I grew up in the Seattle area with animals as a constant part of my life. My Mom was a school teacher and always had some unusual animal each year for her classes (caiman lizards, land crabs, tarantulas, etc). We also had more normal pets, including gerbils, cats, dogs and for a while, ducks.

I started rescuing animals at an early age. My rescue efforts were interrupted by heading off to New York for college and subsequently serving in the U.S. Army. I returned to Seattle in 1991 and when my daughter was old enough, started fostering for King County Animal Control. Over several years, we fostered multiple dogs, several litters of bottle-fed puppies and socialized feral kittens.