About Us

Cheer Dawgs is an after-school program designed to teach students the basic fundamentals of cheerleading.

The program runs each nine-week session (correlating with AISD calendar), covering basic skills such as motions, jumps, chants, cheers, stunting, and tumbling, all while focused on building a positive community.

Cheer Dawgs is led by Heather Miller, a 2nd grade teacher at Doss. She is a former college/competitive cheerleader and coach with over 17 years of coaching experience. Ashley Buford is the assistant coach, who comes with an extensive background in drill team.

Meet the Team

Read more about the Cheer Dawgs Founder / Head Coach and Assistant Coach!

  • Founder & Head Coach

    Heather Miller started off as a young girl in dance, tumbling, and gymnastics, who eventually became starstruck with cheerleading once her older sister joined the sport. Heather quickly transitioned to the sideline and competitive cheerleading side in early middle school. She started her coaching career at the young age of 14, where she coached a middle school team as a freshman in high school. This is where she found her passion in coaching, and has coached for 17 years since. Heather has coached various all star/competitive teams, been the Varsity and JV coach at a high school, coached private tumbling lessons, led cheer camps, and more.

    Heather has trained with and been a part of some world-renowned Allstar cheerleading gyms over the years, including The OC Allstars, Stingray Allstars, and Georgia Allstars. One of her greatest cheerleading accomplishments has been competing at the USASF Cheerleading Worlds Competition, where she placed top in the nation and fourth in the world. She has also been a NCA and UCA All-American multiple years in a row, including when she was captain during her high school years.

    Heather attended the University of Georgia and made the cheerleading team there. Her college cheerleading career was shorter than originally planned due to multiple injuries, so Heather took her passion for the sport and continued coaching. She founded Cheer Dawgs in 2022 and is eager to see the program develop over the years. Heather’s favorite part of the sport is the sense of community it brings among a team, and is thankful to have an opportunity to create that through Cheer Dawgs at Doss Elementary.

    Fun Facts:

    Heather broke her foot the day before UGA Cheerleading tryouts, but taped her foot up until it was numb so she could still try out!

    Until the age of 26, Heather did a backflip on her birthdays.

    Her high school mascot was the Pope Greyhounds. Before football games, we used to run out on the football field with actual greyhounds!

  • Assistant Coach

    Hello my name is Ashley Buford. I’m the assistant coach with Cheer Dawgs. I grew up in Austin, TX just about my whole life and have always had a love for dancing and cheer. When I joined my middle school dance class I began to love the idea of putting routines together and seeing how it all blends with music.

    In high school I took dance all the way up to my junior year where I became a drill team manager and was able to see the background of how a team worked. I did also attempt to learn every routine whether stand chants or actual competition routines. Joining Cheer Dawgs has brought routine and fun to my life and working with each group shows how much a team can bring a vision together.

Sponsor An Athlete

Cheer Dawgs is an independently-run after school program. We are completely self-reliant, including the hiring of staff, coaching materials, apparel and more.

If you would like to sponsor an athlete for this session or future sessions, please click the button below.