Gracie Baker
Grace moved to Bend in early 2019, and within a few weeks of seeing what a dog-friendly place the city was, knew she wanted a furry friend. After scouring the shelters for months, she began to lose hope that her and her partner Jacob would find their perfect pup. But one day while perusing the website of Brightside in Redmond, she saw a beautiful young Australian Cattle Dog pop on to the adoption page, his name… Arlo. It was love at first sight, and the rest is history.
Arlo is the absolute sweetest creature and a complete love bug. Friends with everyone he meets, Grace and Jacob love taking him everywhere they go, whether it be to their neighborhood dog park at Hollinshead, or for a pup burger at 10 Barrel. Arlo’s favorite place to go adventuring is at Good Dog! and he has been sure to make friends with all of the bartenders at The Lot, in order to get unlimited treats. Grace, Jacob, and Arlo love Bend, and hope it will be their forever home together.
Amanda Wheeler
Amanda was born and raised in Bend and developed a love of dogs at an early age. After attending the University of Oregon she moved south to San Diego where she became the proud parent of her first dog, Rawley.
While she worked in finance for 15 years, she was an active volunteer at the San Diego Humane Society. Years later, after Rawley’s passing, she volunteered at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab Utah where she met her eldest fur child Willow.
The trip to Kanab sparked a passion in Amanda that would lead her back to Bend and to the Board of Directors at the Humane Society of Central Oregon where she served as a member and Secretary for 3 years.
She remains an active volunteer and you can find her there Saturday mornings facilitating adoptions. Amanda then went on to help develop and grow other local rescue organizations while in tandem exploring the world of international spay neuter work.
Today, Amanda is the Executive Director and founder of The Rawley Project, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing & rehoming dogs while also serving the local community by providing refuge for pets with humans in crisis. In the rare moments that Amanda isn’t doing something for dogs you can find her, well, with dogs! Paddle boarding or enjoying a pint with her three rescues Willow, Monkey and the ever famous Pancho.
Mandy Bradley
Mandy is a nature loving, chocolate obsessed, stay-at-home mom, bookworm, and animal advocate. She was born and raised in Illinois, but found her home in Bend, OR 11 years ago with her husband Josh – a Vermont native.
She received her BA in Psychology, but chose to leave the mental health field when her daughter was born. It was then when she discovered her passion for homeschooling and slow living. Being more intentional with her time allowed her to pursue her purpose even further, which led her to fostering dogs and volunteering for the Rawley Project.
As a mother to one child and three animal babies, she is constantly wishing for a bigger house to fill with more four-legged friends. Hank was her first foster fail and certainly won’t be her last! Helping and loving these dogs has connected her with an amazing community and done wonders for her soul.
When Mandy isn’t spending time with her family or exploring the great outdoors, she can be found playing around in the kitchen, writing and managing her blog (Be Sol-Ful Living), where she is helping people make the transition to a plant-based lifestyle in a compassionate way.
Sarah Woolverton
As Owner and Chef of Wildflower’s Kitchen, Sarah is a traveling caterer who has moved 30 times in her 30 years of life.
While she has had addresses in five different states and has traveled to five times as many, Sarah has finally found her temporary forever home North of Bend in Terrebonne Oregon. She runs Betty Blue Ranch, where she homes abandoned and abused creatures of feathers and fur. She has worked on several farms across the country, working with large animals and getting her hands dirty gardening.
She spent three years living in a van with her husband and fur babes, picking up litter across their adventures. As a Wildkeeper for Keep Nature Wild, she still makes a weekly habit of gathering trash off public lands, with her sweet pup River prancing right along.
Megan Baker
Megan is a local dog lover, photographer, and entrepreneur here in Bend, Oregon.
When Covid hit, her photography business of 18 years was severely affected by the pandemic. This was when she started Metalheads Boutique.
Megan still shoots photography, but now she also designs and make pet tags. Since starting her biz, she’s had the pleasure of meeting so many phenomenal dog people with dog-related businesses!
Megan’s main focus will be to choose a unique story every month to inspire others and share it here on The Dog Guide Bend. It takes a village…and in Dogtown USA, aka Bend, Oregon, there’s no shortage of dogs, which means lots of good stories!
