Audra Doré
Although proud to be an American, Audra was born & raised in Vancouver, Canada so it was there that her love for animals blossomed! She can’t recall a time when she didn’t live, eat and breath “animals”! As a child she remembers reading all the animal books she could get her hands on and plastering her walls with magazine photos of all her favorite creatures.
In her early teens she began volunteering at a local vet practice that also boarded animals and as soon as she turned 16 she was given a job as a kennel attendant and veterinary assistant. There she continued to develop her love of animals and her concern for their well-being that would only get stronger as her life went on.
After graduating from high school Audra worked in a pet store as a caretaker of the fish, reptiles and small animals. Although the store didn’t carry snakes, a fellow associate introduced Audra to her two rescue snakes and it was love at first sight. A year later, after lots of research, she got her first snake. She did her first educational reptile presentation that year and continues to participate in educational reptile events whenever possible.
But even more than she loves snakes (and that’s a lot) Audra loves dogs! She began training dogs professionally in 2001. She loved being able to help people and dogs through positive training and took a special interest in solving canine behavior issues.
Horses have also played an important role in Audra’s life. She started riding lessons when she was 10, first Western and then English. Later, she trained and competed on the Hunter/Jumper ‘A Circuit’ but eventually decided to try her hand at Eventing. Both she and her horse “Yogi” adored the freedom and excitement of Cross-Country and she was lucky enough to become the working student of a trainer who specialized in Eventing. She would ride the horses in training as well as work as a stable-hand, taking care of approx 50 horses. In 2002 Audra put riding on hold to pursue traveling opportunities. She didn’t begin riding seriously again until 2005 when she was given the opportunity to become the full-time rider of 2 Frisian stallions and 2 Arabian geldings.
In 2004 Audra was still living in Canada but because of her dual-citizenship it was easy for her to pack up her dogs and move to California where her twin sister Claire had been living for some time and working as a studio animal trainer. This is when Audra got her start as a studio trainer. She trained mainly dogs but soon she was also working with Capuchin monkeys. Before long she was caring for and working with a pack of wolf-hybrids as well and she later found herself the trainer of 2 juvenile lions. At that compound she also cared for all the animals. It was in taking care of the big cats and the wolves that Audra’s love for animals took on new depths as she began to realize that you could indeed have a very meaningful relationship with an animal that you couldn’t even touch.
But Vancouver was calling to her back and in 2006 she returned to Canada for a 6 year stay. During this time she continued working with animals, of course, first by working puppies & cats on a locally filmed feature, then by starting up a dog training business and also by working at a nearby studio animal ranch taking care of their animals.
By now she had built a small family of 2 dogs, 3 cats (all rescues) and 21 snakes. However, (after spending a year finding the right home for each snake) she moved back to California in 2014. Since then she has been training and caretaking for a studio animal company and working as a bather in a grooming shop. Recently Audra realized that as much as she enjoyed being a studio trainer she really preferred the caretaking aspect. Making sure animals are happy and well cared for is definitely her passion!!