Wizard of Paws Staff

Kathy Lesinski

After teaching Physical Education in the Hartford Public School System for twelve years and coaching various girls’ sports at high school and middle school level I decided it was time to pursue a different profession. My passion has always been with animals, dogs in particular. Recreational dog sledding was what I did for enjoyment on the weekends. Eventually I began to develop a racing team and became competitive. With the help of my husband, Bill, we began our own kennel of Siberian Huskies called Ka-Bi’s Siberians. Soon breeding our own special line of Siberians became a full time job. I quickly adapted to this new life style and felt that I had finally found my niche.  I learned how to condition my team, train leaders and race all distances from 30 – 100 miles. The 2008-2009 racing season was our best year yet with 3 top ten finishes and one first place finish.

When not racing I discovered another dog related sport called agility. I began training Kai, one of my Siberians who was ready for a challenge. We learned this sport together. She became one of the few Siberians in New England who compete in agility. Kai was ranked # 5 among Siberians in the United States competing in agility for 2009 and went to the AKC Agility Invitational in California. She is currently working towards her Mach, the highest agility title a dog can receive.

During this stage of my career I had the good fortune to meet Debbie Saunders of Wizard of Paws who evaluated some of my racing dogs. She taught me the structure of my dogs and how it relates to their performance, how to recognize injuries that may occur and how to rehab them. Wizard of Paws has sponsored our race team the past few years for which we are always grateful. When Deb offered me a job this past December I was not only grateful but excited to be a part of Wizard of Paws.

My duties working with Deb are varied. My primary responsibility is to rehab injured dogs and condition performance dogs on the underwater treadmill. This is very therapeutic and important care for dogs recovering from surgery and for working dogs needing to prevent injuries by conditioning their muscles. My days are filled with the daily care of all the other animals that live there and those who board there. Each day is different and rewarding in its own way. What fascinates me the most is to see the progress made by these canines and how they adapt. I have become very zealous about this newfound career and consider myself privileged to be able to work along side  Dr. Debbie Gross Saunders.

Kathy can be reached at kathy@wizardofpaws.net