Deborah Wood is manager of Animal Services for Washington County, the second-largest county in Oregon. She supervises the open-admission animal shelter for the county, as well as related services such as animal services officers. In the past three years, Washington County has reduced the number of animals euthanized at its shelter by 68 percent. 

Before coming to Washington County, Deborah was the pet columnist for The Oregonian newspaper and is the author of 11 books (including “The Tao of Bow Wow: Training Your Dog the Taoist Way,” “Help for Your Shy Dog” and “Little Dogs: Training Your Pint-Sized Companion”). She also has managed housing and social service programs for low-income and homeless people, giving her unique insights into the interaction of societal problems that people face and the impact those problems have on the animals of the community.