Get to Know the Founder & Head Dog Trainer in Phoenix Kristie Halverson

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

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.

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