Meet Our Team!
Meet the veterinarians & team of Winchester Pet Care! We’re pleased to provide exceptional vet care for your pets!
Get To Know Our Team!
We are solely dedicated to your pet’s care! We look forward to getting to know you, and we hope you’ll take the time to scroll down and get to know us.
Dr. Vinse Rucker
Veterinarian/Owner
Dr. Rucker graduated from the University of Missouri in 1982 with a degree in Veterinary Medicine. He has practiced in a variety of fields, including large animal, specialty, emergency, and small animal. He received the most satisfaction from small animal practice deciding to solely pursue this field. Dr. Rucker, along with his wife, Merrie, had a dream to develop a full-service facility for pets that would provide top-of-the-line boarding, grooming, and veterinary care. Through much hard work, determination, and prayer, this dream has become a reality. Winchester Pet Care Center has been successfully caring for pets since 1992. The Ruckers value their family-owned and operated business where the quality of service provided to clients is their first and foremost concern.
Dr. Vinse Rucker
Veterinarian/Owner
Dr. Rucker graduated from the University of Missouri in 1982 with a degree in Veterinary Medicine. He has practiced in a variety of fields, including large animal, specialty, emergency, and small animal. He received the most satisfaction from small animal practice deciding to solely pursue this field. Dr. Rucker, along with his wife, Merrie, had a dream to develop a full-service facility for pets that would provide top-of-the-line boarding, grooming, and veterinary care. Through much hard work, determination, and prayer, this dream has become a reality. Winchester Pet Care Center has been successfully caring for pets since 1992. The Ruckers value their family-owned and operated business where the quality of service provided to clients is their first and foremost concern.
Dr. Samantha Gray
Veterinarian
Dr. Samantha C. Gray is a dedicated veterinarian with a passion for compassionate, thorough care. She began her journey in the veterinary field as a veterinary assistant in 2018, quickly discovering her calling to provide top-tier care for animals. Dr. Gray pursued her undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kansas State University.
Dr. Gray prides herself on taking the time to carefully attend to each patient’s unique needs. She believes in fostering the human-animal bond and is committed to building strong relationships with her clients. Dr. Gray empowers pet owners by educating them and involving them in every aspect of their pets’ care, ensuring they are informed and confident in their decisions for their beloved companions.
Dr. Gray spends her free time writing, drawing, painting, crocheting, and programming outside of her veterinary work. She also has a love for baking, video gaming, and playing Dungeons and Dragons!
Dr. Samantha Gray
Veterinarian
Dr. Samantha A. Gray is a dedicated veterinarian with a passion for compassionate, thorough care. She began her journey in the veterinary field as a veterinary assistant in 2018, quickly discovering her calling to provide top-tier care for animals. Dr. Gray pursued her undergraduate studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Kansas State University.
Dr. Gray prides herself on taking the time to carefully attend to each patient’s unique needs. She believes in fostering the human-animal bond and is committed to building strong relationships with her clients. Dr. Gray empowers pet owners by educating them and involving them in every aspect of their pets’ care, ensuring they are informed and confident in their decisions for their beloved companions.
Dr. Gray spends her free time writing, drawing, painting, crocheting, and programming outside of her veterinary work. She also has a love for baking, video gaming, and playing Dungeons and Dragons!
Robin Berthold
Office Manager
Robin came to Winchester in 2009. She thought working at the front desk of a vet clinic would be a “fun” job. Little did she know that the fun job would turn into a career change. Her interest in learning more about the human-animal and bond led her to make the transition from education to veterinary care. She has been managing the clinic since 2012 but can still be found at the front desk and in exam rooms checking in on clients and their pets. She strongly believes that having great relationships with pet parents should be the foundation of any veterinary practice.
Robin has been married to her best friend, Scott, for 25 years. Together they share 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren. They have 2 dogs, Disco and Derby as well as 1 cat, Nix. In their spare time, they enjoy attending boxing matches, football games and concerts. They also enjoy traveling as much as possible to anywhere with a mountain view or with a good fishing spot.
When flying solo, Robin loves birdwatching, quiet reflection and reading. She loves history and Prince music and has a lifetime supply of trivia and random facts ready at a moment’s notice. Her strong faith drives her to serve others with kindness, compassion and empathy. Her life experiences have taught her to remain humble and keep her sense of humor and adventure alive and well.
Melany Sutherland
Registered Veterinary Technician
Jolie Dobosz
Jolie is currently enrolled at UMKC and studying Wildlife Biology. When she began working at Winchester in July of 2021, she was hired as a kennel tech, where she was devoted to ensuring that each pet boarding with us received as much individual attention and care as possible. As her love for working with animals became apparent, and her education levels increased, it was a natural transition for her to begin working on the clinical side of the practice as a technician assistant.
