The Great Dr. Robert Miller: The Origins of a Well-Renowned Veterinarian

Dr. Robert Miller! Photo by Natalia Radcliffe

~ Natalia Radcliffe ~ 

We recently had the lovely opportunity to have a long conversation with prominent local veterinarian Dr. Robert Miller. Creator of the very successful group practice Conejo Valley Veterinary Clinic and one of the first people to introduce and use the concept of a foal training technique called “Imprint Training”, the man has done well for himself over the years. He’s had the unique opportunity to see Thousand Oaks grow from a small town with no local vet, to a thriving suburban city. 

But, we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back in time to Arizona, on a warm midsummer’s day many decades ago. Young Robert Miller is a wide-eyed child, fascinated by animals and an avid book lover. He didn’t grow up on a farm, but his father had a farm background and had a special place in his heart for horses. His father’s passion and experiences were passed onto the young boy. 

The boy loved visiting the library, and spent many content-filled days reading as many books as he could. One of his favorite authors was Carl Akeley, who was an explorer and game collector in Africa. His stories absolutely fascinated young Dr. Miller. Thanks to these stories, animal behavior became a passion of his. He started to experiment with different training techniques with his dogs, and also worked at a pet shop. When he was old enough, he dedicated his summers to working on dairy farms. A lot of those farms didn’t have tractors back then; horses were the ones that had that job. 

When World War II came, Dr. Miller joined the Army. Thankfully, he made it back home safely and went on to get his college degree . He ended up attending Arizona State University at the school of Agriculture, majoring in Animal Husbandry, also known as the care of domestic animals. 

He picked a good field to go into. 

After all, when you immensely enjoy the subject, then it doesn’t really feel like work, does it?

After he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree, he knew he wanted to attend veterinary school. His eye was on Colorado State University, at the College of Veterinary Medicine. He decided to move to Colorado, and started applying to various offices in the area. One of the places he applied to was the Denver Zoo, for a zookeeper position. They didn’t have any openings at the time, but they said there was a dog catcher opening with the county veterinarian.

You can probably surmise where this conversation went. 

The young adult had a good feeling that working with the local vet could help him get into vet school. He trusted his hunch, and accepted the position, becoming a dog catcher for a year. 

And what a dog catcher he was, breaking the record for the number of stray dogs caught in a day. He even landed a spot in the Denver newspaper, being dubbed “Denver’s Roping Dog Catcher”. 

During his year there, he worked with the county veterinarian and his assistant. He made a good impression on the vet. The man wrote him a wonderful letter of reference to get Dr. Miller into veterinary school, and the rest is history. 

While in vet school, he met a girl. A lovely, beautiful girl from California. Her name? Debby. The two eventually married, and have been together ever since. 

After vet school, Dr. Miller and Debby lived in Arizona for a year, before deciding to relocate to California. There were a lot of job opportunities there, back then. 

So they did. 

Initially, they stayed with her folks in LA, and commenced job hunting. Dr. Miller was interested in joining a group practice, so he kept his eyes out for any openings. There was one in Sherman Oaks that looked promising, but they only focused on taking care of dogs and cats. Dr. Miller wanted the opportunity to work with a variety of species.

Finding out about Thousand Oaks was a happy coincidence. One Sunday, Debby invited Dr Miller to come with her to visit her horse she’d had since she was a child, who was boarded at a ranch in Thousand Oaks. It was an all day trip to visit. At that time, it was a small town. The populace was only about 1,250 people. A tremendous variety of animals called Thousand Oaks their home as well as the residents. There were world class Thoroughbred farms, thousands of cattle on ranches, horses, and a half a dozen dog boarding kennels.

And get this: the closest veterinarian was in Oxnard. And this was when there was no traffic, but also no freeways in the area either. Dr. Miller decided this was the place he needed to be. He would live here, in this small town, and be the local vet for all the animals who called Thousand Oaks home. 

It was a good decision, and he’s never looked back since. 

Dr. Robert Miller with his wife Debbie visiting Prospector Ranch. Photo by Natalia Radcliffe