"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt
These are the people who have believed in my dream and have helped make my dreams come true. A world where a “Dogs nose saves a life and embraces a heart”. Each of these people have experienced a dog that grabbed their heart and encouraged them to help others find the same thing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my friends and my confidants!
Kristi Urban
As the "Non-Diabetic" team cooridnator and KC's right hand for Tattle Tails, Kristi volunteers to cover all the bases from administrative responsibilities, event planning, fund raising, website updates and assisting with travel arrangements for new families. Kristi has a "can do" motto and makes sure everything is taken care of for our Tattle Tail families.
In addition, Kristi has one of our very own Tattle Tails - Always and Ever (Ally) living with her. She is in charge of training her on obedience and public access. Ally just turned 3 and has traveled to several places to educate people about Tattle Tail Scent Dogs. The Tattle Tails team is happy that Ally is one of "mama's" for our program.
Eric VanStraveren - Trainer
Chelsea Jensen - Trainer
Robert Read - Trainer
Amy Gooch
Edie Schoepp
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Professional Dog Trainer, Dog Obedience Judge, Professional Puppy Tester
Edie has been working with dogs and the dog community for over 35 years. She has participated in: obedience, tracking, schutzhund, drug detection, herding, nosework, drafting, agility, endurance events, flyball, therapy
dogs, service dogs, television dogs, shelter rescue and professional puppy testing. Edie's passion lies in the areas of drive shaping and behavior, where she enjoys problem solving with people and their dogs in all types of work. She believes dogs enjoy life and perform their best when they understand what their partner expects of them. Edie also enjoys judging obedience competitions, especially the novice class, where she can encourage new handlers. Edie lives with her Belgian Malinois Paisley, and has had two other Malinois and three Dobermans grace her past.
Laura Gibson - Professional Trainer
Nationally recognized Texas Dog Trainer Laura Gibson has almost 30 years of combined experience in dog training.
Laura has participated in the competition obedience circuit and has put more than 63 AKC obedience titles on dogs along with 14 hunt test titles on their personal dogs.
Laura was employed 18-plus years with Vinson & Elkins law firm. A few years ago she took a solid leap of faith to follow her dream and began to pursue a more relaxing career in the field of professional dog training.
"This has been an enjoyable and rewarding path for me! Not only did I remove myself from the city life of stress, polution, and exhaustion, my 'office' is now 96 acres of beautiful, rolling hills. My dogs go to work with me every day!"
Laura has been the Obedience Trial Chairman for the Houston Kennel Club at the prestigious Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows for many years. The responsibility for the Chairman of such an event encompasses many tasks, such as the responsibility for screening and hiring judges, securing prizes, managing stewards, setting up rings, coordinating with the host clubs as well as the American Kennel Club, and in charge of the obedience competition during the day of the show.
A true measure of Laura's expertise is the four dogs she has personally trained and campaigned to Obedience Trial Championships, all of which obtained national recognition.
In 1996, Laura’s Golden Retriever, Fame, was #2 Golden Retriever and #3 All-Breed in Competition Obedience as well as placing in the top five of all other rankings.
In 2006, Laura's Golden "Quest" earned national points in order to qualify for competition at the AKC's Invitational Tournament in California. Quest, Desi, and Fame were all ranked in the top national obedience rankings.
Tim McClure
Craig and Theresa Foster - Volunteer Dog Trainers
A few years ago, my husband Craig and I met KC Owens at the Soldier Hollow Splash Dogs competition. It was our first time at a dock jumping competition. KC was up on the dock and she helped us get our dog, Herky, to go off the Dock for the first time. Little did we know that day a friendship would soon develop. We did not know about Bravo or that KC had diabetes. We also didn’t really know anything about diabetes. After getting to know KC, we learned she was a Type 1 diabetic and Bravo, her Chessie, saved her life every day. We thought this was amazing. The more we were around KC, the more we learned about diabetes, Bravo, and Diabetic Alert Dogs. We quickly learned how incredible these dogs were and wanted to help in any way we could.
We have been lucky enough to meet many Diabetic Alert Dogs and to see how they have changed their owner’s lives. We have also been blessed enough to help educate people about these wonderful dogs and how they can change and save lives every day.