Jolie says, “I love learning about the inner workings of animal dentistry, surgeries, and animal behaviors.” This love shows through everything she does with her warm smile, willingness to help whenever and wherever needed, and the time she spends learning new skills and asking questions.
While still busy with her education and work, Jolie finds time with her close-knit family. Her pets include Jazzy, the Chihuahua Mix; Percy, a Blue Ticked Beagle, Waffle, a ball python; and Tofu and Kimchi, a pair of geckos.
Jolie is an avid KC Chiefs fan. She also loves to read and enjoy a movie when she can. Among many favorite books, two on her list include All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. A favorite movie she could watch over and over is The Devil Wears Prada. She can also be found at her former dance studio, where she spent many years learning her moves and now gives back by teaching what she has learned to others.
We are so pleased to have her on our team. We know that her curiosity to learn everything she can about animals and the best practices in caring for them, coupled with her innate kindness and intelligence, will take her wherever she wants in life and the vet care community.
Paris Langford
Paris joined our team at the front desk in November of 2022. Her natural ability to engage people made her an excellent fit for the position. She got into the vet med field because it was new and challenging to her and different than anything she had done before. She also knew she could overcome new challenges because of her love for her pet, Daisy, an 11-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer.
As she settled into the CSR post, she began to see how learning the medical side of the clinic correlated to helping her notice health concerns about her pet, which she may not have seen right away if she hadn’t been immersed in the veterinary world.
During times when we have needed an extra hand in the exam rooms, treatment areas, and even surgeries, Paris has stepped into a role where she is learning new things every day and is finding great interest in taking part in treating Winchester’s wonderful patients. She says, “The areas I find most interesting are standing in during a surgery, dental procedure, or exam. I also have an interest in drawing blood. I have come to see that even though a pet may look healthy and be active, they may have underlying issues that only a veterinary professional would be able to find through these exams, tests, and procedures.”
Outside of her time at the clinic, Paris enjoys being in nature, drawing, painting, and spending time with family and friends. She loves all things cosmetology-related and learning as much as she can in that field as well. She loves movies from The Jurassic Park franchise and The Scream film series. She is a fan of almost all comedy. Her favorite television shows include The Walking Dead, Friends, and Survivor.
Paris likes organizing, labeling, and generally keeping things tidy and in order – a skill that does not go unnoticed by those around her. She loves to laugh and to sing. Though she is still very thoughtful about her future career, we hope to have her around for a long while, learning new skills and perhaps attending a veterinary technician school.
Savannah Balog
Savannah came to Winchester in December 2022 to work at the front desk. December is typically a difficult time to begin at the front desk due to the sheer volume of workload with holiday boarding and veterinary care appointments being scheduled. Still, she hung in there and has come to have a remarkable knowledge base about the ins and outs of scheduling, vaccine requirements, and invoicing.
Very shortly after joining us, Savannah adopted her furry best friend, Eva, and you will rarely see one at the front desk without the other. Eva has grown from a little puppy to an adult doggo at the clinic, and we all recognize her as the unofficial mascot of Winchester. Savannah loves animals and joined a vet med team because “I wanted to help the animals who can’t help themselves.” Others at the clinic, indeed, notice that Savannah loves helping and caring for animals who can’t ask for what they need.
One of the several things that she is interested in is learning about how pets and humans take many of the same medications. Savannah is interested in the clinic’s business side and is learning about ordering medications and supplies, budgeting, and scheduling. While she continues to sharpen her customer service and phone skills, she has also been instrumental in helping to bring online appointment scheduling to Winchester. She helps keep things up front running smoothly while, like everyone else at the clinic, helping whenever needed.
While not at work, Savannah and Eva often go on walks and enjoy hanging out with friends. She reads as often as she can. Her most recent favorite book is It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. The Vampire Diaries is one of her favorite TV shows. She also loves country music.
Though quiet at first, we have all come to see Savannah’s sense of humor and serious drive. We are all a team here, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this teammate!
Maggie Shaw
Maggie has been with Winchester Pet Care since September 2020. She has been a member of our kennel staff since she started here. Her duties have included walking dogs, cleaning kennels, bathing, feeding, watering, and general care for all our boarding animals. Until recently, she worked after school, weekends, holidays, and during the summertime.
After graduating high school, Maggie was offered an opportunity to be our full-time kennel lead. We are so glad she accepted. She now oversees the kennel facility’s day-to-day maintenance, stocking, and care. Working Monday through Friday allows her to get to know the pets staying with us and attend to their needs daily.
This position also allows her to work more closely with the clinical side of the operations. She may be called upon to help restrain pets for blood collection, give medications as prescribed, and learn the computer system we use for our clinic. She is learning how to make boarding sheets for pets coming to board and validate vaccines.
