Wizard of Paws Staff

Maureen Connors, PTA, CCRP

My career has taken a few different turns throughout the years.  After working in the corporate world, I went back to school to become a Physical Therapist Assistant and also did some work in the fitness field.  During my work as a PTA, I discovered that there were indeed Physical Therapists that work with dogs. 

Animals have been my life-long passion and I always aimed to make working with them my career.  I did some work with Debbie a few years ago and when another opportunity to work with her came up, I jumped at it. I recently obtained my CCRP from the University of Tennessee’s Certificate Program in Canine Rehabilitation – June of 2011. 

My Golden Retriever, Jenny, and I don’t participate in any competitive sports together, but she has been my running and hiking partner for the last 7 years.  When she needed knee surgery herself, it became very clear to me just how important rehab is for dogs.  After utilizing the tools that Debbie has shown me after Jenny’s cranial cruciate ligament repair, we are back on the hiking trails and doing great. 

Helping dogs to rehab after injury, keeping older dogs as strong as possible to maintain function in their senior years and conditioning athletic dogs to achieve top performance is an incredibly rewarding experience and I hope to continue this work for many years to come.