I have known Kathy Klages for many years, in fact since 1986. Kathy has always loved animals and dogs in particular, but in recent years she has dedicated the majority of her life to dogs, saving their lifes, rehabilitating them, finding good homes for foster pets( who would have beenkilled without Kathy's involvement), and adopting two of her own. Her dogs, Rusty and Woddy, are exceptionally well behaved and a pleasere to have around and they are in fact, at my request, guests at my house whenever Kathy and Ken visit us.

I just would briefly like to share Lucy's story. Lucy was a small dog, terrified of humans, who was obviously abused in the past. When Kathy took her home, Lucy would not let anybody touch her and would not even respond to food offering. She was growling if approached and I felt that it would have been next to impossible to socialize that poor little dog. Slowly Lucy started to improve, and she would let Kathy and Ken touch and pet her, but her behavior continued to be socially unacceptable. After five months we were sure that Lucy had to be euthanized to spare her from the terror she was still exhibiting. But Kathy persisted, Lucy continued to improve and finally Kathy found a good home for Lucy. Today Lucy is very happy little furry person and a great pet.

Besides loving and understanding pets, Kathy is also excellent with training. She uses the reward approach - or positive reinforcement. That is praising good behavior, rewarding it, and gently correct or ignore the bad behavior. She is very parient and all her foster dogs love her in a special way. She truly knows how dogs think and trains accordingly.

I will be most happy to have anybody call me at my home if anyone has questions.