Dr. Peterson has always felt a deep connection with animals. Whether she was bonding with her childhood pets, helping a client’s treasured cat to recover from an illness, or playing with her own affectionate dogs, she always felt that animals greatly enriched her life. To give back to these loving creatures who have such generous spirits, Dr. Peterson has dedicated her career to helping improve animals’ health, comfort, and quality of life! 

Dr. Peterson is a Certified Canine Rehabilitation Therapist (CCRT), and received her certification from the Canine Rehabilitation Institute in order to help both companion and performance animals.  She is also a Certified Veterinary Spinal Manipulation Therapist (CVSMT), having received her certification from The Healing Oasis. (Veterinary spinal manipulation is often referred to as veterinary or animal chiropractic.) In addition to her rehabilitation and chiropractic interests, Dr. Peterson is certified in veterinary acupuncture by Chi University and is a Certified Canine Fitness Trainer.

Dr. Peterson is very active with her two golden retrievers.  They take their social greeter status at the practice very seriously and also love working for treats as they  demonstrate exercises.  Dr Peterson  teaches dog competition obedience classes at the Des Moines Obedience Training Club; and she frequently enters obedience, agility, tracking, and hunt test competitions with her dogs.  Three of her goldens have placed at national obedience championships.

Dr. Peterson and her husband John remain close to their two adult children. The couple’s oldest enjoys her museum education curator work, and their youngest is a copy writer while working towards screenwriting as a career.  In her spare time, Dr. Peterson likes to stay active and always makes time for bicycling and perennial gardening. Dr. Peterson and her husband love to travel, and they count a memorable trip to see the Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda as a highlight of their lives.