ABOUT AMANDA

Amanda Rietheimer, CDBC, CPDT-KA owns and manages Animal Behavior Focus, which works to modify fearful and aggressive behavior of animals.

In 2012, Amanda founded Animal Behavior Focus in Houston, Texas, where she partnered with Dr. Lore Haug, the only Veterinarian Behaviorist in the Houston area, on many cases. Amanda has also donated many hours to various rescue organizations to help assess dogs and create behavior modification plans for newly adopted and/or fostered dogs.

Prior to founding Animal Behavior Focus (formerly Behavior Focus of Houston), Amanda was an Animal Control Officer for 12 years in the New England area. For three of those years, she oversaw the animal shelter and staff. Amanda shadowed many local trainers to help train dogs at the shelter in order to increase their chances of being adopted. Later, she became a police officer and was training to become a K-9 handler when she realized that she missed helping animals at the shelter. Amanda has been training dogs utilizing positive reinforcement methods since 1996.

Amanda, her family, and her business expanded to Miramar Beach, Florida in December 2021. After helping many lives in Florida it was time to return to Texas full time. Currently, they live in Sugar Land, Texas with their two Great Danes, Alyvia and Semi. Animal Behavior Focus provides behavior modification training for the owners of dogs and cats of Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas. Amanda still supports the Emerald Coast via Zoom and in person when in town.

Photograph of Amanda Rietheimer with her two Great Danes on the beach — Amanda Rietheimer, CDBC, CPDT-KA

TESTIMONIALS

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“I was introduced to Amanda in 2016 after 2 of my rescue dogs started fighting with each other. The Veterinary Behaviorist they had both been seeing for other issues highly recommended Amanda. From my very first phone call with her, she assured me that she would help our family figure out what was causing these two girls to fight. We learned invaluable lessons about triggers, warning signs and general dog behavior that is so beneficial to all of our dogs’ day-to-day lives. Our dogs all love Amanda and I am happy to report that, 7 years later, everybody is living happily ever after. We all consider Amanda a part of our family!”

“What I love about Amanda is that she comes to my house so that she can see the exact issues we have. She not only trains the dog, but me, the owner, how to handle the dog in each situation… Amandy truly saved my new dog’s life.”

“Amanda utilized her wealth of knowledge and skills to teach us to read the Whiskey’s signs and prevent instead of always having to react. She taught our kids how to be safe, but still have fun with Whiskey. Amanda changed our lives and saved Whiskey’s! We will never be able to truly thank her for what she has done for us.”

“The Ask Amanda seminar at Dog-Harmony was very informative and full of great ideas. Amanda gave plenty of time to field individual questions, too. This great seminar gave the audience a better understanding of dog behavior and how they might address the issues they encounter in the shelter environments.”

“The Ask Amanda program hosted by Dog-Harmony was amazing and allowed me to learn new techniques for working with our more shy and reactive dogs at Alaqua Animal Refuge.”