California

Angeles Valley Foothill

Love on a Leash®

The Angeles Valley Foothill chapter was established in March 2016 by two co-leaders, Kathy Spilos and Linda Brooks. Our chapter coordinates multiple group visits at senior resident facilities, many with memory care sections, schools, universities, and hospitals; we also receive requests to visit corporations in various industries, and to participate in community outreach educating people about pet therapy. When needed, we join nearby LOAL chapters and therapy dog/handler teams to respond to emergency circumstances, comforting both victims and first responders. Some of our more unique visits include Universal Studios, CBS and NBC offices, and the US Coast Guard ships docked in the Los Angeles Harbor.

Meet Our Co-Leaders

Kathy Spilos lives in the northwest San Fernando Valley with her husband Dean and their two LOAL-certified German Shepherds, Caelia and Votan. Kathy was previously certified with German Shepherd Dogs Sonoma and Fritz through another organization. When not volunteering with Love on a Leash, Kathy can be found practicing and competing in obedience, rally obedience, herding and tracking with Caelia and Votan. As an AKC CGC Evaluator, Kathy welcomes the opportunity to help train dogs to become good citizens, and if they show the aptitude, to help teams take and pass LOAL’s Control Evaluation. Though she loves many aspects of being a therapy dog/handler team such as spending one-on-one time with her dogs and meeting many interesting people, Kathy’s favorite part of volunteering with Love on a Leash is giving back to the community one "pawstep" at a time and every so often seeing special, little miracles happen because of it!

Linda Brooks is a valley girl born and raised. She earned her master’s degree at CSUN in Family and Consumer Sciences. As a guest lecturer at CSUN, Linda enjoys this unique opportunity to share the benefits of pet therapy visits with students entering the healthcare industry in a hands-on presentation with LOAL teams. In addition to LOAL visits, Linda and her yellow Labrador Retriever Olive participate in dog performance sports of obedience and scent work. Linda is also an AKC CGC evaluator.