Shannon Heggem

In the 90’s Shannon Heggem burst onto the pet care scene and quickly became THE go-to expert in luxury pet care. After university, she returned to her small hometown in Montana and launched one of the very first-ever pet suite facilities in 1992. The appeal of this boutique pet care business was undeniable, even in a rural Montana town… Shannon soon realized that this business model could likely succeed anywhere! Shannon’s consulting practice emerged then, as the need for specialty pet care facilities evolved. Shannon’s unique and effective pet business strategies soon labeled her as a trailblazer, trendsetter, and pet industry pioneer. Shannon has achieved every international certification possible; she is one of only three people in the world who currently hold dual certifications in both grooming and kenneling. Shannon’s interests were not only in pet boarding. She actually opened her first “grooming salon” in her parents’ backyard at age nine! Realizing that she had much grooming knowledge to share, she launched the Montana School of Professional Dog Grooming in 1999. Shannon expanded her training programs to include the boarding kennel industry and pet sitting, in addition to the grooming programs. She trained many successful pet professionals through her programs until she closed FTI in 2016. Throughout all of her pet industry endeavors, Shannon has always gravitated toward luxury services, teaching it in her pet career programs, and also sharing her expertise through speaking presentations at various conferences. Her design work has been featured in magazines and even on reality television (see below). Luxury has always been the focus of her consulting practice as well; she continues to work with distinctive facilities all over the world, as well as operating her own high-end facility which she launched in 2018. All of this experience has earned her the distinction as THE global authority for true luxury in pet care.