Rachel Friedman, Founder

Rachel Friedman, founder of A Better Pet, has worked with both people and animals — primarily dogs, cats and horses — as far back as she can remember. She enjoyed a childhood rich with many animal interactions.  After early horse exposure at Camp Red Raider, Rachel spent countless hours in her teens on a quarter horse Appaloosa ranch.  It was there she learned the power of positive training.  Rachel has a B.A. in Social Sciences from The University of Michigan, and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from The University of Pennsylvania.

Sandwiched between her formal education was an eclectic hands-on life experience including:

• travels both in and out of the United States
• stints in film and television production work in Hollywood and Jamaica
• public housing in the gown (Yale University) and town of New Haven, Connecticut
• communal farming
• a myriad of food industry and secretarial gigs.

Post graduate social work experiences focused on early childhood development and emergency mental health/crisis intervention, along with the birth and early childhood years of her three daughters, now 18, 14 and 12.

Merging her passions, Rachel launched A Better Pet LLC in the fall of 1998.  Starting with pet dog training, and offering both private in home & group services, Rachel naturally progressed into service dog training.  She placed her first dog, Ruby, a red merle Australian Shepherd, at no cost to the North Star Foundation, who paired Ruby quite successfully with a young girl with spina bifada.  Rachel continues to help individuals and families select, raise, train, place, support, and educate numerous dogs for service and therapy work in Cleveland and throughout the U.S.

Rachel added inventor to her resume with the creation of Har-Vest, the first and only hybrid no-pull harness and vest/backpack on the market today.  Inspired to develop Har-Vest by her service dog work, it has proven to be an amazingly functional and therapeutic product for pet and service dog animals, both on leash and off.  The sedating effects of a Har-Vest:

Snug fit is calming.

• • • • • helps in working animals through mind/body disconnect issues that result in behavioral problems (reactivity to other dogs, thunderstorms, general angst issues and more)
        • help speed recovery from the negative effects of a traumatic past
        • increase stability and greater confidence for even very troubled dogs.
        • help focus your dog which results in a more effective response to positive training techniques

Har-Vest was helped to market through the Cuyahoga County New Product Loan fund when Rachel was selected as one of the first 10 recipients of the program in May 2005.

In addition to pet and service dog training, Rachel is available for public speaking on a variety of topics, as well as providing expert witness/evaluation services, consults and more.

Rachel is a frequent guest on (Nashville, Tennessee) WRFN’s radio show, THE POLITICS OF DOGS with irreverent host Tracy Ann,  heard Tuesdays from 11 – noon EST.

She shares her blog on Dog Star Daily and provides specialized content as an expert on service dog topics at Dog Time.

MUSES FROM RACHEL’S PAST AND PRESENT