Get to Know Founder & Senior Dog Trainer Kristie Halverson in Phoenix

Name: FurBabies & Friends
Price range: $$

Meet the Founder and Head of Dog Training in AZ

Furbabies and Friends owner and dog trainer Kristie Halverson in Glendale, AZ.

FurBabies & Friends business owner and dog trainer in Peoria, AZ.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to visit the website and for taking the time to learn about FurBabies & Friends owner and senior dog trainer Kristie Halverson. Both you and your furbabies could not be in better hands as friends, past clients and current clients are attesting to in reviews all over the web.

A little about Kristie, she is an establish female business owner and animal lover with three rescue dogs of her own. All of her dogs have had their own behavior issues to overcome. Kristie has proudly rescued two Pitbull mixes and has "foster failed" on three Pitbull mixes in addition to having a miniature poodle mix and a terrier/chihuahua mix. Furthermore, Kristie has fostered over 70 dogs, ranging across different breeds, ages and sizes; however, her heart always falls for the puppies in need. As the head dog trainer, Kristie understands the benefit of proper training and socialization early on in a puppy's life to ensure the puppy grows into a confident, well adjusted dog.

Due to her experiences with her own dogs, dozens of fosters and thousands of training clients, Kristie has successfully addressed and rehabilitated dogs of all breeds and sizes. With that said, her heart and passion always extends out to the misunderstood bully breeds. Kristie works hard with both her clients and her own bully mixes to make sure they are always exemplary breed ambassadors. Nevertheless, Kristie loves all animals. She got her passion for animals in the 4th grade when her family moved to a house with a horse barn behind it, and managed to negotiate a work to ride program with the owner, quickly building skill and competing as a hunter jumper. Long days at the horse barn and the variety of animals there provided Kristie with a wealth of both equine, farm, and working domesticated animal experience. As a result, Kristie believes all animals deserve to be cared for equally and lovingly. She lives this principle everyday and makes it an integral part as the owner and head dog trainer at FurBabies & Friends, a Phoenix, AZ total pet care business.

As the head dog trainer, Kristie specializes in obedience, in home behavior modification, early puppy development, and leash reactivity. Nevertheless, I love all animals. I was a horse hunter jumper from 4th grade to freshman year of high school. Long days at the horse barn and the variety of animals there provided me with a good deal of both equine experience, and farm animal experience. As a result, I believe all animals deserve to be cared for equally and lovingly. I live this principle everyday and make it an integral part of my FurBabies & Friends total pet care business.

So you’re probably wondering how did she get here? Eventually, after an successful but un-fulling 14 year career in corporate America and after surviving her third layoff after relocating to Phoenix from the Midwest in 2017, it became clear to Kristie that she was not on the right path. After that, Kristie decided to follow her passion for animals and their well being by venturing out on her own and becoming the owner and head of dog training at FurBabies & Friends LLC. Since the business's incorporation in May of 2018, Kristie could not be happier or more fulfilled with her choice. There's no looking back! All of her clients, both human and furry, have become members of the FurBabies & Friends family and she thoroughly enjoys being incorporated as part of their trusted family. Above all, Kristie absolutely loves being a voice of reason, sounding board, or even a shoulder to cry for clients dealing with issues with their furry babies. Moreover, Kristie is thankful to have had the animal experiences in her life that have allowed her to counsel anyone struggling with issues relating to their fur family.

To conclude, Kristie hopes this historical review provided you the ultimate comfort and resources to know that your pets will be in the best hands possible. Do not hesitate to reach out or call if you have any questions.

Kristie, Simba, Apollo, & Tigger

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The Beginning of Kristie's Pet Care & Dog Rescue Journey

Llasha Poo, Stella, Kristie's second rescue dog.

Kristie's first Christmas card, the one that started it all.

Nala, the American Staffordshire terrier, and Stella, the Llasha Poo, Kristie's first two dogs.

Nala, the American Staffordshire Terrier, posing beautifully in this black and white photo

My path to a life long love of animals started early in my life in 4th grade. My family moved to a new house with an equestrian stable directly behind us. Watching the horses run around in the paddock was fascinating and exciting. Fortunately for my mom and her outgoing personality, she persuaded the business owner into allowing me to work at the stable in exchange for riding lessons. Thankfully, I learned so much about equine care and even witnessed my first birth! The barn was full of other animal life from stable dogs, barns cats for mice over population, donkeys, to waterfowl. Admittedly, I was hooked and completely in love with the horses, dogs, cats, donkeys and all animals that were part of the barn. After a few years of riding, I ended up competing as a hunter jumper and helped train the new lessons horses until my family had to move away after my freshman year of high school.

