Carmen Rustenbeck "How to Make Pet Boarding a Better Experience" on Why Do Pets Matter? with Debra Hamilton, Esq. Podcast #105

In this episode, Carmen Rustenbeck, the executive director of the International Boarding Pet Services Association shares her enthusiasm for taking care of pets while the owners travel; and how animals influence us. She shares some insights into how we bond with animals, and how unconditional love from our pets makes our lives magic.


About Carmen Rustenbeck

Carmen Rustenbeck is Executive Director & Founder of the International Boarding & Pet Services Association (IBPSA), a non-profit professional business association for the pet care services industry. She has been involved in non-profit work for over 20 years and active in the pet care industry since 2004. Carmen founded IBPSA in 2010 and has dedicated herself to building a member-centered organization that promotes business education, best practices, and profit-maximizing strategies for the safety and security of pet clients and staff, and for the financial future of association members.


Carmen has been named a Pet Age Woman of Influence and is a Silver Stevie® Award winner for Female Executive of the Year – Government or Non-Profit (10 or Less Employees). She also serves on the Leadership Council for the National Small Business Association (NSBA), the nation’s oldest small-business advocacy organization. Under Carmen’s guidance, IBPSA launched its association magazine, Pet Care Pro Quarterly, and its annual Pet Care Services Educational Conference & Trade Show, attracting hundreds of pet care professionals from around the world.


Carmen is active in her community through her support of the Companion Animal Program at New Mexico State University where she regularly speaks to students, hoping to help guide and assist future pet care providers and, in her spare time, she can be found walking dogs at the local animal shelter or working as a mentor to small business owners in the pet care services industry.


Find out more here:


https://www.ibpsa.com/


About Debra Hamilton, Esq. 


Debra spent 30 years as a practicing litigator, but she is now a full-time mediator and conflict coach for people in disputes over animals.


Go here for more: https://hamiltonlawandmediation.com/


e-mail: [email protected]


phone: 914.552.5021


Debra works both nationwide and internationally. She has far-reaching experience in resolving interpersonal conflicts involving animals, and she is also well-known in the world of purebred dogs as a top breeder and exhibitor of Irish setters and long-haired dachshunds. Debra speaks widely on the topic of how mediation techniques can help people address conflicts without litigation. She has presented at veterinary schools, the American Kennel Club, the American Veterinary Medical Law Association, the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators, the Living With Animals conference, state bar association Animal Law Committee meetings, and animal interest group meetings. Debra also writes a blog for Hamilton Law and Mediation and is a past contributor to the Solo Practice University blog and the Canine Chronicle.


She has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, and the New York Times, just to name a few.


As the principal at Hamilton Law and Mediation, PLLC—the nation’s first solo mediation practice dedicated to helping people resolve conflicts over animals—Debra uses alternative dispute resolution to help address disagreements over the family pet during divorce, neighbors’ arguments over a barking dog, and confrontations between clients and veterinarians and other professionals who work with animals. HLM also looks forward to helping animal rights and welfare advocates see the benefit of having a conversation about the best interests of all parties—especially the animals—to resolve animal-related disputes. Debra is admitted to practice law in all New York State courts. She is certified as a mediator and collaborative professional and has worked with various court-based mediation programs in New York City (Queens-Community Mediation Service) and in Westchester and Rockland Counties in New York (Westchester and Rockland Mediation Centers).