At Rock Nest Training & Pet Care – we know how important it is to trust and know that the person caring for your loved ones are professional.

Please see Cheri’s professional resume below:

Cheri Spaulding
Owner, Rock Nest Pet Care

Employment:

1985-2012 Owner, RNS Inc., Electrical Contracting
Wire new construction homes, accounting, and customer relations

1987-1989 Surgical Assistant, Dr. Phillip Vickers, DDS specializing in Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery
Assisted surgical procedures in office and at hospitals

1992-2001 Guide Dogs of America
Raised 6 dogs for guide and 3 for breeding program.
Whelped and fostered 6 litters of GDA puppies from birth to 8-13 weeks of age.

1999-2001 St. Johnsbury Animal Hospital. Veterinary Assistant.
Front office duties, assist in exam room, limited laboratory duties, and assist with surgeries.

2001-2007 Owner, Rock Nest Kennels.
Taught canine good manners and basic agility classes
Limited in-home boarding.

Highlights:

Cared for a pregnant bulldog, assisted in cesarean birth, and cared for mom and puppy until breeder’s return home.
Fostered pregnant foster beagle, assisted with whelping of litter of puppies, cared for them until they were 9 weeks old.

2014-Present Rock Nest Pet Care, Pet Sitting

Education:

Registered Dental Assistant, California, Lawton Dental Assistant School
Oral Surgery Assistant Certificate

Associates, Community College of Vermont, 2002
Concentrations: Animal Behavior, Liberal Studies

Bachelor of Science, University of Oregon, 2014
Concentrations:  Anthropology, Historic Preservation

Animal Education:

Association of Professional Dog Trainers
Annual Week Long Conference: 2001-2007, 2009, 2014, 2015

Sheltering:

Sue Sternberg. Big 5 Day Seminar. Shelter dog handling, assessment, mental enrichment, and training.

Sue Sternburg. Shelter Dog Temperment Testing. Two days -safe handling, testing

Sue Sternburg. Bite-o-meter. One day-assessing if, when, and where a dog can potentially bite a human.

Emily Weiss. Behavior Assessment. One day-teaching the Safer behavior assessment.

Ethology:

Ray Coppinger. Two days – The natural history of dogs, ethology, and cognitive ethology.

Veterinary/Biology:

Alfred State College-New York, 2004
Veterinary Medical Terminology
Small Animal Anatomy and Physiology
The Mechanism of Disease in Companion Animals

Behavior:

The Biting Dog Conference on Behavioral, Legal & Insurance Consequences. Two days – Sue Sternberg – Aggression and defensive handling, Wes Antrope – Emergency defensive handling, Cappy Weiner, ESQ. – Legal issues, Sharon Bender – Insurance issues, Steve Diller, Dr. Pamela Reid, & Sue Sternberg – Effects of bite cases and aggression.

Canine Conparisons.  Myrna Milani, Sue Sternberg, Kelly Bollen, Janet Smith.  Two days-reading temperaments of shelter dogs.

John Rogerson. Aggression. Three days-relationships of owners and their dogs and behavior modification programs.

Jean Donaldson. One day-behavior and training.

Myrna Milani, Sue Sternberg. Canine Contrast. Two days-diagnosing and treating aggression.

Myrna Milani. Ethology and Behavior. Two days-Learning to take a thorough history, assessing behavior issues.

Pia Silvani. Aggression Uncovered. Three days-behavior modification

Training

Bailey & Bailey Chicken Camp. Three weeks – Operant conditioning

Ex: Smart Chicken: Teaching Chickens with operant conditioning

Instructors Training Course, Seven days – Learning theory, classroom management, training group classes, training shelter dogs.

Instructors Training Course. Seven days – Learning theory, classroom management, training group classes, training shelter dogs.

Trish King. From Pups to Problems. Two days – Videos of puppy classes, discussion of the pros and cons of puppy socialization classes, and exploring ideas about how best to set up classes. A discussion on nature vs nuture – whether early intervention really does change adult behavior and, if so, by how much.

John Rogerson.Tracking, Trailing and Searching. Two days-teaching dogs to track and follow scents.

Dr. Patricia McConnell, Steve White. New Perspectives on Canine Behavior, Emotion and Training. Two days-triggers and thresholds of canine behavior.

Terry Ryan. Recharging the Canine Classroom.  Two days-demonstrations of a wide variety of games designed to strengthen basic skills of relationship, handling, attention, sit, down, stay, come, more advanced targets and various discriminations.

Dog Walkers Academy. Three days-business practices, training, fight prevention, walk management and equipment, car safety.

Presentations:

North Country School.
One day presentation to middle school students covering the advantages and disadvantages of being a dog trainer.

Blue Mountain Elementary School.
Agility demonstration.

Certifications:

Certified Pet Dog Trainer #2040714, 2004-2010

Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed #2040714 (recertification),  2015-Present

Volunteer and Affiliations:

Association of Pet Dog Trainers
Chair-Awards Committee- 2006-2008

Creswell Public Library
Volunteer – May-2008 to February-2013

University of Oregon, Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Archival box making – August-2013 to Present
Collections – October-2013 to 2015

1st Avenue Shelter
Post Adoption Specialist, 2014 to Present

Toastmaster International
member-2014 to Present