It wasn’t until 10 years later, after college, I was stable enough to take on the time and expense of my own rescue furbaby. After a significant amount of research, I knew I wanted to find an underdog, and I did with my first rescue,. She was a 1 year old pit bull mix named Nala. She had been used as a bait dog, under socialized and afraid of her own shadow. A lot of my friends and family were shocked I had adopted a “vicious pit bull." Despite these fears, she provided me a wonderful 12 years together. In fact, she touched all of them and changed their minds on what the true nature of a pit bull really is. It should be noted that Nala was not without her challenges. I knew I needed to invest the time, energy and effort to get her the professional help she needed to be a breed ambassador. For this reason, I put her through three obedience courses. Next, I enrolled her in agility where she excelled. Because of Nala, I was able to not only experience the world of dog training, but also understand my own unique abilities in dog training. I was hooked. I couldn’t’ believe what a turn around she made given time, trust, and positive experiences. Moreover, I was shocked at the bond it created. Our relationship became unbreakable. For those reasons, we were able to spend much more enjoyable time together due to her good behavior. In the end, I had to say goodbye to her in May of 2018 and I was absolutely devastated. I knew I gave her just as much as she gave to me. I was thankful for every moment I had with her. As the ultimate tribute, I memorialized her on my forearm pictured with a beautiful saying and her pawprint.

My First FurBabys- Nala Am Staff & Stella Llasha Poo

Nala and Stella celebrating New Years Eve.

Kristie's Permanent Ink Tribute to her past red nose pit bull Nala.

Kristie's Furbabies & Rescue Experience

My next furbaby came to me by way of my sister when she was having some hard times financially. Given that she couldn’t care for her furbaby, Stella, the way she wanted to she moved in with me. She was a cute and lively little 13 lb Llasha Poo. Surprisingly, Stella and Nala bonded instantly and were from then on forever know as “Pittie and the Poo.” I never imagined having a small dog. On the contrary, she provided a different type of companionship and love. Best of all is she was a true lap dog while also humoring me by playing dress up. Overall, she was the most easy going, intelligent, and notably my first bomb proof dog. Sadly, she passed in July of 2020.

Following the adopting of Stella and fast forwarding about 8 years in Milwaukee, I started fostering with Canine Cupids. I had the privilege of rehabilitating and rehoming 12 furbabies. Much to my surprise, I only ending up fostering failing on one, my big handsome man Baloo. The poor guy was found wandering around the city and emaciated. When I picked him up at animal control, everyone warned me about how shy and unpredictable he was. Conversely, it was love at first sight for the both of us. The foster dog coordinator gave me his leash and he jumped in my car like he knew right then he had found his person. Obviously, that was by far my favorite freedom ride . In the beginning, he was an angel . That is until I signed his official adoption papers and he began to decompress. Over a short time, he let his true colors show. Turns out Baloo was quite the escape artist and had some pretty severe leash reactivity . In this situation, I had a lot of hard work ahead of me. After a few months, these dog training behavior issues subsided and changed Baloo from the Tasmanian devil he used to be to ultimately being a Canine Good Citizen.

Fast forward another 2 years and a move to Phoenix, I began to foster again but this with the Arizona Humane Society (AHS). As a foster mom, I took in and nursed back to health sick and injured dogs. After quite a few more fosters, I picked up a little guy on December 30th who had just recently recovered from parvo and had a fractured back. In fact, he couldn’t even walk with his back legs in the beginning. As a foster mom, it was heart breaking to see this poor little guy but also rewarding as be began to heal. Needless to say, this guy had the heart of a lion. Naturally his name had to be Simba. After a few weeks, he began to walk, put on weight and get healthy. However, due to his history, no rescue organization would take him on. Due to space limitations, AHS was going to euthanize poor Simba. I absolutely could not let that happen, after all he had fought through, so I welcomed my 17th foster Simba into the family as my 3rd foster dog failure.

Get Involved and Foster with the Arizona Humane Soceity Check Out Canine Cupids

My Current Furkids - Zeke Terrier Mix, Baloo Bit Bull, Simba Pit Bull
**Nala & Stella Crossed the Rainbow Bridge 2018 & 2020