There are typically two responses when I tell someone I’m a freelance journalist who specializes in dogs. If I’m lucky, they’ll whip out their phone and show me photos of a beloved pup. But sometimes, I’m met with a look of confusion. “You only write about dogs?”

My primary niche might seem narrow, but that’s not the case. I’ve had the chance to research incredibly varied topics, including:

- Dog and cat cloning in the U.S.
- The use of leeches in veterinary medicine
- How to keep a dog from acting racist
- Dog-friendly travel destinations
- Laws surrounding cannabis and pets
- Kidney transplants for cats
- Prison inmates training dogs for adoption
- Work to prevent suicide among veterinarians
- Students raising guide dogs for the blind
- Why it’s important for domestic violence shelters to allow pets
- Efforts to rescue animals in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and other disasters
- Denver’s pit bull ban

- Breaking news about pets and the coronavirus
- Fiona the Hippo’s latest book

I often profile inspiring people and pets working to make the world a better place. I approach interviews with an open mind, a commitment to accuracy and compassion. One source recounting the death of her husband even told me I’m like a “journalist/therapist.”

My work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, BBC News, Woman's World, Family Circle, The Daily Beast, the TODAY show’s website, Best Friends Magazine, Modern Dog, HuffPost, Family Dog, Inside Your Dog's Mind, PBS’s Next Avenue, Just Labs, Tufts University’s Your Dog and many other publications.

On the book front, I co-authored the travel guidebook “Adventure Guide: Hawaii the Big Island,” photographed and edited “The Golf Fanatic’s Guide to Hawaii” and contributed to the anthology “Second-Chance Dogs.”

I am proud to be former president of the Dog Writers Association of America, which recently awarded me the Distinguished Service Award, and a member of the Cat Writers’ Association, Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Society for Features Journalism and the Denver Press Club.