12/03/2025
AK9TA is getting back in gear after nearly a month off.
As most of you know, my life changed forever on the morning of November 6th when my father suddenly and unexpectedly passed away at the age of 46.
No warning.
No chance to say goodbye.
He was here one day and gone the next. Nothing could have prepared my heart for this.
My dad was my best friend. It’s hard to explain the difficulty of navigating the world without the person who has known me since birth. But what I can say is that it has required a strength that I didn’t know existed within me.
Returning calls today was a chore that I expected would be heavy. Picking up the phone to “get back to normal” feels like an impossible task during a time like this. But today, while returning calls I was met with unexpected love, support, and appreciation from clients who do not even know me.
Some of you have been holding off on signing up for training for a month now because you wanted to speak to me before making a decision.
Some of you told me that I was at the top of your list because you’ve heard that my training prioritizes keeping your dog’s personality intact.
Some of you know about the horrors of board & train programs and were transparent enough with me to express your concerns.
Some of you don’t even know me, but the research you’ve done and the references you’ve spoken to were enough to put me at the top of your list.
You probably didn’t realize it, but to have earned your trust reignited the passion for dog training that burns within me.
To me, your trust is worth more than any dollar that I will ever make off of training your dog.
And to the clients who I have history with, your support has not gone unnoticed.
Some of you brought us food while we navigated the early days of his passing.
Some of you have given me time to respond to your messages.
Some of you have donated to organizations in memory of my father.
You know who you are. And I want to say, thank you. Thank you for remembering that I am human too.
Thank you for understanding that I have a life outside of dog training.
Thank you for seeing me as more than a lady who you paid for dog training.
Whether you are a new client who I spoke with today or an established client who has supported me during this time - each of you have reminded me of what I am fighting for.
It’s not a paycheck.
It’s not an image.
It’s not the validation of my peers.
It’s your trust.
It’s seeing your dog live a life it otherwise wouldn’t have without training.
It’s watching the bond between your dog and your family grow.
And now, it’s feeling the closest that I can feel to my father now that he is on the other side of eternity.
My father and his dog CJ laid the foundation to my passion for dogs and I talk more about the bond that we shared with CJ in another post.
I wish I could call him today and tell him about the love and support each of you have given me. But since I can’t call him, I’ll share some old photos of his dog with you instead.
When CJ passed at the age of 15, my father never adopted a dog of his own again.
He was loyal to his death, just like the old dog who he is now in Heaven with.
