Bridgett Higginbotham, RVT, Owner, Founder, and Export Queen
Bridgett Higginbotham has been a licensed Veterinary Technician since 1987 and is the owner and founder of Sirius Canine Fertility. Bridgett has been doing semen exporting and importing for the last 20 years, and is known many places as “the Export Queen”. Her meticulous attention to detail has put her where she is today, as the head of our world-renowned export department.
She started Sirius in August of 2000, as a mobile semen freezing and pregnancy ultrasound business. She has moved the Sirius office location 3 times, as the business expanded and outgrew each location very quickly. She finally purchased and settled on a permanent location, which is where the office is now in Grass Valley. Today Sirius Canine Fertility has 6 employees and performs transcervical inseminations (TCIs), artificial inseminations (AIs), as well as semen collections, semen freezing, progesterone testing and semen exporting/importing all over the world. Sirius has become one of the largest export/import centers in the United States. Sirius Canine Fertility is also a presence at dog shows, where semen collections, evaluations and freezes are performed.
Bridgett currently sits on the Examining Committee for Veterinary Reproduction Technicians for NAVTA. This is a group of dedicated Veterinary Technicians that specialize in Canine Reproduction, a position that holds the distinction that only 5 other Technicians in the US and Canada share. The qualifications for this position involve length of time specializing in Canine Reproduction, continuing education dedicated to Veterinary Reproduction, and level of education in this field, among others.
In addition to her professional activities in canine reproduction, Bridgett has been a bulldog breeder since 1990. She has also been a licensed AKC judge since 2000, and currently judges internationally as well as domestically. She has judged at her National Specialty several times.
Bridgett enjoys traveling, snowshoeing, and hiking. She is an ASA certified sailor and will be spending much of her semi-retirement years sailing her catamaran all over the world.
Bridgett currently has one spoiled American Bulldog named Fallon and three cats.
Rebecca Hahn, DVM
Dr. Rebecca Hahn has been a serious breeder of Entlebucher Mountain Dogs for just short of 30 years. After graduating from Purdue University Veterinary School in 1982, Dr. Hahn and her husband, Dr. Jay Schuff, moved to Grass Valley to practice veterinary medicine, eventually opening their own clinic together. While owners of Brunswick Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Hahn and her husband, Dr. Jay Schuff, offered reproductive services to their clients. Helping their clients to achieve quality breeding practices inspired them to embrace a preservation breeding program for the Entlebucher. After selling the Brunswick Clinic, Dr. Hahn has had the opportunity to dedicate herself to not only their breeding program, but to competition in a wide range of canine venues.
Dr Hahn’s dogs’ accomplishments include an AKC Best in Show as well as an AKC Reserve Best in Show, along with a myriad of Owner Handler Best in Shows and Group wins. She has successfully competed with Best of Breed at Westminster, the AKC National show in Orlando, won the Entlebucher National Specialty 6 times, and won Entlebucher Best in Breed at the 2019 World Dog Show.
In addition to AKC conformation, Dr Hahn’s dogs have AKC Titles in Trick Dog, Rally, Obedience, Scent Work and Canine Good Citizen. Outside of AKC, Dr Hahn competes in freestyle dance, earning titles from 3 different freestyle titling organizations. All her dogs have Parkour Titles from the International Dog Parkour organization. Her bitch, GCHS Maribo Muffin of Brunswick CGCA, RE, TKP, is one of a handful of dogs who have earned the Champion Parkour Dog Title.
In addition to her technical Veterinary knowledge, Dr Hahn’s experience as a longtime breeder and accomplished canine competitor provides her with an added level of empathy and insight for our Sirius clients.
Arabelle Walik, Office Manager & Lab Technician
Growing up in a home revolving around dogs, 4-H, and FFA, Arabelle has been an animal lover from a very early age. She grew up helping her parents breed and train English Springer Spaniels for field work, along with raising and showing horses, dairy goats, chickens, and market hogs. After raising a Guide Dog for the Blind through FFA she branched out further into the dog world, working with a canine behaviorist specializing in handling and rehabilitating aggressive/ potentially dangerous dogs. She wanted to branch into the veterinary world and found her way to Sirius Canine in 2018. Arabelle has excelled in every aspect of what she has learned and is now our head technician and office manager. Arabelle is a master of the transcervical insemination technique and has taught her techniques to many others that have come after her. She has also branched out into the export department at Sirius, along with Bridgett. She handles most of the European countries in our export department. Arabelle is currently attending courses for her Registered Veterinary Technician license. She plans to specialize in Veterinary Reproduction and become NAVTA certified in Theriogenology. She does her best to make all processes as smooth and straightforward as possible for our clients. She loves seeing all the different dogs and having the opportunity to be another factor in improving so many breeds. Beyond her professional pursuits, Arabelle enjoys horseback riding and exploring the outdoors with her husband, Golden Retriever Scorpio, and her ESS Tater Tot.
Sarah Bridges
Sarah knew she wanted to work with animals from when she was 6 years old. Her dreams came true for her when she began working in the veterinary field at 18, and she has not strayed since, working as a veterinary assistant in Nevada County for more than 12 years before joining our team at Sirius Canine. Sarah is always thinking ahead and creating a clear plan, something she’s taken from continuing education classes studying Veterinary Triage. Sarah is calm and sympathetic, always treating every dog she sees like her own, always utilizing her education on canine body language. She is patient and thorough, always keeping our clients involved and well informed. In her spare time Sarah spends time with her son Wilder BBQing, playing around their property, and soaking up some sun on their boat and her paddleboard at the lake. Her pets, Creature, her Boston Terrier, her lab mix Luna, and her two cats The Dude and Floyd require quite a bit of attention as well.
Aryanna Wahl, Reception
Aryanna joined the SCF team in August of 2022. She was born and raised here in Grass Valley and grew up on her family’s farm. Aryanna has had a passion for animals for as long as she can remember. Growing up around her family’s English Springer Spaniel breeding program, rabbits, pigs, horses, goats, and more, inspired her passion for animals. A childhood surrounded by reproduction gave her years of experience assisting the breeding & birthing of many different species. Her first “real” job was as a Pet Care Associate at a local boarding kennel when she turned 18, where she eventually moved on to become a trainer at a local pet store chain. She later realized her favorite part of the job was customer service, which is what led her to us! She loves getting to know our clients and each of their individual breeding programs. She has two mixed breed rescues named Brandy and Cash at home and she loves them both endlessly. When she’s not at work, she loves off-roading, baking sweets, playing slow pitch softball, and hiking with her dogs.