Maggie is very inquisitive and wants to know the “why” behind everything. She would someday like to be a vet assistant or veterinary technician. Her dog, Holly the Basenji, has some interesting medical anomalies. Knowing the “why” behind her own pet’s health concerns helps her contribute to helping to give Holly the best care possible at home.
When not at work, Maggie can be found relaxing. (Kennel work is HARD work!) She loves all shark cinema and The Jurassic Park Series of movies.
Maggie has a contagious smile. With self-motivation, the right people behind you, and a good foundation, whatever future you dream of can come true. The Winchester Team is excited to see what dreams Maggie can fulfill for her future.
Abby Morris
Abby came to work for Winchester in the summer of 2021. She started in our kennel area putting in the hard work of caring for our boarding pets. When she left the KC area to attend Oral Roberts University for her undergraduate degree, we were always thrilled to welcome her back with open arms over her school breaks. During these breaks, she moved to the clinical side of the practice and has been learning new and exciting things every day. Abby has been accepted into K-State’s School of Veterinary Medicine and will start the path to a degree in veterinary medicine beginning in August of 2024. Exciting news for all!
In her free time, she enjoys birding, spending time at coffee shops, crocheting and reading.
You’ll know her by her bright smile and easy, soothing demeanor.
Kennel Staff
Meet our behind-the-scenes worker bees. At Winchester, we pride ourselves on having THE BEST group of kennel techs in town. They are highly motivated by their love for animals. This translates to the highest quality of care for your best friends when they stay in our pet hotel. Each individual is incredible. Together, they have fun, push each other to do their best and contribute to all areas of the clinic. Basically, they’re a group of rock stars.
Kennel Staff
Kennel Staff
Meet our behind-the-scenes worker bees. At Winchester, we pride ourselves on having THE BEST group of kennel techs in town. They are highly motivated by their love for animals. This translates to the highest quality of care for your best friends when they stay in our pet hotel. Each individual is incredible. Together, they have fun, push each other to do their best and contribute to all areas of the clinic. Basically, they’re a group of rock stars.
Abby Morris
Veterinary Assistant
Abby came to work for Winchester in the summer of 2021. She started in our kennel area putting in the hard work of caring for our boarding pets. When she left the KC area to attend Oral Roberts University for her undergraduate degree, we were always thrilled to welcome her back with open arms over her school breaks. During these breaks, she moved to the clinical side of the practice and has been learning new and exciting things every day. Abby has been accepted into K-State’s School of Veterinary Medicine and will start the path to a degree in veterinary medicine beginning in August of 2024. Exciting news for all!
In her free time, she enjoys birding, spending time at coffee shops, crocheting and reading.
You’ll know her by her bright smile and easy, soothing demeanor.
Maggie Shaw
Lead Kennel Technician
Maggie has been with Winchester Pet Care since September 2020. She has been a member of our kennel staff since she started here. Her duties have included walking dogs, cleaning kennels, bathing, feeding, watering, and general care for all our boarding animals. Until recently, she worked after school, weekends, holidays, and during the summertime.
After graduating high school, Maggie was offered an opportunity to be our full-time kennel lead. We are so glad she accepted. She now oversees the kennel facility’s day-to-day maintenance, stocking, and care. Working Monday through Friday allows her to get to know the pets staying with us and attend to their needs daily.
This position also allows her to work more closely with the clinical side of the operations. She may be called upon to help restrain pets for blood collection, give medications as prescribed, and learn the computer system we use for our clinic. She is learning how to make boarding sheets for pets coming to board and validate vaccines.
Maggie is very inquisitive and wants to know the “why” behind everything. She would someday like to be a vet assistant or veterinary technician. Her dog, Holly the Basenji, has some interesting medical anomalies. Knowing the “why” behind her own pet’s health concerns helps her contribute to helping to give Holly the best care possible at home.
When not at work, Maggie can be found relaxing. (Kennel work is HARD work!) She loves all shark cinema and The Jurassic Park Series of movies.
Maggie has a contagious smile. With self-motivation, the right people behind you, and a good foundation, whatever future you dream of can come true. The Winchester Team is excited to see what dreams Maggie can fulfill for her future.
Savannah Balog
Client Services Representative (Front Desk)
Savannah came to Winchester in December 2022 to work at the front desk. December is typically a difficult time to begin at the front desk due to the sheer volume of workload with holiday boarding and veterinary care appointments being scheduled. Still, she hung in there and has come to have a remarkable knowledge base about the ins and outs of scheduling, vaccine requirements, and invoicing.
Very shortly after joining us, Savannah adopted her furry best friend, Eva, and you will rarely see one at the front desk without the other. Eva has grown from a little puppy to an adult doggo at the clinic, and we all recognize her as the unofficial mascot of Winchester. Savannah loves animals and joined a vet med team because “I wanted to help the animals who can’t help themselves.” Others at the clinic, indeed, notice that Savannah loves helping and caring for animals who can’t ask for what they need.
