Valerie Ford - Vice President

Since moving to Florida in 1988, Chris and I have trained horses and dogs, and have had a lot of fun along the way. Over the years, I have helped train horses, taught riding lessons, done dog rescue and training.

Last year I became a puppy raiser for another organization. I have trained Rigby to perform many of the service dog skills and we are still working toward more skills. Rigby is a breeder and will be a good mom – she takes all new pups in the household “under her wing”. We are “suckers” for the sad luck story and now have 10 dogs and 2 cats in the house – most of them rescues.

I have discovered that training service dogs is a calling that must be fulfilled. Now that we have started My Angel With Paws, Inc., we are busier than ever, but we have excellent friends and volunteers surrounding us. For the time being, I continue to work at HCA (we own hospitals all over). I am the Information Technology Coordinator (computers) for a remote corporate office in Orlando. 

As soon as finances allow, I want to "retire" and give all of my time to My Angel With Paws – it is quickly becoming a fantastic organization with dedicated and knowledgeable people working so hard towards its success.

Deb Canevaro - Public Relations Director

I was born in Bay Minette, Alabama and have lived in the South all my life.  I have lived most of it in Florida, so I consider myself a semi native. I have a BS degree in deaf education from the University of Montevallo and a Masters in Emotionally Handicapped from the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

I am a District Placement specialist for exceptional student education department of Volusia County Schools. I make sure that all paper work related to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) is in compliance and students in my assigned sites receive any special equipment, accommodations or modifications they need to be successful in school.

All of the children in my house have 4 legs and a tail. My old man is JJ, a smooth dachshund, who is my obedience trial dog with a Companion Dog, Rally Novice, Advanced and hopefully an Excellent title soon. My “middle child” is Killarney who is a wire standard dachshund. He does Canine Freestyle dancing. My “baby girl” is Ivy, a Golden Retriever. She is starting her obedience and Canine Freestyle dancing career. I now have golden #2, Gabriel, who is an Angel in Training for My Angel with Paws.
I currently teach basic obedience for two local obedience clubs.

I find working with service dogs the perfect meld of my career working with special needs children and the thing I love to do best - train dogs.  I love serving on the board for My Angel with Paws and enjoy working with everyone involved.

Pat Chesley - Secretary

I'm almost a native central Floridian since I was raised in Mount Dora and then moved east to teach.  I am a proud GATOR, but my master's degree in educational leadership is from the University of Central Florida.  I am a retired middle school teacher and an experienced obedience trainer with a local obedience club.  I teach the puppy kindergarten or basic classes. 

When I was in elementary school, I read a book about a boy who raised a dog for The Seeing Eye and wanted to do the same thing, but in Central Florida, it was not possible.  I waited until I found out about service dog programs in 1991.  That's when I got my first puppy, and I've been hooked ever since.  I had never wanted a golden retriever, but that's what my first dog was and now I'm even active in golden retriever rescue.  I have raised several puppies for various organizations (15 or so), and now that I've found my home with My Angel with Paws.

I am currently raising an Angel in Training, Rocco, and am astounded at his ability to learn so quickly.  My own dogs are golden mother and daughter Razzle and Pumpkin, chocolate labrador, Kitt, and rescued basset hound (and couch potato in training), Stanyan.  I also have a cat for Stanyan to exercise.  In my spare time I like to make quilts.

Rebecca Bogoski - Breeding Specialist

My husband, Steve and I, have been married for 17 years and both grew up in Michigan. I have 3 children and 7 goldens. I have been breeding Goldens since 2006. My golden family consists of my foundation pair, Jake and Dixie, who had four beautiful litters together before we retired them. We also have my heart dog, Diva, who has a dock diving title and hopefully will be the first golden to achieve a UKC weight pull title, Duke, our future stud dog - who just became a UKC Champion, Sephora, Sandy, and our newest addition, Summer.

My daughter Megan shares my love of animals and is the person who shows Duke and does weight pull with Diva. As the last few years have gone by, I have taken courses, worked as a vet tech and have poured my heart and soul into making my breeding program a success. I have learned the importance of having health clearances on the parents of my litters and pride myself on going above and beyond most other breeders. I am very excited to be a part of My Angel with Paws and look forward to growing along with the organization!

Linda Fox - Director, Midwest Division

My name is Linda Fox and I am the Director of Midwest Operations for My Angel With Paws.  The Midwest Training Center is located in Mokena, IL, a suburb of Chicago.  We hope to mirror our training facility after the main campus in Deland, FL.   I have been training dogs for 20+ years.  I currently teach puppy and beginner obedience classes and recently became a certified Canine Good Citizen (CGC)  and S.T.A.R. Puppy evaluator.

Growing up in a tiny town in the cornfields of IL my sisters and I were very active in 4-H.  I wanted to raise a puppy for The Seeing Eye as a project for 4-H.  We already had a dog and my parents nixed the puppy idea instead talking me into raising rabbits.  Bunnies are fine but I really wanted the puppy.  That seed lay dormant for 20 years until one day I was surfing the Internet and found a dog guide school that had opened their puppy raising program to adults as well as 4-H kids.  My husband Mike and I started raising dog guides for Leader Dogs For The Blind in 1998.  In 2003 we switched to raising service dogs for another school.  Training service dogs suited me better because I was able to teach them a wider variety of commands beyond the basic sit - stay - come and heel.  The only drawback was that my graduate dogs were always placed in Florida.  The longer we raised service dogs and talked about them to everyone we met the more apparent it became that the disabled community in the Midwest Region of the US was seriously under served.  When Chris started My Angel With Paws we talked at length about the program and decided that it would be a good idea to establish a training center up here as well as in Florida.  God has blessed me with a family and many good friends who support my service dog endeavors. 

I look forward to helping My Angel With Paws grow into a well respected organization that provides outstanding dogs and services to our clients.