Bergin University of Canine Studies

Bergin is a former special education teacher. In her work, she looked "for ways to keep people with disabilities out of institutions".[1] During a trip to Asia in 1975, she saw disabled people using donkeys to assist with transportation and other life needs. Bergin assumed that a dog could perhaps provide people the same assistance.[2] She proposed bringing a dog to the Santa Rosa Disability Center to work with interred people. Bergin went to an animal shelter and adopted a puppy and began training it. That was the first dog she ever trained. Bergin has "trained dogs to do everything from read basic words to identify diseased plants in Napa's vineyards."[1] In 2001, Bergin was awarded the Use Your Life award by Oprah Winfrey.[3]