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An Interview with Dr. Linda Hornisberger
About her career
Dr. Linda Hornisberger is a veterinarian surgeon and working at the organization that rescues people from disaster, such as earthquakes, with rescue dogs. She started training dogs before becoming a veterinarian. The main reason that she started her career as a veterinarian was to observe and treat behavioral problems with dogs.
She said, “This is important because
we cannot save people’s lives with dogs, if the dogs aren’t healthy. Also, it is a good moment to see dogs recovering from difficult situation.”
Dogs cannot speak, therefore, she needs to observe their behavior in order to make sure if they really need medical care or not.
About Dog training
Dog training takes much time and requires knowledge of dogs. She says that her ability to train dogs has improved from her job experience as a veterinarian.
The training starts from puppy class, and in the class, they learn socializing skills. Then, after six months old, they officially go to regular junior class.
What is her desire?
She desires to solve the problem of missing people the mountains. The organization she is with has many cases of people missing in the mountains. Therefore, her organization is trying to get more dog teams for this.
What has she learned from her career?
“The quicker we take action, the higher chance we have of saving lives.”
She learned this from her job experiences and she wants to do something for this issue with the help of dogs. She knows how important life is and loves the satisfaction of how people and their families feel relieved after finding out their loved ones were rescued and secure.
These things are what makes her keep doing her tough jobs. In her job, she often faces many struggles. For example, she finds people dead in the worst case. However, she tries to keep in mind that her job is to rescue people and focuses on that. So, she tries not to put her emotions first, especially when she is in difficult situations.
Opinions about volunteering
“Volunteering somewhere is a life changing experience. It makes us be more human, we can see what is happening in the places that have difficult issues. Young generations are the future, and if they stand up, the world can be a better place.”