One of the several things that she is interested in is learning about how pets and humans take many of the same medications. Savannah is interested in the clinic’s business side and is learning about ordering medications and supplies, budgeting, and scheduling. While she continues to sharpen her customer service and phone skills, she has also been instrumental in helping to bring online appointment scheduling to Winchester. She helps keep things up front running smoothly while, like everyone else at the clinic, helping whenever needed.
While not at work, Savannah and Eva often go on walks and enjoy hanging out with friends. She reads as often as she can. Her most recent favorite book is It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. The Vampire Diaries is one of her favorite TV shows. She also loves country music.
Though quiet at first, we have all come to see Savannah’s sense of humor and serious drive. We are all a team here, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for this teammate!
Paris Langford
Client Service Rep and Technician Assistant
Paris joined our team at the front desk in November of 2022. Her natural ability to engage people made her an excellent fit for the position. She got into the vet med field because it was new and challenging to her and different than anything she had done before. She also knew she could overcome new challenges because of her love for her pet, Daisy, an 11-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer.
As she settled into the CSR post, she began to see how learning the medical side of the clinic correlated to helping her notice health concerns about her pet, which she may not have seen right away if she hadn’t been immersed in the veterinary world.
During times when we have needed an extra hand in the exam rooms, treatment areas, and even surgeries, Paris has stepped into a role where she is learning new things every day and is finding great interest in taking part in treating Winchester’s wonderful patients. She says, “The areas I find most interesting are standing in during a surgery, dental procedure, or exam. I also have an interest in drawing blood. I have come to see that even though a pet may look healthy and be active, they may have underlying issues that only a veterinary professional would be able to find through these exams, tests, and procedures.”
Outside of her time at the clinic, Paris enjoys being in nature, drawing, painting, and spending time with family and friends. She loves all things cosmetology-related and learning as much as she can in that field as well. She loves movies from The Jurassic Park franchise and The Scream film series. She is a fan of almost all comedy. Her favorite television shows include The Walking Dead, Friends, and Survivor.
Paris likes organizing, labeling, and generally keeping things tidy and in order – a skill that does not go unnoticed by those around her. She loves to laugh and to sing. Though she is still very thoughtful about her future career, we hope to have her around for a long while, learning new skills and perhaps attending a veterinary technician school.
Jolie Dobosz
Veterinary Assistant
Jolie is currently enrolled at UMKC and studying Wildlife Biology. When she began working at Winchester in July of 2021, she was hired as a kennel tech, where she was devoted to ensuring that each pet boarding with us received as much individual attention and care as possible. As her love for working with animals became apparent, and her education levels increased, it was a natural transition for her to begin working on the clinical side of the practice as a technician assistant.
Jolie says, “I love learning about the inner workings of animal dentistry, surgeries, and animal behaviors.” This love shows through everything she does with her warm smile, willingness to help whenever and wherever needed, and the time she spends learning new skills and asking questions.
While still busy with her education and work, Jolie finds time with her close-knit family. Her pets include Jazzy, the Chihuahua Mix; Percy, a Blue Ticked Beagle, Waffle, a ball python; and Tofu and Kimchi, a pair of geckos.
Jolie is an avid KC Chiefs fan. She also loves to read and enjoy a movie when she can. Among many favorite books, two on her list include All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Secret History by Donna Tartt. A favorite movie she could watch over and over is The Devil Wears Prada. She can also be found at her former dance studio, where she spent many years learning her moves and now gives back by teaching what she has learned to others.
We are so pleased to have her on our team. We know that her curiosity to learn everything she can about animals and the best practices in caring for them, coupled with her innate kindness and intelligence, will take her wherever she wants in life and the vet care community.
Robin Berthold
Office Manager
Robin came to Winchester in 2009. She thought working at the front desk of a vet clinic would be a “fun” job. Little did she know that the fun job would turn into a career change. Her interest in learning more about the human-animal and bond led her to make the transition from education to veterinary care. She has been managing the clinic since 2012 but can still be found at the front desk and in exam rooms checking in on clients and their pets. She strongly believes that having great relationships with pet parents should be the foundation of any veterinary practice.
Robin has been married to her best friend, Scott, for 25 years. Together they share 3 adult children and 4 grandchildren. They have 2 dogs, Disco and Derby as well as 1 cat, Nix. In their spare time, they enjoy attending boxing matches, football games and concerts. They also enjoy traveling as much as possible to anywhere with a mountain view or with a good fishing spot.
When flying solo, Robin loves birdwatching, quiet reflection and reading. She loves history and Prince music and has a lifetime supply of trivia and random facts ready at a moment’s notice. Her strong faith drives her to serve others with kindness, compassion and empathy. Her life experiences have taught her to remain humble and keep her sense of humor and adventure alive and well.