K9 Responder Academy

02/16/2025

In a two-birds-one-stone approach, we got posters made! This pulls double duty for our training, but also reps K9 Responder Foundation. If you've got a business we can put one up at, we'd love to! Message us and we'll get one over to you.

Are you a fellow dog trainer or business owner who wouldn't mind advertising K9 Responder Foundation and their mission to help First Responders, but would prefer not to advertise someone else's training business? (Weirdo)

Let us know! We'll send you the template with the Foundation info in place, and you can put your own stuff on top.

02/15/2025

We had a great time at anniversary party! It was awesome to finally meet Felicia with .9 after hearing so much about them for so long!

Mickey and K9 Hope had a great time!

02/15/2025

Rumor has it you might find this big guy hanging out at EarthWise Pet - Matthews around 12 today.

What's he doing there?

Not protecting me from bird attacks, that's for sure!

02/14/2025

The link is working now...and seriously. Man walks down the street in that beard...people know he's not afraid of anything.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/nonprofit-aims-get-therapy-dogs-departments-hurt-by-hurricane-helene/46b5d4df-5f60-4ca4-ac56-d6839d7552fe/

Link to donate in the comments!

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02/14/2025

I'll say this...the founder of K9 Responder Foundation has a remarkable beard...

Support the mission to provide therapy dogs for Carolina First Responders with their GoFundme at https://www.gofundme.com/f/k9-for-saluda-honoring-the-fallen-healing-the-future?attribution_id=sl:65968548-f2f5-4408-96e1-d351e6e7ecb1&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=man_ss_icons&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/nonprofit-aims-get-therapy-dogs-departments-hurt-by-hurricane-helene/98d84694-53f9-4431-bb7e-719e9a0892f0/

© 2025 Cox Media Group. This station is part of Cox Media Group Television. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices.

02/13/2025

Please share and spread the word!

K9 Responder Foundation is live with their GoFundMe for Saluda County Fire Service's therapy dog! Help them spread the word and raise funds to cover the cost of providing a trained fire department therapy dog to Saluda County Fire Service.

They pledged to support each department that lost a member during Hurricane Helene with a therapy dog to help their members support and heal, Saluda County was the first to accept that offer.

They're are a brand new nonprofit and need your help to get the word out, to raise funds, and to let the first responders of the Carolinas know that we haven't forgotten about them.

Thank you for your help!

On September 27, 2023, Circle Fire Department Chief Chad Satcher an… Rick Dunton needs your support for K9 for Saluda: Honoring the Fallen, Healing the Future

02/13/2025

Big day tomorrow for K9 Responder Foundation

Going to get the word out and start supporting some heroes!

02/10/2025

This strange beast comes from the same realm Home Depot sources their lumber from.

02/07/2025

I was getting dogs set for the morning, maybe looking for my next "Hot Reel" to boost engagement...trying to figure out how to do the same for the nonprofit...and this came across my personal page.

I hate asking for money. Which is kinda funny considering I'm now also running a nonprofit where that's my primary responsibility.

But this is one of my guys. I met Alex when I was a volunteer with Milton Fire-Rescue and watched him turn into a damned fine Firefighter. (For a small dept in backwoods NH, Milton had a habit of doing that for guys like us.)

Alex's family needs a hand up. Jada's got a long road of recovery ahead of her after this accident, and they could use all the help they can get.

Thank you

On Saturday, February 1st, while on her way to work at Lawrence General Hospital, where s… Chelsea Wood needs your support for Support Jada's Road to Recovery

02/06/2025

The strongest man I know, and his four legged angel, all in all the time, making the world better for others.

02/05/2025

Announcing K9 Responder Foundation!!!

So folks, while we have always tried to keep our service dog prices as accessible as possible, sometimes this is still cost prohibitive. Even when it's not, there's only four of us, and the need is quite gargantuan.

So we got together with some friends to form the K9 Responder Foundation, Inc...a registered nonprofit with the goal of providing trained service dogs to our First Responders.

The K9 Responder Foundation will use First Responder and Veteran dog trainers to train these dogs for folks in need.

This is an incredible undertaking, but you can help by making a donation to the foundation OR by following K9 Responder Foundation on Facebook and on instagram. Share their pages, and let us know about fundraising opportunities.

Service Dog applications are expected to open early next month, but in the mean time we need to raise some funds. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. The KRA Fam has always come through for us before. We know we can count on you now!

Business owner that wants to chat about corporate sponsorship? Reach out to [email protected]

https://www.k9responderfoundation.com (Donations can be made directly through the website as well)
💰Venmo:
💰PayPal - https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/XDGPTHEGXBKXE

K9 Responder Foundation Our Mission… “To provide first responders and veterans with the trained service dogs they need to thrive on and off the job.” First due for our First Responders Our network of trainers bring years of experience to help first responders and veterans by training service d...

01/31/2025

Yesterday a Chief at Charlotte Fire called and told me a member of our team was on the way to the hospital. "I'm on my way." I said.

When I got there, the parking lot...and the waiting room, were filled with Firefighters there to support one of their own.

Did I mention the teammate was a dog?

It didn't matter to me. And it didn't matter to them. We sat there for hours, making the best out of an exhausting, scary situation. At one point, his handler, who had been trying to manage her partners care all day in the face of some pretty scary symptoms said "You guys didn't have to come."

Without hesitation the Captain of Engine 14 said "He's one of ours."

Back when I was appointed as the first therapy dog handler in the department, I had no idea our team would grow like it did, or that it would have the profound impact and be embraced the way that it has been, but it was truly amazing to see it on display last night, to watch these men show up for a member of their team, to see the Chief on site fielding messages from the senior command staff all checking in on their dog...and maybe his handler too.

But this is the way of the fire service, and this is the power these dogs have with the first responders they serve.

CFD's therapy K9 program has been funded through donations since day 1, an that fund took a pretty good hit yesterday. If you would like to contribute to the K9 fund, you can do so with the link below. Be sure to hit the drop down and select CFD K-9 Fund.

If you're not in a position to donate, simply sharing this post and getting the word out to help is another great way to insure this program continues.

Thank you

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=TZEJ3BWRZCFFJ

01/30/2025

All hail Moya, Queen of Dorgs, on this…her glorious day of “Gotcha”

It’s been 3 years since she was found roaming on our family property, surviving off of whatever she could eat. It took a lot of time to build trust and finally catch her, but since then she’s been training with Coach Sam, living her best life and being a great K9 coach to KRA students!

Happy Gotcha Day, gorgeous!

01/30/2025

Doubling our training efforts today as we hit the road for some training with Dogs of the Charlotte Fire Department K9 Higbee, listening to the good word of DC Viscuso’s Step Up and Lead

Great recommendation by Firefighter Holly Johnson, I wish I had listened to this fifteen years ago, could have saved a lot of my Rochester Fire brothers the headache of dealing with me.

Better late than never!

01/29/2025

Caption this photo

01/20/2025

Player 2 wanted to wear her cupcake glitter dress…and feed dogs. She can consistently be counted on to give appropriate commands with authority, and praise the dog when they complete said commands.

Also she’s 2.

01/20/2025

BKK9 nails it perfectly. Well meaning owners are building reactivity in their dogs without realizing it.

01/18/2025

Mickey is a lot. But he's also very sweet, and very persistent. Minnie, always patient...is starting to love her little brother.