CSO & CPDT-KA (Chief Socialization Officer & Certified Pet Dog Trainer, Knowledge Assessed)

Debora spent most of her working years as a radio D.J., and founded “Wednesday’s Wagger” in her capacity as an on air personality. “Wednesdays Wagger ” was a way for her to combine her love of animals with her career as a Disc Jockey. Through Wednesday’s Wagger, Debora worked with the SPCA, The Humane Society and other rescue groups to find good loving homes for dogs & cats whom had been given up by their families, abused, neglected or found as strays. This radio station feature quickly became an obsession with Debora. She found most dogs were given up due to behavior issues. This is when her mission changed. She then set out to help train rescue dogs, to be sure the dog would be placed in a permanent and loving environment. It was through this endeavor that Debora first became interested in Full time Dog Training, and Pet Care.

In 2000 Debora gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and decided to give up her radio career and focused her efforts on pet care & her son. Debora worked as a Trainer for K-9 USA for several years, and then started her own company Canine Country in 2005. What started as a small Pet Sitting & Dog Training company has now grown to also include: Pet First Aid & CPR Classes, Problem Solving Clinics, Canine Good Citizen & Starr Puppy Classes and Evaluations, In the Home Pet Sitting, The RUFF Reading Program, HSTT Education Programs, and Canine Country Camp, a Cage Free Dog Day Care and Overnight Boarding Facility. Debora is the Canine Country team leader, a Therapy Dog Handler, a Dog Trainer, a Pet 1st Aid and CPR Instructor and Specializes in Canine Socialization. Debora believes that a well-balanced, well socialized, well fed and unconditionally loved dog, is a happy dog! Debora’s family has two Dogs, Thunder (Black Lab X) & Stormy (Retriever/Aussie X).

Mitch CPO & CMO (Chief Pooper Scooper & Chief Maintenance Officer)

Mitch has graciously allowed Debora to bring hairballs & slobber into their home on a daily basis, and even when covered in mud & pet hair, still lets her hug him! He has finally given up the “real job” to help Debora full time with Canine Country where he finds he gets the “tail end” of the business most of the time as the Chief Popper Scooper, (Hey, everyone excels at something)! He is also the team chef, the Chief Maintenance Officer, which keeps him in a flurry of honey do lists and repairs, and most importantly is a full time DAD!

Shawn, OCG & CO (Official Client Greeter & Chuck-it Operator)

Shawn is the son of Debora & Mitch, and quite a handful! He is autistic and started the first 5 years of his life completely non-verbal, but he is now making up for lost time!! Shawn will often greet you at the door, your car, or in the driveway and tell you explicitly how to build something. He is now a teenager (or Stress machine for Mom), and although Shawn has mastered the art of Ball throwing, Poop-Scooping, Feeding, Caring and Loving on the Dogs… He is a Teenager, which means he helps when he’s broke or wants something. He does share Mom’s philosophy in dog care ….You throw the ball until they’re pooped, try not to step in the poop, make sure they have food & water, and ALWAYS let them kiss you! Shawn has a Black Lab named Thunder, who is his therapy dog. Thunder helps with the HSTT education programs, the RUFF reading program in the schools, and in keeping Shawn calm.

Mackenzie, CBT (Chief Ball Thrower)

Mackenzie is a student at UNR, with a major in Speech Pathology. She lives in the dorm, so has no personal pets at this time, but has grown up with both dogs and cats. She has mastered the chuck-it, is a competitive athlete, a jokester and has never met a dog (or cat) she didn’t love! She is somewhat partial to the smaller breeds, but seems to find a new favorite dog everyday. Mackenzie is a full time student and a part time employee at Canine Country. She never seems to have a down day, is never cranky and loves to laugh! She is an absolute pleasure to be around and work with.

Emily, ODF (Official Dog Greeter)

Emily is taking a brief hiatus from school to save some college dough. She plans to study veterinary medicine when she returns to school, but we hope we can keep her at least part time when that happens. She currently lives in Sparks, and despite the fairly long commute (especially in the winter) enjoys the chance to spend her days with the dogs! Emily is our rise and shine girl, helping us open camp and greet you. Emily refuses to pick her favorite breed (the diplomat of the team) but I’m pretty sure I see her showing a special fondness to the northern breeds, preferring the “talkers” over the “barkers”. Emily has an amazing attention to detail and likes things clean and orderly, which is great for all of us here in dog land, as clean and orderly are the two things we are always short on. Although Emily likes things clean, she never let’s a little slobber get in the way of a good cuddle!

Makenna, ODC (Official Dog Cuddlier)

Makenna is a Pre-veterinary student at UNR, and a part time employee for Canine Country. Her family is from the Tracy California area and has always had animals. Her mother has always been a bit of an animal “rescuer” according to Makenna, which (I bet) is where she got her passion for animals at such a young age. Makenna loves all animals, but her true passion is not in domestic animals. She will most likely end up caring for Lions, Tigers and Bears (Oh My!). Makenna has a great knack for “reading” dogs and is a natural at making them feel calm. She seems to be drawn to the “underdogs”. Any dog that has a little nervousness, separation anxiety or has trouble making friends always gets a little extra love from Makenna. 

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