Susan Daffron

Susan Daffron is the President and Founder of the National Association of Pet Rescue Professionals (NAPRP) an association that offers tools and information to help people working in humane organizations save more lives. She is also the author of two books on caring for adopted pets: Happy Hound: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Dog or Puppy and Happy Tabby: Develop a Great Relationship with Your Adopted Cat or Kitten.

Susan grew up in a house with many dogs and cats. Her father is fond of pointing out that when she was two and they brought home their first dog Bingo, she stood at the top of the stairs and said "no doggie."

Obviously things changed and she developed a long-standing love of dogs and cats. Growing up, she was tasked with taking various dogs to obedience classes and wanted to be a vet. A strong aversion to math made vet school an unrealistic dream, but she did start adopting pets almost as soon as she was able. A month after she and her husband bought their first condo, they built a kitty tree and she adopted two cats from the Friends of the County Animal Shelter in San Diego.

Two months after she and her husband moved themselves and the cats to Idaho, Susan started volunteering at the local animal shelter. Her first week there, she adopted a sickly black puppy named Leia and nursed her back to health. She adopted two more dogs over the period of time she volunteered. Later, she adopted another dog from a rescue group in California and a cat from another local shelter.

Susan volunteered at the animal shelter for a number of years. During that time, she used her graphic design and writing background to dramatically increase the visibility of the shelter in the community. She created hundreds of promotional materials, including banners, brochures, Web sites, forms, flyers, press releases, a new quarterly membership newsletter, and helped organize many fundraising events, including a big pet "carnival" called the Bow Wow Pow Wow.

Appalled by the lack of education among pet owners in her rural area, Susan also began writing weekly public service columns for the local newspaper on pet care topics. Much of this information has been incorporated in her books and educational materials available to NAPRP members. After she stopped volunteering at her local shelter, she became a part-time veterinary technician at a low-cost spay neuter clinic. There she learned more about veterinary issues, researched grants, and helped with software and administration issues.

In addition to her pet care books, Susan is the author of seven other books and the president of Logical Expressions, Inc. a book and software publishing company based in Sandpoint, Idaho.