Meet the Staff: Rea Samuels

Get to know the NEADS staff in this occasional series. Today, please meet Rea Samuels – Full-Time Raiser Instructor/Puppy Program Assistant.

Q: When did you start working at NEADS?

A: February 2018

Q: What brought you to NEADS?

A: I always knew that I wanted to change the world through dogs. When I moved to Mass in 2017 everyone kept telling me I needed to look into NEADS and when I did there was an opening and without hesitation I applied.

Q: What do you do at NEADS?

A: When I started I was a canine center/ELC/nursery attendant and a Puppy Program Assistant. After a year and a half I was offered a new position in our Full-time Phoenix program as a Phoenix Instructor.

Q: What did you do before you came to NEADS?

A: After graduating in 2016, I taught a freshman seminar class and was an assistant track coach at my alma mater. I did that for a year before moving to Mass where I worked a few doggy daycares before NEADS swooped me up. ?

Q: What do you love about working for NEADS?

A: I love the impact that we all make. The small things like working with the raisers and seeing them light up when their NEADS pup finally nails something that they have been struggling with or seeing a stranger explode with joy when a raiser lets them greet a puppy to seeing the clients meet their dogs for the first time and then seeing them as a team months later at graduation. None of this would be possible without the work of every single one of us here at NEADS and I am honored to be a part of that joy that we give people.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Umm, sort of. I am a breeder caretaker for a NEADS breeder, Libby. She’s a black lab with a whole lot of personality who loves to lie on her back! I love her. ❤

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