Tierney Sain, national shelter support specialist

Prior to joining Best Friends in 2013, Tierney spent nearly a decade working and volunteering with various animal shelters and had an affinity for what most would consider difficult dogs. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Colorado, Tierney joined the Dogtown team at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. She quickly became an instrumental member of the team due to her ability to work with, and progress, dogs who had significant behavior challenges. Over time she honed her skills and began to not only create customized behavior and enrichment plans for each individual dog, but also began coaching others, which led to her advancement on the team from caregiver to supervisor. As a supervisor in Dogtown, Tierney oversaw the team who took care of the sanctuary’s most challenging dog population. It was here where Tierney led the team through creative problem solving to enhance and diversify their ability to progress dogs with comprehensive behavior issues. Tierney created protocols for expediting progress with shy dogs, implemented playgroups and played a critical role in population management. On a personal level, Tierney also extended her expertise to help several local shelters with limited resources enhancing their shelter operations and improving the quality of life for their canine populations. 

As the national shelter support specialist Tierney is now able to help more dogs and people by providing support and mentoring to shelters across the country for canine training, enrichment and behavior. Originally from Ohio, Tierney now calls Southeastern Utah her home and spends her free time helping progress project dogs at the sanctuary and hiking and exploring with her adopted dogs.