Heather Harberg

Owner, Founder, Behaviorist

Bruno the Companion was established in January 2013 by me, Heather Harberg. My love and dedication to animals started from a very young age with our family’s pets, Bourbon who was half husky and half coyote, Smokey who was a shepherd mix who had horrible fears of noises and my first family cat,Lucky who was rescued by my parents after Lucky was found injured on a highway after being thrown from a truck . These pets from my childhood sparked my love and I learned so much from them.

At the age of 12 I convinced my mother to foster stray and abused animals of all species through Animal Orphanage. We fostered for them until they shut down on my mother and I leaving us with 22 cats/ kittens and 18 dogs/ kittens in our little home. It took us 2 years to rehab and re-home everyone of those animals.

The experiences taught me medical knowledge from Vets who helped me with diagnosing, treating and healing from everything such as skin conditions, diet needs and physical injuries to the emotional healing which was the biggest teacher for understanding Behavior modification through a process of elimination and observation.   I used trial and error and processes of elimination to build trust and relationships with animals who had been so badly abused that they had every right to never trust anyone ever again- but with time, they trusted me!

All the experiences that I have encountered gave me a great understanding when communicating with animals and the passion to want to educate owners as well as the public about proper care for animals including proper handling and a process for clear, calm behavior modification.

My first dog was half Border collie and half Welsh Corgi, his name was Sneakers. He was all about herding the kids and keeping everyone in line! Unfortunately Sneakers passed away when I was in High School at only 8 years old. It was my second dog who would teach me the most!

 My second dog was an American Staffordshire (commonly known  as “Pit Bull”) named Bruno found in the middle of the street after I almost ran him over. Bruno was the most loyal and loving dog, and yet was highly misunderstood by society simply because of his breed. Bruno changed many people’s minds about what this breed is all about and helped guide me into wanting to continue to educate people even after losing Bruno to heart cancer at only 6 years of age.

Currently my personal pack consists of a 6 year old deaf American Stafford shire named Lucky, a 2 year old yellow lab named Lexi and a 10 month old Golden doodle named June Bug. Both Lexi and June Bug have been serving the community with their therapy work at various locations around the metro area. 

Using our systems and methods I have rescued hundreds of animals and have worked with several other CO rescues to help save more animals and pass along our methods.

This led to the creation of Bruno the Companion as a public education platform for pet professionals.


Creating confident, happy owners and pet professionals who have confident and happy pets.