Bridgett Higginbotham, RVT, owner, and Export Queen
Bridgett Higginbotham has been a licensed Veterinary Technician since 1987 and is the owner of Sirius Canine Fertility. Bridgett has been doing semen exporting and importing for the last 20 years, and is known many places as “the Export Queen”. She started Sirius in August of 2000, as a mobile semen freezing and pregnancy ultrasound business. She has moved the Sirius office location 3 times, as the business expanded and outgrew each location very quickly. She finally purchased and settled on a permanent location, which is where the office is now in Grass Valley. Today Sirius Canine Fertility has 6 employees and performs trans-cervical inseminations (TCIs), artificial inseminations (AIs), as well as semen collections, semen freezing, progesterone testing and semen exporting/importing all over the world. Sirius has become one of the largest export/import centers in the United States. Sirius Canine Fertility is also a presence at dog shows, where semen collections, evaluations and freezes are performed.
Bridgett currently sits on the Examining committee for Veterinary Reproduction Technicians for NAVTA. This is a group of dedicated Veterinary Technicians that specialize in Canine Reproduction, a position that holds the distinction that only 5 other Technicians in the US and Canada share. The qualifications for this position involve length of time specializing in Canine Reproduction, continuing education dedicated to Veterinary Reproduction, and level of education in this field, among others.
In addition to her professional activities in canine reproduction, Bridgett has been a bulldog breeder since 1990. She has also been a licensed AKC judge since 2000, and currently judges internationally as well as domestically. She has judged at her National Specialty several times.
Bridgett enjoys traveling, snow shoeing, hiking. She is an ASA certified sailor and will be spending much of her semi-retirement years sailing her catamaran all over the world.
Bridgett currently has one spoiled bulldog named JJ, an American Bulldog named Fallon and three cats.
Rebecca Hahn, DVM
Dr. Rebecca Hahn has been a serious breeder of Entlebucher Mountain Dogs for just short of 30 years. After graduating from Purdue University Veterinary School in 1982, Dr. Hahn and her husband, Dr. Jay Schuff, moved to Grass Valley to practice veterinary medicine, eventually opening their own clinic together. While owners of Brunswick Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Hahn and her husband, Dr. Jay Schuff, offered reproductive services to their clients. Helping their clients to achieve quality breeding practices inspired them to embrace a preservation breeding program for the Entlebucher. After selling the Brunswick Clinic, Dr. Hahn has had the opportunity to dedicate herself to not only their breeding program, but to competition in a wide range of canine venues.
Dr Hahn’s dogs’ accomplishments include an AKC Best in Show as well as an AKC Reserve Best in Show, along with a myriad of Owner Handler Best in Shows and Group wins. She has successfully competed with Best of Breed at Westminster, the AKC National show in Orlando, won the Entlebucher National Specialty 6 times, and won Entlebucher Best in Breed at the 2019 World Dog Show.
In addition to AKC conformation, Dr Hahn’s dogs have AKC Titles in Trick Dog, Rally, Obedience, Scent Work and Canine Good Citizen. Outside of AKC, Dr Hahn competes in freestyle dance, earning titles from 3 different freestyle titling organizations. All her dogs have Parkour Titles from the International Dog Parkour organization. Her bitch, GCHS Maribo Muffin of Brunswick CGCA, RE, TKP, is one of a handful of dogs who have earned the Champion Parkour Dog Title.
In addition to her technical Veterinary knowledge, Dr Hahn’s experience as a longtime breeder and accomplished canine competitor provides her with an added level of empathy and insight for our Sirius clients.
Arabelle Wahl, Lab Technician and Office Manager
Growing up in a home revolving around dogs, 4-H, and FFA, Arabelle has been an animal lover from a very early age. She grew up helping her parents breed and train English Springer Spaniels for field work, along with raising and showing horses, dairy goats, and market hogs. After raising a Guide Dog for the Blind through FFA she branched out further into the dog world, working with a canine behaviorist specializing in handling and rehabilitating aggressive/ potentially dangerous dogs. She wanted to branch into the veterinary world and found her way to Sirius Canine in 2018. Arabelle has excelled in every aspect of what she has learned and is now our head technician and office manager. Arabelle is a master of the transcervical insemination technique and has taught her techniques to many others that have come after her. She has also branched out into the export department at Sirius, along with Bridgett. She handles most of the European countries in our export department. Arabelle is currently attending courses for her Registered Veterinary Technician license. She plans to specialize in Veterinary Reproduction and become NAVTA certified in Theriogenology. She does her best to make all processes as smooth and straightforward as possible for our clients. She loves seeing all the different dogs and having the opportunity to be another factor in improving so many breeds. Outside of work, Arabelle enjoys exploring the outdoors with her Golden Retriever, Scorpio, and her ESS Tater Tot.
Sarah Bridges
Sarah knew she wanted to work with animals from when she was 6 years old. Her dreams came true for her when she began working in the veterinary field at 18, and she has not strayed since, working as a veterinary assistant in Nevada County for more than 12 years before joining our team at Sirius Canine. Sarah is always thinking ahead and creating a clear plan, something she’s taken from continuing education classes studying Veterinary Triage. Sarah is calm and sympathetic, always treating every dog she sees like her own, always utilizing her education on canine body language. She is patient and thorough, always keeping our clients involved and well informed. In her spare time Sarah spends time with her son Wilder BBQing, playing around their property, and soaking up some sun on their boat and her paddleboard at the lake. Her pets, Creature, her Boston Terrier, her lab mix Luna, and her two cats The Dude and Floyd require quite a bit of attention as well.
Heaven Mahood, Veterinary Assistant
Growing up, Heaven was always surrounded by dogs, beginning with helping her mom breed Yorkshire Terriers and Maltese. Throughout her childhood she helped with the whelping process, playing with the puppies, and helping to find them their forever homes. In a childhood revolving around their small family farm, she’s always have had the love for animals big and small. She spent her middle and high school years traveling around California showing South African Boer Goats in ABGA shows, and in our local Nevada County Fair. From a little girl she always wanted to have a career working with animals, so when she saw an opportunity with Sirius Canine, she was more than eager to join the team. She attended Feather River College with a focus in Animal Behavioral Science and Horse Husbandry/Training, and is currently furthering her education, working towards becoming an RVT. She’s very excited to start this chapter in her career and be a part of helping in the success of so many breeding programs. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family, playing outside, going on adventures, and cooking and baking with her kids. Her pets are her 2 rescue cats Mooshoo and Mulan and her 2 dogs, a Catahoula Sharky, and Captain, an Australian Shepherd mix that has been her sidekick for 7 years now.
Sarah Hatten, Accounts Receivable and Billing Manager
Sarah comes to Sirius Canine after years of medical office administration and insurance billing experience. She brings a direct, honest and progressive approach to managing communication between clients and our financial department. With a background in anatomy and physiology Sarah has a natural understanding of what we do here at Sirius. Sarah is a former Search and Rescue volunteer and as an avid trap shooter is a leader with the local 4-H youth shooting program. Sarah is on the Board of Directors for the Western Gateway Dog Park in Penn Valley. If Sarah isn’t working on her house, she can be found out on the boat at Tahoe, hiking the trails and swimming the mountain lakes with her son and trusty Golden Retriever, Wilson.