Have you ever rescued a dog? Do you
know someone who has? If so, she’d love to hear how it worked out for you. If you have a story to
share, let us know! You just might inspire another tail-wagger of an ending.
Dena Vogt
Dena always had a special connection with non-human animals and started working in animal care at a very young age. As a child, Dena would “rescue” neighborhood pets and bring them home for a “better life”. Once these pets were returned to their homes, their humans started hiring Dena to care for them! She began volunteering at shelters and vet clinics, and got a degree in photojournalism in hopes of working in animal welfare.
Throughout her journey Dena found herself working in vet clinics, zoos, animal shelters, and dog daycares, getting hands-on experience with a variety of animals, and forming a deep bond with dogs. She met her heart dog Link while working at a shelter, and he completely changed her life!
Dena put all her energy into dog care and started Adventure Pup, looking after dogs in Portland, OR until relocating to Dogtown USA (aka Bend, OR) in 2015. Adventure Pup is now 7 years old and specializes in guided pack hikes, leashed dog walks, and custom training programs. When she isn’t working with other people’s dogs she can be found hanging out with her own pup; camping, paddle boarding, and hiking.
Karla Garcia
Karla received her BS in Fisheries and Wildlife Science from Oregon State University in 2014 and has since worked at various sanctuaries around the world where she has worked with big cats, elephants, bears, raptors, farm animals, chimps, and everything in between.
Currently, she is a chimpanzee caregiver at Freedom for Great Apes, a small chimpanzee sanctuary located right outside of Bend. Her love of the great outdoors and chimpanzees made Bend, Oregon the perfect place to call home.
She moved here with her orange tabby, George and her deaf double-merle mini Aussie, Luna. On her free time, she goes on weekly adventures with Luna and photographs their journeys together.
Chelsea Hardaway
Chelsea Hardaway is the lucky recipient of Taylor’s kisses (c’mon, you want your eye licked off, too!). By day, she writes and designs, as the owner of a marketing and brand agency called Hardaway.
By night she can be found at the other end of the leash, trotting around the River West neighborhood of Bend, which she now calls home. With Taylor’s first bellyflop into the Deschutes River in 2016, she knew this dog-friendly paradise had to become her forever home.She and her husband Brian now split their time between Bend and Half Moon Bay, CA.
Chelsea is a passionate advocate for raw feeding, holistic care, and off-leash walking for the long-term health and happiness of dogs. A study of her Ancestry DNA has revealed a dark secret: while masquerading as a human, she is actually 100% golden retriever.
Devon Harmon
Devon moved to Bend from Portland in 2018 looking for a change. While she was mourning the loss of her German Shepherd/Husky mix Peppa, she wasn’t looking for another dog. But the universe had other plans when she met and fell in love-at-first sight with an 8 year old sled dog named Forman with an autoimmune disease and expensive vet bills ahead.
She knew every penny would be worth it for the dog she had just met. Their connection was instantaneous. In the following months Forman had 5 surgeries to remove all of his teeth and is finally a healthy doggo.
And yes, now his tongue hangs out *all* the time! Devon and Forman enjoy hiking, snuggling and numerous dog sports including mushing, bikejoring, skijoring, and canicross. This athletic duo can’t be stopped and are excited to share what they know with the dog community in Central Oregon.
Liz Uhlman
Liz has loved all animals since she was a child, from growing up with dogs, cats, rabbits, birds and horses. She worked on and off with horses for over 10 years in her spare time, while working a variety of jobs.
Then, in her late 20’s, she started making pet care her career. She began part time work as a dog walker and pet sitter in Philadelphia, and then formed her own LLC – Puptown Girl Pet Care – and started her own pet care business.
Liz got into this business because she envisioned a life for herself that was bigger than just faking it at a job she didn’t have a passion for. Since getting into pet care full time, Liz made the leap and moved to Bend, Oregon in summer of 2020 and continued her business here. Liz loves the connections and relationships she has built with other pet sitters, dog walkers and clients. She has learned an immense amount through personal experience and has recently taken her passion to the next level, and is enrolled in Victoria Stilwell Academy for Dog Trainers.
Liz hopes to continue learning every day through furthering her education and eventually working full-time as a dog trainer in Bend. She lives on the east side with her boyfriend and their Mini Aussie, Max. In their spare time, they enjoy hiking and lots of outdoor adventures.
