Sheila Webster Boneham, Ph.D.
Award-winning Author & Artist
Sheila Webster Boneham, Ph.D., is an award-winning author and artist. For the past decade, she has specialized in writing about dogs and cats. Three of her books have won the prestigious Maxwell Award given annually by the Dog Writers Association of America (1998, 2002, 2003), and another won the 2005 Muse Award and Award of Excellence from the Cat Writers' Association. In addition to DWAA and CWA, Sheila is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Speed City Sisters in Crime.
For some fifteen years, Sheila taught writing, folklore, and literature. She has taught in the United States at Indiana University, University of Maryland, and American University, and in the Middle East at Kuwait University and the University of Tunis (Tunisia). She has also worked as editor for several educational and magazine publishers as well as the Indiana Geological Survey. None of the above were nearly as much fun as writing with dogs and teaching the ins and outs of writing for publication to people who really want to write!
A life-long animal lover, Sheila has been involved with training and showing dogs since 1992, and has bred Australian Shepherds since 1997. She and her husband have also shared their home with numerous cats through the years. In her teens and twenties, Sheila showed hunters and jumpers, and was Indiana Hunt Seat Equitation Champion in 1968, 1969, and 1970.
Sheila believes that education is the key to successful human-canine relations. She has taught puppy kindergarten and basic obedience classes, administered AKC Canine Good Citizen tests, tested therapy dogs, founded or co-founded two purebred rescue programs, and worked as a volunteer for several rescue programs and shelters. Sheila's dogs have worked as registered therapy dogs in hospitals, special education classes, and nursing homes, and have helped Sheila teach safety and humane care in schools. Sheila and her dogs are also active in conformation and obedience competition, and dabble in agility, tracking, herding, and retriever fieldwork. She has placed puppies in pet and competition homes from Alaska to Florida and in Europe.
