Woof woof! Found you!

Kate was a dog lover and has always had at least one dog. German Shepherd Kenai proceeded her in death, and Black Lab Blackie was like Velcro at her side whenever they were together.

Both Kenai and Blackie were well-trained search rescue dogs and participated in many of Kate’s training, as well as being “staff” dogs for Ketchum Safety Training. In addition, Kate, Jim, and the dogs were active in the Mesa County Search and Rescue ATV and the Mesa County Search and Rescue Ground teams, and were also both members of the K9 Search and Rescue team based in Dolores, CO, and Western Slope Search Dogs.

Kate found a companion dog lover in Colorado, Donna Tessier, and they created a purpose-built canine training center together. Situated in the Grand Junction / Fruita area, Western Slope Canines, LLC provides top-notch dog training (at westernslopecanines.com and westernslopesearchdogs.org). Kate was involved in the whole process, here supervising the artificial turf installer.

Kate was an evaluator for the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) and spent countless hours traveling and giving classes throughout the western states. In 2021, Kate was named the NASAR Instructor of the Quarter.

In addition to the certificates, Kate also received the NASAR honor of 2021 Instructor of the Quarter, awards in the form of a large Mag-Lite flashlight.

Kate and Donna’s September, 2021 training sessions were featured in Grand Junction’s local paper, The Daily Sentinel.

During the last few weeks of her life, Kate installed surveillance and communication equipment to transform a trailer into a search and rescue command center, available for use by theirs and other regional search and rescue teams.

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