Keri Putonen, the founder and lead trainer at Unleashed Abilities, grew up in Queens, New York. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from American University. She has taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for the past 13 years in a variety of instructional and leadership positions. Over the years, Keri has developed a strong interest in working with students labeled as Twice Exceptional, children who are gifted, and also receive ESOL or special education services.

Keri’s connection to animals began when she was a small child. Animals provided unconditional love and friendship during difficult family and social situations. She became interested in dog training when she enrolled in a training program with her first dog, Baxter. After that she knew she wanted to help people bring out the best in their dogs so that the dogs would be happier and so would their owners.

She was able to integrate her two loves, children and animals, together when she had a boy with autism in one of her classes. She successfully implemented a program using a bunny as a therapeutic tool. This was the beginning of Keri’s exploration into the power of the human-animal bond and how it could be used to help children overcome social, communication, cognitive and motor deficits. Keri and her husband started an animal intervention program at a local transitional home for abused and neglected children. The dogs would visit with the children on a regular basis to facilitate healing and help work on trust issues, self-esteem, and conduct disorders. The dogs’ weekly visit was also used by the counselors as a motivation tool throughout the week. Keri and her dog, Sancha, facilitated communication skills and helped develop oral and written language skills with students in an ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) program.